Side by Side HD Camera Test and Comparison

This last week I was able to work on a test with a DP looking at different HD Cameras. We tested four in total including the new Panasonic AGHVX200 (which I will sometimes call just 200). The set up was a little rushed since we only had one day to test them all, but a lot of different looks and settings were applied.

Four Cameras

(top row from left)
Sony F-900 HDCAM Sony BCT-32HD
Panasonic Varicam DVCPRO HD AJ-P126LP

(bottom row from left)
Sony HDV Z1U HDV Stock PHDVM63
Panasonic AGHVX200 P2 Card

That is a picture of the cameras setup inside. We did many variations of a scene. The scene consisted of a person, color chart, sheet of black, bright white and color gel with light passing through. Wide, median, and close shots of all with different variations on key, fill and back light.

This is a subject outside where we did not have as much control over the lighting, but needed to test how the camera did in a "Field Test." Cars in the background passing showed some movement, and some trees helped show how well the camera dealt with detail. We would later do movement test which included: panning, handheld and placing the car in the back of a truck.

Here is the future of my job. So this new camera uses memory cards to record. Not so much of a crazy idea if you think about digital still cameras, but still very different for "film" people. This card is only a 4GB card and holds about 4 minutes of HD footage, so there is the first problem.
The cards slide into old power Macs (new models don't have this slot). It takes just about as long to shoot as it does to down load. When we shot this we did not have the right software to look at the footage, but I can only assume that it has worked out fine back at the post house.

I can not give a good recommendation on what camera is good for what yet, because I have not seen the footage yet. All that I can say is how good they work in the field.

The F900 and Varicam are the high end models and will not be replaced by these smaller units. They are easy to use and have more options on lens and different looks made in the menu. The representitive of Panasonic , who let us use the 200, said we will see a difference in quality between the big an the small cameras. Although we would like to believe that a $4,000 camera can look like a $60,000 camera, it will not.

I like the placement of the screen on the AGHVX200 as opposed to the one above the lens on the HDV. The layout of the 200 is almost the same as the DVX100, which will make a lot of people happy. What is really going to upset people is the P2 cards. The cards will someday hold 100GB of info but until then producers will not want to wait on a memory card to down load while an interviewee will loose their train of thought.