Trying out the new Panasonic HPX 250
This camera just came in on Friday and I was able to shoot a few hours on it already! So far I love the 22x optical zoom which is a HUGE improvement over the older ENG-type Panny HVX line although the zoom is not a constant aperture, it ranges from f1.6- f3.2. The resolution on the monitor is also way better and there is also a complete EVF control system in the menu functions which allows the user to dial in the frequency and amount of EVF in any given shot- truly a needed resource for all run and gun shooting.
The HPX is a little longer than it’s predecessors but I actually don’t mind the size- it’s really almost easier to manuever and handle because of it’s length not despite it. I had a little trouble dumping the footage but not because of the new AVC-Intra codec (which looks great) but because of an innocuous little setting in the menu tab which indicated that my camera was the “host” and not the “device”. I switched the setting and the ingest was extremely easy after that. So far, it’s a great camera–I have a shoot this week and I’ll be trying it out again, this time for real.
