The HPX170 Review
I just read through Adam Wilt’s mammoth review of the HPX170. It’s definitely worth a read, if you’re into that sort of thing. Just prepare yourself to be there for a little while. Maybe make yourself a cup of tea and grab a sandwich first.
The last time I wrote about the HPX170 I mentioned a lot of the features I was excited about. Now I’m more excited.
Several design decisions — like moving the Manual/Servo zoom switch from the front to the left side — are particularly attractive. That stupid little switch (on the rare occasion that I wasn’t going full-manual) would always cause me to bump the focus when I tried to reach it. Also of note is a 1/4in mount on the handle, protected volume controls, and the now highly publicized switchable iris/focus ring.
Another handy feature is the ability to offload footage without removing the P2 cards or connecting directly to a computer. Apparently you can actually connect a USB or FireWire hard drive and the camera will create partitions on that drive to store the clips in. Pretty neat. The drive must be powered externally, however.
If you’re working with another HPX170 you’ll have the ability to store your camera settings and scene files on SD or SDHC cards to match settings across all units. That’s definitely handy, but doesn’t allow you to swap settings with other cameras — like the HVX200 or 200a. Still, I imagine if the HXP170 becomes anywhere as popular as the DVX100 (and subsequent revisions), it won’t be a challenge to find another HPX170 operator.
Unfortunately it looks like some of the coolest features only work in very specific modes. For instance, the ability to pre-record footage (that is, the camera will actually capture footage BEFORE you hit record) only works at 60i, 60p, and 30p. That’s probably not a huge deal for a lot of shooters, but it’ll give the 24p-ers (you like that? I just made that up) something to gripe about — myself included.
Other things I like
- Four (!) focus assist modes
- Variable frame rates (720p modes only)
- Waveform monitor and vectorscope built-in
The waveform monitor and vectorscope options are huge. I’m currently doing work using a green screen, and both tools are essential when you’re trying to evenly light a crude green screen setup.
Things I don’t like
- Variable frame rates only work in 720p modes
- No live data streaming (capturing live over FireWire) for 720pn modes
- Panasonic hasn’t sent me one to play with… yet (please?)
The timing of Adam’s review coincided with another major industry announcement — that of the Scarlet undergoing massive design and spec changes. There’s really not much to report on that yet. However, this new Scarlet mystery — in tandem with the HPX’s positive review — makes Panasonic’s offering that much more attractive.
Scarlet might still have the HPX170 beat on resolution when it does come out, but we all know by now that resolution is only part of the story.
I should buy this and we should make a movie.
Sounds great. When do we start?