Fisherman's Wharf Low Light Shooting with the 4K 60P Panasonic HC-X2000 / Video tips and tripods
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- Опубліковано 25 тра 2021
- Come along on a tour of San Francisco's Wax Museum and Aquarium of the Bay. I'll be shooting low light video with the Panasonic HC-X2000, currently the worlds smallest, lightest 4K 60P camcorder.
Filming the lifelike wax figures and colorful but dimly lit aquatic life will challenge the camera's small sensor. Judge for yourself if the camera's many good attributes compensate for its limitations.
I'll give you some tips on how I use compact light weight equipment such as Benro and Sirui tripods to shoot video and my philosophy for capturing compelling footage.
If none of that interests you, I think you'll still enjoy seeing what these two famous S.F. venues have to offer.
What an amazing video!! I have been considering buying myself an X-2000 for Christmas. This video solidified my decision! Thank you for sharing!!
Thanks for the compliment!
The picture looks great. I think Panasonic are really getting things right. Nicely designed for practical use.
Very interesting presentation ! Thanks for sharing
Ive been having a hard time choosing between getting the AX700 & the X1500/X2000. This was one of the best sample videos ive seen of the Panasonic! The low light doesnt look as good as the Sony, but damn, considering this is the ONLY camcorder option with 4K 60p, I actually think its pretty good!
This was one of the nicest reviews of this camcorder I have seen- Your smooth way of explaining and the nice footage are really worth watching till the end.
I appreciate your comments and glad you liked the video. Thanks for watching 'til the end in these times of general short attention spans and the need for constant stimuli.
@@DanChanPiano I agree - our youth is only after instant dopamine rewards -:)
Wow, i really wantvto go to this video camera from my a6500 for slimpicity... great footage
Very impressive and accomplished video. If this is the performance of the HC-X2000 then I gonna get one. Greetings from the UK DAN.
Thank you Steve. High compliments coming from someone who understands what's involved in creating a proper video. I'm impressed by your work as well and enjoyed your channel.
I'm still likening the camera after now having it awhile. One con is the fiddly little buttons.
Best features for me is the 60fps in UHD and the reduced motion blur of faster camera movements and quick moving subjects. Secondly is the reach of the zoom. However with the 600mm plus zoom, I must remind myself not to overuse the telephoto just because I have it. Many times now I've come back to review the footage and wished I had backed off some to reveal more environment. For example the extreme close up of that bird is great to cut to as long as you have the establishing shot first. Also, heat shimmer shooting through so much atmosphere can be a problem. Maybe not in the balmy UK but certainly in sunny California.
Best wishes!
Thanks for the advice and tips and really enjoyable watching your shots. You have a great cam that takes very beautiful video. I've just started searching for a good cam, but no rush, want to be sure I get something very good. Have been looking at the Panasonic HC-X1500 4K Pro Camcorder, I "assume" it's a little bit behind yours. But same as yours the small sensor is a sore point for me. Still, its very very nice and your low light shots are still excellent and much better than what I have at the moment. Cheers Buddy. Best regards.
You're most welcome and I'm glad it was of benefit. The 3 Panasonics in the line are all built on the same body and internals. Each in the progression just has a few more add-ons. As a photographer of nature, I envy your local and availability of exotic species. I've also liked hearing your interesting commentary and perspective. Best of health to you. Dan
@@DanChanPiano Thanks sooo much Dan. Oh yes we have some great bird species and more over here. You'd love it. Thanks again Mate. Best regards. :-)
Wow I just got this camera and your videos look great. I can’t wait to go out and shoot some amazing footage. May I ask...What camera were you shooting with when you were showing Panasonic HC-x2000 itself and when you were putting it into a DSLR case? It looked Incredibly clear. I’d like to get that camera too. 😬
It's the Sony AX-700 and a fine camera it is. Very sharp lens and processor as you've seen and It's 1" sensor does really well in low light. Hybrid auto focus is better than the Panasonic. It has all the manual controls as the Panasonic. I would highly recommend.
The AX-700 shoots 4K at max of 30fps so in 4K, you need to be careful with fast moving subjects or quick panning. The AX-700's 12X zoom is also bested by the Panny's 25X. I now have a Sony AX-53 as well with the wonderful BOSS stabilization and its almost a pocket camera. . Its nice to have a choice of cameras to use one over another according to their strong points for different applications. Analogy- Pickup trucks are great for hauling, sedans are great for around town. If you have both you won't be strapping the couch on top of the sedan and you won't need to use the big truck for everyday errands. Although I own mirrorless cameras and lenses, for video, camcorders are king.
Great video.Thanks for the advice and tips.I own the Panasonic HC-X1500e.Which scene setting did you use.
The only disadvantage is that there is no sound when record is starting and stopping.
