x2mag68's Full Review: Panasonic AG-HVX200 Mini DV Camcorder
Over the last few years i have been building a career as a Cinematographer. When the time came where my Clientel were requesting High Definition footage for their projects, i began to research the many small Semi-PRO HD camcorders on the market. The HVX200 is overall the only true professional camera in my opinion.
The first thing many look to when buying a new camcorder is the technical data, and "specs". The honest truth is on paper the HVX200 would seem to be the poorest performer. High defininton is a choice between, 1080i format OR the 720P format. The 1080i format reads a raster of pixels at 1920 X 1080. 720P reads a raster of 1280 x 720 pixels.
The HVX200's CCD Block is only 960x540. However, the important thing to realise is this. Pixel count is not the end all be all for an amazing picture. Some cellular phones have 1024x1024 CCD's in the cellular camera, yet they take horrible pictures. The HVX200 employs Pixel shift, a genius trick that video engineers invented to "double" the resolution of a CCD block. it esentially off sets(the shift part of pixel shift) one set of the 3CCD blocks, CCD's. This creates an overlap in what the CCD's readout. essentially the camera now recombines the "two" images together into a higher resolution image, infact, a 1920 x 1080 image.
Now another inmportant thing to note is this. the performance of the HVX200's lens is phenominal. The lens is sharp all the way through the Zoom range, and exhibits minimal chroma abberation. Many people are led to believe that a professional camera needs "interchangebale lenses" to perfomr well, however on cameras with CCD's this small, interchangeable lenses really don't benefit anyone but the select few who choose to spend alot of money on a fully manual focus and zoom HD lens ( which often costs 2X as much as the camera, so really its benefiting the lens manufacturer). The manual zoom and focus is whats desireable here. the HVX200 provides you with a FULLY manual Zoom built in. Its an actual mechanichal link, no servo motors here. And the Focusing is accurate to the inch, and is fully repeatable. Also the ample wide angle field of view, acceptable 13X zoom, razorsharp optics, and exceptional imaging block make for stunning footage.
This leads me to the next point in the camera; the signal processing and recording formats.
As a cinematographer, accurate color, and in-camera controll is a neccesity. Often times clients would rather not do extensive color correction, so with the AMPLE image controlls, similar to the HVX200's little brother the DVX100/a/b, i can practically create any look i desire in camera. I can make it pastel and desaturated, or deeply contrasty, with crushed blacks, and technicolor like saturation, all with a few click of the menu settings. Now once the look is defined, and all the extensive settings are dictated, recording the image is the next link in the chain.
Other cameras, like the Canon XLH1, JVC Hd100, Sony Z1u/Fx1 /V1, use HDV mpeg codecs. HDV's codec is what is broadcast through cable/satelite TV when they broadcast HD. its a fantastic final trandsport medium for broadcast, however its a lackluster initial acquisition medium. Depending on the manufacturer and codec subtlety, as there are 4 different kinds of HDV, mostly incompatible with each other on the different makers HDV decks, and it can make capturing footage in a professional sense a hassle. Technichally speaking HDV only records an actual frame of the image every 10-15 frames, the rest of the frames are motion estimated by the Mpeg algorithm of HDV. HDV is very efficient for compressing the footage down to fit on a MiniDV tape, but it leads to artifacting that can make you life hell in the editing room, color correction suite, and special effects departments. The main image artifact being the pixelation that occurs when the HDV codec is stressed by an image event like a flash bulb or lots of constant movement, such as running water, leaves in trees blowing in the wind... Etc. it has trouble rendering the image faith fully when there is lots of small detials in motion. The HVX200 records to a Completely different medium. It records to DVCPROHD codec. The HVX200 records each and every frame of the video completely with much lighter compression than HDV which yields Superb results and is significantly less taxing on an editing system despite its larger file size. This is a True professional codec that is used by the big, expensive, professional HD cameras. Panasonic made good by bringing professional quality recording medium to the masses.
This is possible because of the P2 media. They are solid state flash memory cards that record the HD footage. Right now the card size is realtively small. Around 8 Gigabytes. But before i get to the actual recording, let me touch on what makes the HVX200 a truly wonderful piece of technology. It is its EXTRAORDINARY versatility. Most other Hd cameras record Standard Definition DV, and one type of HDV, either 1080i or 720P. The HVX200 can record, in standard definition: 480i, 480P, 480i/p in DVCpro50, which is a nearly uncompressed standard definition that looks SPECTACULAR. DVCpro50 is the professional SD recording format. Panasonic even gave us that!!!!!! all of these SD formats can be shot in either 60i, 30P or the ever amazing 24P.
HD: The Hvx, really strikes me here. not only does it record, 1080i AND 720P. But the Camer can also record an amazing 1080P!!! thats the highest resolution available at this price point! All of these formats are aviable in 60i, 60P(in 720), as well as 30p and 24P frame rates. This is like having 2 cameras in one. This is why i love the camera so much. i can provide my clients with WHATEVER format they need. whether it be DV, DVCpro50, 720P, 1080i, 1080P.....
.....And, to make the HVX200 even better..... it has the most increadible feature of TRUE variable framerates. Like a film camera, i can actually overcrank and Undercrank the footage!! and it will play back in its proper speed without any manipulation in post!!!
This is all due to the P2 cards. This is why i had to take a tangent, so that i could explain exactly why the P2 cards are neccesary. You see without a solid state recording medium, none of the flexibility of the camera would be possible. The camera can even record in whats called, 720Pnative. which means, when shooting 24P in 720, it only records a genuine 24 images persecond, this gives you 2.5X more record time. Normally the DVCproHD recordings are bout a gig per minute of footage, but with 720pNative, its 2minuts, 30 seconds of record time per gig. That 8 gig card can now hold 20 minutes of footage! Its far more efficient, and makes the current system far more useable for long form recording.
The trick to P2 is to not think of it as a Video camera. thnk of it as a Film camera with Film Mags. its operates very similarly. you have to Swap out full cards for fresh cards every once in a while. Like you have to swap Film Magazines once all the film is exposed. This is good for Narrative work, but can be a hassle for people trying to shoot things that are long form, like weddings, or documentaries without help. but once the Newer cards come out, with greater capacity, these limitations will disappear.
Overall the quality of the footage speaks for itslef. It Truly is amazing to behold on my 60" HDTV.
I truly have Never been this impressed with a product before.
True high definition image quality (1080i or 720p) with low-compression DVCPRO HD intraframe recording Supports HD/SD multi-format and multi-codec rec...More at Amazon
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