Panasonic DVX100BE
Category: Filmmaking | 1 Comment | 25th May 2007
JD Pictures will be producing only the highest quality films from now on thanks to the amazingly powerful DVX100BE! This camera really does produce beautiful footage that looks uncannily like it was shot on film!
The DVX100BE is a big beast, no point trying to deny it. Its certainly a bit of a different beast to the dinky Sony that I used previously. It has a fairly intuitive layout - all the buttons are where you would expect to find them!
Looking at the camera from the front, you can see the huge lens shade which protects the lens from unwanted reflections. Quite a lens it is too. Its 72mm diameter allows a huge amount of light in. This light is split between three CCDs one for each colour (RGB). The optical image stabilisation is very impressive, maintaining smooth shots even on full zoom. The large focus ring makes changing the focus really easy. The DVX also has a manual zoom ring which allows the operator to make very fast zooming motions, or just to have a smooth motion.
The on-board microphone (situated on top of the camera) is far better than the sony one, but still picks up plenty of camera noise. I feel that it will not be much use for real filmmaking... Not to fear, the DVX has two XLR audio inputs to allow professional quality microphones to be used. I think this maybe something I will need to invest further in!
The DVX has a great LCD - its bright, high resolution and feels really sturdy. Its not 16:9 ratio, but apart from that it can't be faulted. Using the camera in widescreen mode, the top and bottom of the image is cropped. Opening the LCD reveals a plethora of buttons. These control display modes, audio settings, shutter speed, and other manual settings. Just below the LCD are two knobs for controlling the audio level - which is metered on screen.
Mounted on the side of the lens, are further manual controls, including user definable buttons which can be set to control anything you want. Behind these is the switch for the Neutral Density Filters which cut down the amount of light than can enter the lens and allow the iris to be opened further - reducing the depth of field. A small depth of field is what makes hollywood movies look so good!
I have uploaded a small sample clip - to show the awesome quality and DOF. I also tried a little bit of Colour Correction - the Black and white clip and the second brick wall clip!
All in all, I am very happy with the choice to buy the camera - I am now noticeably poorer, but I think I am going to get on well with this camera. I will probably update this article when I take the DVX on a proper shoot sometime in the near future!
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06.06.2007 / 6pm