Panasonic AG-DVX100...

Hi!

I´m going to buy an new camcorder in the next months so I did a research on the internet! And I fell in love with the
AG-DVX100 from Panasonic! This cam is great!
It can record with 24fps like "film"!
I´d like to know if anybody has ever used this cam and can show me some test-footage(in 24p mode!) so that I can see if it really gives you the "film-look" and the picture quality!

Thnx!

 

The reviews I've seen tend to lean toward "This is the best Mini-DV camera ever"

 

hey! for anybody who´s interested! I´ve found some test clips made with this cam!

http://www.mycen.com.my/dv/dvx100links.html

Looks really cool!

 

Darth_Bone. I have used that camera. It is indeed the best Mini-DV camera ever. I LOVE it. I wish my film making teacher had gotten one, but he got 2 GL2s instead. Still, I'm able to get a decent film look in post. But if I could, I would shoot on the AG-DVX100. Definately get it. It looks just like film.

 

We have 2 here in our rental facility I work in, lemme just say I am not at all impressed by it yet. I have worked with the F-900 HD 24p cameras we have here like Lucas used for EPII and those are incredible!!!! Well back to DV and the DVX100.

What's with the lens hood? The purpose of it is to block out light coming from the sides and the back, yet it has 4 huge gaping openings on the back. It's all for visual appeal, but will have problems for people trying to cut out the light when using filters and such on the front.

The 24p function iS impressive, but that's the only thing I really see in it. There are enhanced modes on it that the user might find comfusing like the initial display of the image vs. after processing for film. I see jagged edge stuff in F6 mode which is something that will be fixed in post after your do the 3:2 or 2:3 pulldown and whatever else. This function is not yet supposeted on the majority of DV editors out there rendering it useless for the time being until they all get up to spec with the Panasonic.

I admit I haven't gone in depth yet on all the colorizing effects and matrix settings you can change, so maybe that will make a difference.

I DON'T like the focus on the lens. It's VERY touchy. You barely move it and your focus can go off. The viewfiner I was very disappointed to find out is a color LCD viewfiner, which for us professionals is a nightmare since those LCD color viewfinders are NOT high resolution. Black and white would have been the way to go, as that is still the standard in all professional grade cameras.

BATTERIES!! BETTER GET A LOT OF THEM!!!! The average battery life of the one that comes with the camera is just over 1 hour. Our company purchased the larger sized batteries to hold more charge capacity, and they hold only a whopping 2 hour limit on there. This camera is a BATTERY HOG! I know that will be a big complaint among users. Avg. battery costs are about $150 for the larger batteries. My friend owns a PD-150 and that sucker lasts for 9 hours on the larger batteries and I get great results from that camera.

The chips sensitivity is pretty good. I think its pickup is better than the PD-150 and that I do like.

The XLR audio cables are in a goofy spot near the handle strap, but that's not too hideous.

The flipout screen is BIG! I like that, but that may be a big contributor to losing battery power fast!

The camera is well balanced when you hold it. One scary thing about the camera is that when it is off you can tip it one way and then the other way there is a clicking noise that is made (which is normal). You turn it on and it goes away. It has to do with something in the lens. While that isn't a big problem, the camera shouldn't be making any internal noises when turned off.

I like the manual zoom! It's very responsive and doesn't take much to do a quick zoom in.

The color even after white balancing appears a bit more greenish in tone as opposed to other cameras I lined up with it in tests. A little annoying, but maybe there's other settings to change this.

You have setup options at 0% and 7.5%, but Panasonic failed to apply these settings to the colorbar screen rendering it useless as reference to your final video output of your raw material for mass duplication or transferring to an analog format like VHS. Black levels could be way off in the end. if you know what this is (for you tech savvy people out there) you know what I mean. Blacks could be bumped up higher or darkened effecting your original footage. Some of the Sony models failed in this too like the PD-150 and the VX models. JVC succeeded in this working with the color bars according to settings made in 0 or 7.5%

I could go into more things, but I don't want this post to be any longer than it is.

Overall I'd have to say I'd like to really get into it a lot more before I even think about wanting to purchase this camera. All I can say is that you better know darn well what you're doing before going out in the field with this camera. It's