JVC Professional have sent me a LS300 with V2 firmware to try out. There are at least 7 major updates plus various FTP and WiFi additions.
One of the major updated features is ground breaking…Digital Zoom via Variable Scan Mapping (VSM). This one feature alone is in my opinion what sets JVC engineers apart from the rest of the competition, other companies give you centre scan which is a 2x crop via a user button.
JVC decided to link the zoom control on the hand grip with the VSM so you can digitally zoom with a “PRIME” lens and let me tell you it works a treat…is beyond genius. There is NO and I mean NO artefacts or pixelation and best of all no reduction in f stops.
This is only one of 7 new updated features I will be covering in my LS300 update video. I am poping into Glasgow tomorrow to get most of the filming done and using the DJI Osmo for my pieces to camera with a radio mic plugged into the Ozmo.
Doesn’t Sony Clear Image Zoom work with VSM ? That is available on several Sony camcorders and is available on the EA50 too I think
Hello Philip, I write to you from Lima Peru. I am an independent cameraman, devote myself to the coverage of all kinds of events in the main social as marriages and fifteen years. Not always in the churches and places there is the suitable lighting. Nowadays I use Panasonic AG AC90 and am conscious of his limits.
I am for acquiring a DVX200 for his rapid approach and use, as well a PXW X70 for services to third partir. But i am interested In it very much cinematographic aspect the JVC LS300 or new SONY FS5. He was thinking In a7s II but it would turn out to be to myself costly implemented. It has to be luminous.
Thanks.
“Digital Zoom via Variable Scan Mapping (VSM)” … is the same as Sony’s Clear Zoom, or is it better?
LOL even if JVC seems like a bit less obsessed with the marketing restrictions to anything less than 20K (US) I still see that they are (all) so SCARED of a decent servo zoom (wide to tele, which is the basic definition of a servo zoom) on these cameras. I was wondering if the servo lens on M43 (pana 45-175) could get a little wider on the wide end thanks to the variable thing that may need less cropping (otherwise it vignettes) than (say) a standard zoom. Not like I’m gonna put myself is any experimenting mode trying to make a limited camera work going out of my way for things that never work when you have to start shooting for real)
Just wondering if you had the chance to try the 45-175 and the amount of cropping to apply, if it gets wider than 90mm (in 35mm) to be exact……
This update came in Sept and I’ve been shooting with it since. The features the update brought really transform the camera. The gammas and colour matrices they added are fabulous; the zoom feature is great in 1080p, and the ability to shoot IN CAMERA UHD 4k, 4k cine, 2k, a histogram, spot meter–lots of other great things make the camera a joy to use. Now, what about some stabilization in-camera??
The lack of stabilization in camera limit hand held usage to only MFT compatible lenses…all the extra sensor and nothing to cover it. IMO the lack of stabilization and the poor LCD and EVF make the camera, hand held, practically unusable OUTSIDE. But inside this camera is the sharpest I have–cleaner image and better focus than I can achieve with my FS700. Super easy white balance, great focusing tools, and, now that we have spot meter and histogram, great exposure tools.
But if you’re going to advertise a camera as “hand held” it ought to provide stability from the inside out, and not rely on lenses. IMO.
But the in studio image quality is so good I don’t think I’ll want to part with this camera for a long while. Thanks to Sony for all the goodies in the v2 upgrade. It has transformed the camera and my joy in using it.
while I still believe that the lack of optical servo zoom in the pro-sumer category is a marketing intentional limitation driven by the money. I also believe that JVC is onto something big here. The future of (professional) videography is in the gimbals in the lens, 8K sensors and digital zoom instead of optical. The dramatic improvement of the digital manipulation achieved by JVC is the first step into the right direction. The doors should open now to a light/COMPACT 4K/8K shoulder camera with a real servo digital zoom -wide to tele- of the next decades in broadcast, sports, events and documentary. GH4 is fine already for movie sets, no need of arri/red/f65 anymore (only for durability given the fact that they will be rented, but I seriously doubt about their durability anyway, better produce in the house with several GH4s , methinks.
To the marketing people: cut it out with the stupid limits! A video camera must be 4K quality at least, NON-LIMITED time recording, standard low light (good enough with the today’s technology but without tricks and intentional limitation) , fast processing for both read-out and digital zoom (enough with limiting the speed already!).
have the courage of start selling something honestly good for a change!
it’s 2015 and the GH4 is the only camera with no time limit in that category?
and all with no servo zoom?
You look at the DVX-200 and what you get? a zoom but slow processing and a low light still not good enough?
is this a joke or you marketing people really believe that we are all stupid?
Follow JVC with this digital zoom here.