I’ve been using “Still” as it’s reasonably contrasty and I don’t do much grading in post. Yes, I prefer a conformation beep too. That is an on/off option on many cameras but not these. There have been times when I thought I was recording only to have a second look and realize I was still in standby. I have time code running now so I can see movement on screen to verify record status. I find histograms useful too but not a feature of our cameras.
Great work. Thank you for sharing this footage. Surprisingly this camera performs not bad for such a small sensor. Did you soot in manual or auto mode? By experience (I have a DVX200), shooting in manual mode gives a better result. In some scenes the noise becomes noticeable. Did you use the light? I'm thinking to buy this camera and your reply will be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Thanks Mike. For the shoot that day I left the camera in Auto mode with a -0.7 exposure compensation as described in the video. I didn't use the on board light. I only use that in a pinch as you lose the shadow definition that you get from off lens axis available light. I would use it in total darkness or to give a little fill, but I dislike flat frontal lighting like you would see in photos lit with on camera flash.
@@DanChanPiano Thank you for the clarification. Regards.
Hi there...I have DSLRs etc but for some live events (some weddings etc) I use camcorders and I want a new one...this Panasonic looks good-great size and features-I would use it on a monopod mostly but the low light performance may not be the best which is understandable due to its sensor size..for the low light in the museum, do you remember your settings? Manual exposure of course...shutter? and gain? I get grain when I push my old Canon XF300 over 6db...Thanks so much for the video. I visited lovely SF in March 2020 just as the darn pandemic was closing down the city...I missed going to Alcatraz! argh! but I hope to visit again soon. I left my Heart in SF!! I'm in Toronto, Canada, Thanks
Hi Erick, I purposely left the camera on full auto that day in SF with the exception of -0.7 auto exposure compensation. The camera is billed as a pick up and start shooting machine where it does all the exposure/ focusing / stabilization and you can concentrate on composition and content and I wanted to test that. To my tastes, and according to the zebras, the camera tends to overexpose some in auto so I pretty much always lower the auto exposure by 3/4 stop. In auto, the camera doesn't tell you what its doing in the way of gain, iris and shutter speed, although I wish it did. I think its smart enough to know you want as low a gain as possible and compensates with the iris next and then the shutter.
SF is close to me and a nice place to visit, but big cities are not for me. The crush of people, traffic and the fast pace I can do without. Some people like the big city excitement, which living in Toronto, you might be one of. Speaking of fast pace, I like the quick paced hyper-lapse style of your commercial work. It fits that genre well.
@@DanChanPiano Thanks for the info! Toronto can be quite chaotic...true enough...there is a chance to "escape" the city and get outdoors just a few minutes out of Toronto...I enjoyed my first (and only so far) trip to California. We drove from LA to SF along the coast and it was nice. I grew up in Latinamerica, next to the ocean so that brought nice memories. I do lifestyle videography part time in Toronto- it has been slow for a bit but I hope next year it gets better. Life will go on! I'm researching new cameras for live events-this camcorder looks promising even if some reviewers say that low light is not the best. It has a small sensor after all. I will try to give a try at my local video resellers stores here. you got some nice footage with it. Sometimes a real camcorder is the right tool for some jobs. Not everything has to be shot with a tiny DSLR! Take care !
Hello congratulations for your shooting which model of the tamrac for the camera case did you use? I ordered the HC-X1500, I already have an AG-UX90 that I use in low light situations in the evening
Grazie Massimo! The Tamarac case has long been discontinued. I also own a Lowepro TLZ2, also discontinued. You just have to buy what is available in a "holster camera case". Search that term on B&H and choices of top loading styles will result. In the specs will be the dimensions, so that you can get the size to fit your needs.
😀😀😀
Amazing footage. Does Panasonic HC-X2000 save which video format? .avi? .mp4? .mov? or you need third party software to edit a weird file format?
You can choose between .mp4 and .mov, with both formats editable in most NLEs. The camera gives more codec choices in .mov, but windows player has problems playing mov so I shoot in mp4.
@@DanChanPiano Cool! Thank you :)
What were your settings indoor in the aquarium and picture profile?
All shooting that day was purposely left on full auto (exposure and focus) to see what could be achieved with minimal operator intervention. I use Zebras to determine need for AE compensation which was set to -0.7 as a regular practice on this camera. I wish it had a histogram. AGC limit was set to the max 30 to let the camera have its way with gain. I wish it gave a gain readout while in auto. Scene file was set to (Still) to minimize post color grading. OIS on / Hybrid OIS on. Format was MP4 2160-59.94p HEVC LongGOP100M which is the only 60p setting for MP4. I have problems with MOV files on my PC. Too bad because the camera has a lot more format settings for MOV. I see you have a CX-10.
