My Experience With the HPX300 at DVinfo.net

Dan Brockett · August 23rd, 2009, 06:17 PM

If you are considering the HPX300, you might find my production diary an interesting read. The article went live this morning Production Diary - Panasonic AG-HPX300

The 300 is a really great camera and the director and the clients were very impressed with the footage we captured with the 300. I would be happy to answer any questions about shooting in the real world for paying clients on a high pressure shoot with the 300. I find this type of experience to be eminently more valuable than the standard review where the person reviewing just rolls test footage of charts.

Thanks,

Dan

Steve Phillipps · August 24th, 2009, 11:11 AM

Haven't read this properly yet but a fantastic report, great stuff, must read for any prospective HPX300 buyers!
Steve

Dan Brockett · August 24th, 2009, 12:20 PM

Thanks Steve:

Glad you found it appealing.

I should take a poll, I like writing long, detailed articles, crammed with content which I don't get to do for the magazines I write for, so when I write for Ken, I like to put as much as I want into the articles. Too much stuff in the article or do you find it readable?

Thanks,

Dan

John Joyner · August 24th, 2009, 02:18 PM

I enjoyed the review. I think a combo of real world usage along with the tech, is the way to do a review.

Steve Phillipps · August 24th, 2009, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Brockett

Too much stuff in the article or do you find it readable?

Thanks,

Dan

I think it's spot on. If you're just generally interested you can easily skim through or search for terms you're looking for, or if you're really interested the more info the better.
Steve

Robert Fierce · August 27th, 2009, 12:11 PM

Dan-
I hope you can keep the diary going through post. If you used a post house for the final edit what were the reactions/suggestions from the different editors that worked on the project. What would you do differently on a future project when using the HPX300?

Dan Brockett · August 27th, 2009, 01:24 PM

Hi Robert:

If you go near the bottom, there is a link to a cut down version of the final, finished project. I did not handle post on this, the director edited the piece. Everyone loved the way the AVC INTRA 100 footage looked, editor, producer and clients.

I can't really think of too much I would have done differently, other than I would have bought one of the L-arms I link to in the article that would have allowed me to use my matte box and 4x4 filters, rather than the B+W circular pola that I ended up using. There were several shots I would have liked to have used my Formatt ND grads on.

But other than that, I wish that I would have had the AG-HPG20 P2 device that I am currently writing an article on. This thing is amazing, it is much simpler to use than a laptop with a Duel adapter.

Oh yeah, and I would like a wider lens if I owned the 300, the stock lens is considerably less wide than the stock lens on our HPX170 and I miss the wide. But for this project, the 17x long lens was the right tool.

Thanks,

Dan

Christopher Drews · August 27th, 2009, 01:54 PM

I thought the article was informative. I especially cared for the comparisons about the about the AVC Intra 100 vs DVCPRO-HD. I had no idea the LCD was that crisp also. Al though, I heard no mention about the HD-SDI tape as a viable use for a client monitor. I know your client was mainly looking at the 300 monitor but this wouldn't fly on most sets.

Video cut looks good. Not so sure about some of the moving transitions. What framerate was this?

Good work,
-C

Dan Brockett · August 27th, 2009, 08:23 PM

We had HD SDI monitors on-set but they were AC-only powered. We did not have time to setup the monitors in a video village, hookup the generator and move around to do 18 setups the first day so the director was fine looking at the LCD with a Hoodman around it.

Believe it or not, all film shoots in the pre-video tap era used to be made this way minus the playback, they would shoot the film, develop it and project dailies the next day. Directors had to trust the DPs and the DPs had to deliver the shots that they thought the directors wanted.

Yes, the yellow and black moving transitions were client-mandated.

Thanks,

Dan

Barry Green · August 28th, 2009, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Brockett

Oh yeah, and I would like a wider lens if I owned the 300, the stock lens is considerably less wide than the stock lens on our HPX170 and I miss the wide.

Fujinon | TH13x3.5BRMU 13x 1/3" JVC ProHD | TH13X3.5BRMU

Costs about as much as the HPX300 camera including its stock lens, but at 3.5mm it'd be really wide, about 10% wider than the HPX170.

Dan Brockett · August 28th, 2009, 10:23 AM

That would be sweet Barry, but would you lose CAC with that lens?

Need to make some more money first with my 170.

