Urgent help with HX100V please.

Hello,

Please help me.

I purchasd Panasonic FZ100 last week because I needed a zoom camera.
The thing is I didn't know HX100V was available in 2 days after I made my
purchase.

So, I have some very urgent questions to ask.

1. How is the quality of the pictures taken while shooting a video in HX100V?
Is it better than Panasonic FZ100?
This function was one of the main things I considered when I chose FZ100, but
from the way I see, the quality isn't up to the IQ of a normal still.
Some samples and/or analysis would be greatly appreciated.

2. I would be really grateful if you could compare FZ100 vs HX100V in IQ and video quality.
I think FZ100 has somewhat a lot of noise. I'm wondering if this is somewhat
general to any other cameras except HX100V at the moment.

3. If there is any good things beside the IQ about FZ100 over HX100V, please let
me know.
Any pros and cons will be appreciated.

At the moment I'm under a great stress whether to keep FZ100 or sell
it and get HX100V instead.
The problem is where I am staying, 30-day return policy is not available.
So I either have to sell it or return it to the store I purchased it with
some penalty (although I don't even know whether this is possible).
I don't eve know how much I should lose.

I will appreciate any advices.

Please help.

Thanks very much in advance.

I've checked the video performance of several Panasonic cameras from the last two years and found that they had unstable autofocus. Anytime they were zoomed or panned, the focus would blur and waiver. If video is very important to you, I think you'd be a lot more pleased with the HX100V. From what I've seen online, the video autofocus of it and the HX9V is very solid and there's a minimum of motion artifacts.

You can't expect video resolution at 1920 X 1080 to be as sharp as individual photos, which also have a lot more encoding bits for each frame. You can get very nice still-captures from the HX100V video, using the PMB program from Sony, but they won't be as good as photos you snap while shooting video.

If I were in your place, I'd pay a re-stocking fee and get the Sony instead, but you're the one who will have to decide what you want.
--
Steve McDonald
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22121562@N00/
http://www.vimeo.com/user458315/videos



http://video.yahoo.com/people/4019627

Thanks very much for your advice.

Yes, video is important to me and what you said is a very valuable information to me.

Also, I always thought simulatneous still capture while shooting a video (or dual record or dual recording mode in HX100V) really meant to produce a still like taking a real photograph, so I didn't know the quality would be so less.

If what they do is just turn one of the frames into a still image, that can be done by a software like you said and doesn't seem like an attractive function. I feel sad that I was ignorant about this fact.

Selling/or returning with paying re-stocking fee won't be an easy process to me. I will have to literally beg to the store owner.

It's such a pain to have to go through all this for missing HX100V just by 2 days.

Once again, thanks very mcuh for your advice.

novice2011 said:

Thanks very much for your advice.

Yes, video is important to me and what you said is a very valuable information to me.

Also, I always thought simultaneous still capture while shooting a video (or dual record or dual recording mode in HX100V) really meant to produce a still like taking a real photograph, so I didn't know the quality would be so less.

If what they do is just turn one of the frames into a still image, that can be done by a software like you said and doesn't seem like an attractive function. I feel sad that I was ignorant about this fact.

Selling/or returning with paying re-stocking fee won't be an easy process to me. I will have to literally beg to the store owner.

It's such a pain to have to go through all this for missing HX100V just by 2 days.

Once again, thanks very much for your advice.

Click to expand...

Actually, taking a photo while simultaneously shooting video will give you a 3-MP J-PEG photo that will be sharper than a still-capture taken later from video. A still-capture or vid-cap will have 2-MP and will come from a video frame that had fewer encoding bits than a J-PEG photo. The J-PEG photos that are taken simultaneously with video, come from a 3-Megapixel segment of the raw camera image, that is also sent to the video encoder. These J-PEG photos are encoded directly from the camera source and don't pass through video encoding the way vid-caps do.
--
Steve McDonald
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22121562@N00/
http://www.vimeo.com/user458315/videos



http://video.yahoo.com/people/4019627

I thought that was the case, too. But when I use that function with FZ100, it produces a still that is blur. I compared it a still capture from a frame of the video I've taken by a software and this software capture seems sharper than the FZ100's simultaneous capture. It certainly doesn't look like a normal stills taken in still picture mode only.

I'm also concerned about the battery life. I hear that HX100V's battery runs out fast and Sony allows only their own battery, not those 3rd party cheaper ones. I'm wondering if this information is correct.

Sorry for so many questions. This thing is really giving me a hard time.

I have an HX1, which uses the same battery as the HX100V. The charge of this battery lasts for a long time. I once shot more than an hour of video and two dozen photos without changing the battery. If you don't use the GPS system and large viewscreen, the running time will increase a lot.

The HX1 doesn't take simultaneous photos with video, but I have a Sony HDV camcorder, the HC9, that does this. The J-PEG photos it captures while recording video on tape can be very sharp. I think that the HX100V will do as well with these photos. Here's one from my HC9 that was taken while shooting video.



--
Steve McDonald
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22121562@N00/
http://www.vimeo.com/user458315/videos



http://video.yahoo.com/people/4019627

Thanks very much for the info.

Wow, that is a nice shot. If HX100V's dual recording mode produces the kind of still you presented, I think that's amzing. That's really good to know.

About the battery, I hope what you say is right.

Now, all these give me more reasons to get HX100V. The problem is how to return my FZ100 to the shop. I really feel terrible...

I'd wait until there is proof that BB actually has the Sony. None of ushave it yet in hand. Order a Sony and see if u get it before return hassles to get a maybe phantom camera

PanasonicFZ100 video is outstanding. The same can't be said about stills, reason why I sent back mine.
Kind regards.
Joao

I was a diehard Panasonic fan and had a nice FZ50. One dayb while shooting in a barn I scratched the lens of this great camera. Around the same time, Panasonic introduced the FZ100 and I got one. I took several pictures with it, put it back in the box and returned it. The IQ was horrible!!!! From the images I have seen on this forum, the Sony HX100 has the Panasonic beat by a large margin! Get the Sony, you won't be sorry, but make sure it is available! It's a hard one to find right now!
--
Jackie
Upstate, NY near Lake Placid '1932 & 1980 Olympic Village'

Thanks to everyone for precious comments and advices.

I really liked to have Panasonic FZ100 from last year, because I really wanted the dual recording function, not to mention the IQ and video.

Unfortunately, the still IQ for both in the dual recording mode and photo mode seem far below my expectation. The video seems to be good. But I need more than just video alone, and that's the problem.

About the camera availability, I'm aware of the risk I'm taking. But at the moment, I want to return FZ100 before it's too late. Although I have no guarantee if I can even return it. I feel really horrible about this...

If anyone can clearly verify for me about the IQ of the still image in dual recording mode, I would really appreciate. That's going to become one of the key factors for my decision.

I hope you will be lucky with FZ100, I borrowed one fo a day. With very high expentations.

The movies not nice compared with TZ7. Pictures of TZ7 where beter than the FZ100.

FZ100 .....never, maybe it was a monday model but I was not impressed.

The Dutchman