HPX 170 Worth it for right price?

[Tim Paynter]

A local guy has an HPX 170 for $1750, I would try to buy for less. He says he only has 20 hours on it.

I am really leaning towards the Sony X70. What is an aggressive value for a buyer, and will it work for me?

I do a lot of eng and doc kind of things.

How will this do for ENG style reporting?

Thanks

[Dan Brockett]

I just sold my HPX170 a few months ago for $1,800.00 so that price is fair. Just not sure if you want to invest in tech that is that old? 170 was and is a great camera but it is relatively low resolution for 2015. For that same money, you are into a GH4. Sure, it's not a dedicated video camera but it shoots nice 4K while the 170 will chew through a LOT of P2 cards to just shoot 1080.

I have to say, if it was me, I wouldn't put almost $2k into yesterdays tech.

[Daniel Epstein]

I agree with Dan B. I also owned and enjoyed the HPX 170 but wouldn't invest too much in one now. Great form factor but Chip, Codecs and P2 cards are hard to get excited about these days. Too bad Panasonic hasn't made the newer cameras which replaced the 170 as much fun to use. Here is a link to the new camera you should compare to http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1142844-REG/panasonic_ag_dvx200_4k_integrated_lens.html

[Tim Paynter]

The DVX 200 is one to drool over. Out of my range for the next camera, though.

[Josh Bass]

i still say for that money, look at a used ex1. "yesterday's tech" as well, but LOOKS much more modern and definitely NOT soft.

[Tim Paynter]

I have heard volumes about ex1 and ex1R. Can you find these with low enough hours to make it worth taking the risk?

[Josh Bass]

Oh I have no idea my friend. Keep in mind hours don't mean much like they did with tape drive cams. There are only a few things that could wear out from "hours" of use (zoom motor, maybe?). You DO have to be wary of the signs of everyday use (broken this and that, cracked whoozit), but I would say unrelated to hours of use, more like how well it was treated and in what conditions it was used (1000 days in the desert vs office buildings).

Never know who's selling what. . .there are cams with 850 hours out there and cams with 150 hours out there.

[Sam Lee]

These days the minimum is 1080p. HPX170 is not a 1080p native cam. I'd say at least a HPX-250 to be safe. I shot with the HPX170 and at 1080i mode, it's definitely a bit soft when intercutting with the 1080p native cam. 720p is stil not quite dead yet in the ENG/docs world.

For 2015, the entire 4K production gear prices are not ripe yet. I suspect within a few years it'll be even cheaper. 1080p is a temporary safe haven format until the mass majority (especially TV and cable broadcasters) are airing native 4K content. So far the bandwidth is extremely scarce and we'll be stuck with 1080i & 720p for a very long time. 720-1080p will have many years of useable service life left before it goes to the to be recycled category. 480i/p gear is definitely in that stage now.

Panasonic will come out with 1-piece 4K 2/3" within next several years. In fact, they already have the 4K studio camera rolled out: http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/sales.../ak-uc3000.pdf
Don't get too excited with 4K for the broadcast world. Upgrading HD to UHD lens will be a huge expense. The starting price for a native UHD 2/3" lens 22x8 from Fujinon is about $50K!

I'm not too excited about the DVX200. Everything looks OK except low-light performance. Stellar low-light is something that a must-have for docs and ENG work. It's a prosumer camera.

Originally Posted by Tim Paynter

A local guy has an HPX 170 for $1750, I would try to buy for less. He says he only has 20 hours on it.

I am really leaning towards the Sony X70. What is an aggressive value for a buyer, and will it work for me?

I do a lot of eng and doc kind of things.

How will this do for ENG style reporting?

Thanks