The DVX200 has a Digital Zoom feature just like the Sony Clear Image Zoom turning the 13 x optical into a 26 x zoom in HD. As with Sony they zoom/crop into the sensor. So in a way JVC is catching up to the others !!!
HDW : Not quite Ron, NO other large sensor camera allows you to zoom with a prime lens. Sonys Centre scan only allows you to punch in on the picture like a 2x extender.
I do not have a EA50 to check but this is a youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfDx918jdNQ of it operating with the 2x digital zoom function with a prime lens. It is a zoom not a fixed 2x centre scan. I do not think the scan algorithms are as good as they are on the newer cameras but it does do it.
Ron, the ea50 was in the right path regarding the digital zoom thing (too bad for the intentionally limited sensor’s processing for a low light unusable for pretty much anything to be shot in low light). But the manipulation was “primitive” and quite visible (I had the ea50 actually). What makes this JVC idea superior is a large sensor (much larger then the ea50)to start the manipulation with and the verifiable scan thing linked to the zoom. It’s the first time that I see a smart manipulation of what’s available to make something actually good for us. And it’s the future in my opinion. The results on a JVC digital zoom are practically like an optical zoom but with a constant aperture . The bokeh will suffer a little on the long end of the zoom but the other advantages are huge in my opinion. I’d like a compact shoulder mount camera (a real shoulder mount! balanced and everything, 4 points of contact) a big sensor capable of 4K or 8K, variable scan, and a small prime for a digital zoom of at least 10x , all digital. Add a gimbal in the lens like the sony nx30, small everything, the shoulder pad, the camera body, the lens, the batteries. 2 lbs on the shoulder…. can you imagine?
Mark, the EA50 has an APS-C sensor of 23.5 x 15.6 mm, 16.7 Megapixels and the LS300 has a micro 4/3 17.3 x 13 mm and 13.5 Megapixels. So in fact the NEX-EA50 has a bigger sensor than the LS300 with proportionally more pixels. I think the difference is that the algorithms have now improved with increased processing power available to do realtime scan conversion as the scanning effectively crops into the sensor. The EA50 is out of date in this regard now. I honestly do not see this any different to the Sony Clear Image zoom on their fixed lens cameras which they could do on any of their cameras. It works really well on my AX100 of course all this is in HD really cropping in a HD image on a high density sensor.
Just realized that the LS 300 is super 35, 24.89 x 18.66mm so not too different to the NEX-EA50 but bigger than micro 4/3 . The mount fooled me. So dimensions will really depend on how it is cropped for video. Cannot find anything on that. Cropped for video it may be very similar to the EA50.
No way to edit post so posted again.
Ron : the s35 sensor sports a native 16:9 format , but the real superiority of the JVC implementation stays with the variable scan algorithms , linked to the zoom by some genius with JVC. hats off to JVC (and I don’t do that often with any manufacturer lately!) , practically no difference compared to an optical zoom and the smartest digital manipulation we’ve seen in years. Definitely a new path in digital pictures in motion. This is big, in my opinion.
I don’t want to be too nice with JVC : thanks for the new thing (well done) but let’s be clear that they didn’t do it because they love us. Just like the Nikon D90 came out by accident (and destroyed the entire marketing of prosumer video in 1 day) , this variable scan thing was for JVC a necessity because they don’t have lenses to sell (fujinon or Canon ENG or konica). Basically they had to adopt a mount but the S35 was still too big so they created this variable scan . to sell, not because they wanted to actually give us something good. The link of the variable scan with the zoom was again some sort of accident (in my opinion) , not knowing that it may revolutionize the future of video lenses.
“I don’t want to be too nice with JVC : thanks for the new thing (well done) but let’s be clear that they didn’t do it because they love us. Just like the Nikon D90 came out by accident (and destroyed the entire marketing of prosumer video in 1 day) , this variable scan thing was for JVC a necessity because they don’t have lenses to sell (fujinon or Canon ENG or konica). Basically they had to adopt a mount but the S35 was still too big so they created this variable scan . to sell, not because they wanted to actually give us something good. The link of the variable scan with the zoom was again some sort of accident (in my opinion) , not knowing that it may revolutionize the future of video lenses.”
Well let’s hope that other manufacturers (Panasonic, Sony, Canon, Black Magic, etc) will be wise enough to include this function with better sensors in their future products. Can this be possible ? BTW Mark, will you do a new video update on your review for JVC ls300 and it’s new additions and perhaps some recommandations ? That’ll be nice
Michael : Philip Johnston does these great reviews (probably the best reviews around), not me. I just had to remark that JVC is the only manufacturer with less intentional restrictions and more innovation. At at good price (that too they have to: because they are almost invisible in the charts -of the sales- of the consumer/prosumer segment)