Dan

Robert Fierce · August 28th, 2009, 01:35 PM

Dan
I look forward to reading your article on the HPG20. Although they liked most of its features, Visualedgeproductions.blogspot was fairly underwhelmed at the transfer rate when using the 20, calling it "abysmally slow".
"Using the HPG20, with verification on, to transfer to a 16GB card via USB 2 to a La Cie 250GB Rugged drive took 30 minutes 47 seconds. That's nearly twice as long as the total time on the card...Without verification on, the transfer time was 12 minutes 38 seconds. Using the Duel Adapter, ShotPut 2, a MacBook Pro and the La Cie on Firewire 800 - 8 minutes 10 seconds."
This coupled with the $4,300 street price, might be cause to wait for the forthcoming Sonnettech QIO or some other transfer solution using USB3.
Once again, let me add my thanks for taking the considerable time it must have taken to put this review together.

Gary Nattrass · August 29th, 2009, 10:32 AM

Good reading and thanks for posting, I am a bit biased as I love my HPX-301 and I now have the BBC settings for film and video look.

We did a commercial shoot for TV three weeks ago and the results are superb and I am very impressed with the camera and P2 workflow.

Dan Brockett · August 29th, 2009, 01:02 PM

Hi:

I just ran tests with a full 16GB P2 card with the AG-HPG20. My findings were very similar to the blog that you mentioned...

1. 16GB R Series P2 card to Hitachi 1TB empty drive w verification on: 31:44
2. 16GB R Series P2 card to Hitachi 1TB empty drive w verification off: 12:08
3. 16GB R Series P2 card to Hitachi 1TB empty drive via 15" MBP via Duel Adapter: 8:12

I attribute this to Panasonic's implementation of USB 2.0 instead of FW800 or E-Sata as a transfer protocol. USB 2.0 is slug-like. The AG-HPG20 is an improvement over the glacial transfer times I used to experience with the P2 Store in the past. I recall transfer times of about 47 minutes for an 8GB P2 card with the P2 Store.

IMHO, this becomes less of a factor now that we have the availability of larger and faster P2 cards, although this could be a limiting factor if you only have a few smaller P2 cards available on your shoot and you are needing to dump the cards and rotate them quickly. I wish that I had an E Series 16GB card to test this transfer rate but I still think that the bottle neck seems to be the USB 2.0 connection to the hard drive.

Best,

Dan

Martin Rose · August 29th, 2009, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary Nattrass

Good reading and thanks for posting, I am a bit biased as I love my HPX-301 and I now have the BBC settings for film and video look.

We did a commercial shoot for TV three weeks ago and the results are superb and I am very impressed with the camera and P2 workflow.

Any idea where I could get a hold of these settings
They don't seem to be on the BBC website

Thanks

Martin

August 23rd, 2009, 06:17 PM	#1
Dan Brockett Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 2,109	My Experience With the HPX300 If you are considering the HPX300, you might find my production diary an interesting read. The article went live this morning Production Diary - Panasonic AG-HPX300 The 300 is a really great camera and the director and the clients were very impressed with the footage we captured with the 300. I would be happy to answer any questions about shooting in the real world for paying clients on a high pressure shoot with the 300. I find this type of experience to be eminently more valuable than the standard review where the person reviewing just rolls test footage of charts. Thanks, Dan

August 29th, 2009, 10:32 AM	#13
Gary Nattrass Trustee Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cornsay Durham UK Posts: 1,992	Good reading and thanks for posting, I am a bit biased as I love my HPX-301 and I now have the BBC settings for film and video look. We did a commercial shoot for TV three weeks ago and the results are superb and I am very impressed with the camera and P2 workflow. __________________ Over 15 minutes in Broadcast Film and TV production: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1044352/

August 24th, 2009, 11:11 AM	#2
Steve Phillipps Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Wales Posts: 2,130	Haven't read this properly yet but a fantastic report, great stuff, must read for any prospective HPX300 buyers! Steve

August 24th, 2009, 12:20 PM	#3
Dan Brockett Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 2,109	Thanks Steve: Glad you found it appealing. I should take a poll, I like writing long, detailed articles, crammed with content which I don't get to do for the magazines I write for, so when I write for Ken, I like to put as much as I want into the articles. Too much stuff in the article or do you find it readable? Thanks, Dan

August 24th, 2009, 02:18 PM	#4
John Joyner Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: United States Posts: 27	I enjoyed the review. I think a combo of real world usage along with the tech, is the way to do a review.

