I absolutely love working with this camcorder. Having searched a long time for a modestly priced HD camcorder that had the same manual features I have grown accustomed to on my DSLR, I was delighted to find the HPX 170, as it provides a well organized set of controls at a price point much lower than that of similar cameras in its class. The HPX 170 and its P2 workflow work seamlessly with my MacBook Pro running Final Cut. The camera itself is a solid build, and feels great to work with on long shoots. The onboard mic is nothing spectacular, but it is better than most I have encountered. The built in lens provides spectacular depth of field, and a particularly good wide angle field of view. For lovers of low depth of field, a 35mm adaptor is still probably a must, however as you can see in the video, the camera lens gets pretty good low DoF results on its own, when zoomed in all the way at 51mm. All in all, at this price level, the HPX 170 is pretty hard to beat, given its full manual controls and well managed P2 workflow.
I'm a film student and needed something that was relatively inexpensive and came with the most features.
The waveform monitor is such a plus for this camera. The focus assist is also another great feature that really helps getting the maximum focus.
This camera truly has some outstanding features from its competitors. The ability to change the frame rate, deleting clips in camera (P2 work flow), light weight for hand held glidecams, great image quality, and many, many more.
I do pretty much any type of video work, form weddings, to music videos, to short films. This camera will get you what you want. There is however a learning curve if you are just now jumping into prosumer cameras. Although the camera does come with an outstanding guide from Barry Green.
You will not regret your decision if you get this camera.
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I bought this camera as part of a technology grant funded by my publisher in order to film interviews. I have only had it for one week, but I love this camera so far. The learning curve has been incredibly fast, and I'm posting a short video I shot today with this camera as a sample of what I've filmed with the Panasonic HPX170.
I love the wide-angle lens. I've never worked with a camera with a lens like this, and so I'm quickly learning about how to use depth of field in some shots.
I love the easy-to-change record settings. It records in about 20 different modes, everything from HD 1080i-60i to DVC Pro 50 to plain DV. I love that it has auto-focus and manual focus (and iris) options.
I like how easy it has been to upload my videos to Final Cut Pro, which I also have only owned for about a week.
Altogether, I have no complaints with this camera after one week's usage. I do wish that additional P2 Cards weren't so expensive. My HPX170 came with a single 16GB card, but I will probably invest in a 64GB card when they come out later this year.
The 16GB card records only 17 minutes in HD. The HPX170 does have two P2 card slots, so you could have two 64GB cards (128GB), which would record for over two hours in HD.
This would be a very sweet set-up with two 64GB cards.Am in the midst of making my second feature length film relying primarily on the HVX170. This camera is so spectacular it's hard for me to see the advantage of moving to anything more expensive.
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