Halfway through this video I forgot why I was watching it. Then I remembered, I'm watching this to see the low light performance. There was nothing in this that distracted from the content of the video, which I believe is the whole point of a quality camera. I'm trying to decide on buying a used Canon XF400 or a new X1500/2000. I want a good overall camera for such a wide range of videos (HS concerts, indoor sports, outdoor sports, family events, etc). It can't be too heavy and 4k60p is a must. What post processing did you do?
Perhaps I got a little carried away with the storytelling aspect of the video and yes the tripod stuff wasn't necessary. A video of just an A/B test of the camera wouldn't be my style. I chose to relate some information about the camera, include clips of how it performed in bright daylight and then in what I consider low indoor light. The lighting in the T shirt shop, the display lights of the museum and especially the dimly lit aquarium are magnitudes of order less light than daylight.
The Canon XF400 with its 1" sensor should do better than the Panasonic in low light. However it is older technology, doesn't have as much zoom range and 2.8 to 4.5 variable lens. The Panasonic's fast variable F1.8 is only maintained in it's widest setting and stops down quickly as soon as you start zooming. I tried to use the X2000 for some studio lit scenes and it didn't perform well. My Sony AX700's 1" sensor did much better. Also remember that 60fps is cutting half the light of 30p. I shot this Ranch Party video with the X2000 on auto at 60p. Nighttime available light only and bonfire light if you care to see what that lighting scenario with the Panasonic is like. ua-cam.com/video/zYYzC08HKU8/v-deo.html
I'm using Sony Vegas (Movie Studio 16) as my NLE only because I know it well and reluctant to change. It crashes a lot despite my powerful system and I wouldn't recommend it.
@@DanChanPiano You definitely did not get carried away. It was perfect! You showed such a wide gamut of shades from very dark to very bright and everything in between. It's the first (and only) video that I've seen that really pushed the complete range. Thanks for that Ranch video, another good one that shows the range. I do see the limitations but I think what I'd be doing this looks like a great camera given the size and price. Regarding the processing, I was referring to any processing you did on these two videos. I assume you did some color grading, but did you perform any noise reduction steps? Finally, is there any reason that someone shouldn't get this camera, other than the sensor size? I'm not prepared to go over 2100 kg in weight or $3000. :)
@@paulg9042 I only bump up the contrast and saturation a bit in my videos. I don't have very good color grading skills. No noise reduction. On another subject, there's something I've recently discovered regarding the OIS that would have improved the stability of the handheld walking SF streets scenes. I had the camera OIS on / Hybrid OIS on / and the OIS mode in standard. Well there are two more OIS modes besides standard that I didn't realize were there. There's also pan/tilt and "stable". I now shoot handheld in the "stable" mode and the stabilization is improved quite a bit without any cropping.
I don't regret the purchase of the X2000. It has many professional features and can be fully manually controlled. Battery is great. The long end of the zoom range is great. I find myself actually zooming in too much just because I can, and afterwards wish that I would have shown a little more subject environment.
We always want our cameras to have a little more on the wide end and this one is no exception.
Choice of formats if MP4 and MOV. I'm shooting in MP4 because my windows machine has problems with the MOV format. MP4 at 60p only goes up to 100mps. The camera has many more MOV codecs (including 60p at 200mps) than it does Mp4 so I'm really not getting the best quality available shooting mp4.
@Dan Chan Great! Thanks for the information. It will certainly be a good upgrade from my old Canon vixia!
Can this do 120 fps?
Yes, it is capable of 120fps when the camera set to 1080p rec format and MOV file format.
So $2500 for 1/2 sensor, zv1 is $700 and and has 1" sensor I was looking to buy this camcorder but I will keep saving for sony fs mark 3
Thanks for commenting and I'm glad the video gave you more information in making a decision. A bigger sensor will always be better in low light. Keep in mind that sensor size is important, but not the only thing that makes one camera better than another. Weigh all the factors, then decide.
its still cheaper then my old minidv vx2100e :)
Seventeen years ago your camera was hot stuff and you payed for the latest 3CCD technology. That's just the way things go. I payed a lot for my Hi-8 sony handycam back then too and compared to today's standards the quality was terrible. But I have video of my kids growing up, and you can't put a price on that.
Sony nx80 with 1" Sensor and log is better
In some ways yes, in others no. There are always tradeoffs when it comes to one camera over another and I do love Sony cameras. All the very sharp images in this video where the Panasonic is shown were shot with a Sony AX-700. You're right in saying the NX80 most likely has better overall image quality and better low light capability with its 1" sensor and its fine Zeiss lens but the Panasonic has twice the zoom range, 4K@60p and a 4 hour battery. It's always hard making purchasing decisions on which camera to choose. You've got to go with the features that are more important to you.