August 27th, 2009, 12:11 PM	#6
Robert Fierce New Boot Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Albany CA Posts: 15	Dan- I hope you can keep the diary going through post. If you used a post house for the final edit what were the reactions/suggestions from the different editors that worked on the project. What would you do differently on a future project when using the HPX300?

August 27th, 2009, 01:24 PM	#7
Dan Brockett Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 2,109	Hi Robert: If you go near the bottom, there is a link to a cut down version of the final, finished project. I did not handle post on this, the director edited the piece. Everyone loved the way the AVC INTRA 100 footage looked, editor, producer and clients. I can't really think of too much I would have done differently, other than I would have bought one of the L-arms I link to in the article that would have allowed me to use my matte box and 4x4 filters, rather than the B+W circular pola that I ended up using. There were several shots I would have liked to have used my Formatt ND grads on. But other than that, I wish that I would have had the AG-HPG20 P2 device that I am currently writing an article on. This thing is amazing, it is much simpler to use than a laptop with a Duel adapter. Oh yeah, and I would like a wider lens if I owned the 300, the stock lens is considerably less wide than the stock lens on our HPX170 and I miss the wide. But for this project, the 17x long lens was the right tool. Thanks, Dan

August 27th, 2009, 01:54 PM	#8
Christopher Drews Major Player Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 628	I thought the article was informative. I especially cared for the comparisons about the about the AVC Intra 100 vs DVCPRO-HD. I had no idea the LCD was that crisp also. Al though, I heard no mention about the HD-SDI tape as a viable use for a client monitor. I know your client was mainly looking at the 300 monitor but this wouldn't fly on most sets. Video cut looks good. Not so sure about some of the moving transitions. What framerate was this? Good work, -C

August 27th, 2009, 08:23 PM	#9
Dan Brockett Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 2,109	We had HD SDI monitors on-set but they were AC-only powered. We did not have time to setup the monitors in a video village, hookup the generator and move around to do 18 setups the first day so the director was fine looking at the LCD with a Hoodman around it. Believe it or not, all film shoots in the pre-video tap era used to be made this way minus the playback, they would shoot the film, develop it and project dailies the next day. Directors had to trust the DPs and the DPs had to deliver the shots that they thought the directors wanted. Yes, the yellow and black moving transitions were client-mandated. Thanks, Dan

August 28th, 2009, 10:23 AM	#11
Dan Brockett Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 2,109	That would be sweet Barry, but would you lose CAC with that lens? Need to make some more money first with my 170. Dan

August 28th, 2009, 01:35 PM	#12
Robert Fierce New Boot Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Albany CA Posts: 15	Dan I look forward to reading your article on the HPG20. Although they liked most of its features, Visualedgeproductions.blogspot was fairly underwhelmed at the transfer rate when using the 20, calling it "abysmally slow". "Using the HPG20, with verification on, to transfer to a 16GB card via USB 2 to a La Cie 250GB Rugged drive took 30 minutes 47 seconds. That's nearly twice as long as the total time on the card...Without verification on, the transfer time was 12 minutes 38 seconds. Using the Duel Adapter, ShotPut 2, a MacBook Pro and the La Cie on Firewire 800 - 8 minutes 10 seconds." This coupled with the $4,300 street price, might be cause to wait for the forthcoming Sonnettech QIO or some other transfer solution using USB3. Once again, let me add my thanks for taking the considerable time it must have taken to put this review together.

August 29th, 2009, 01:02 PM	#14
Dan Brockett Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 2,109	Hi: I just ran tests with a full 16GB P2 card with the AG-HPG20. My findings were very similar to the blog that you mentioned... 1. 16GB R Series P2 card to Hitachi 1TB empty drive w verification on: 31:44 2. 16GB R Series P2 card to Hitachi 1TB empty drive w verification off: 12:08 3. 16GB R Series P2 card to Hitachi 1TB empty drive via 15" MBP via Duel Adapter: 8:12 I attribute this to Panasonic's implementation of USB 2.0 instead of FW800 or E-Sata as a transfer protocol. USB 2.0 is slug-like. The AG-HPG20 is an improvement over the glacial transfer times I used to experience with the P2 Store in the past. I recall transfer times of about 47 minutes for an 8GB P2 card with the P2 Store. IMHO, this becomes less of a factor now that we have the availability of larger and faster P2 cards, although this could be a limiting factor if you only have a few smaller P2 cards available on your shoot and you are needing to dump the cards and rotate them quickly. I wish that I had an E Series 16GB card to test this transfer rate but I still think that the bottle neck seems to be the USB 2.0 connection to the hard drive. Best, Dan