JVC px-100 camcorder

[seano10s]

John -

Any word if the New jvc px-100 camcorder has manual shutter speed? What were your impressions of it and would you recommend it to replace my Casio fh100?

Sean

[johnyandell]

Disappointed! No manual controls! In bright sun you are fine. Indoors or heavy shade, forget it, it defaults to mush...

[stotty]

Disappointed! No manual controls! In bright sun you are fine. Indoors or heavy shade, forget it, it defaults to mush...

Hmm...I work a lot under floodlights so I'm assuming this wouldn't be a good camera for me. My current camera doesn't work too well under floodlights either. The clips are always dark and grainy. Any recommendations here? My budget would be a $1000? This stuff is all tax deductible so it's worth spending out.

[tennis_chiro]

Camera suggestion

Hmm...I work a lot under floodlights so I'm assuming this wouldn't be a good camera for me. My current camera doesn't work too well under floodlights either. The clips are always dark and grainy. Any recommendations here? My budget would be a $1000? This stuff is all tax deductible so it's worth spending out.

Stotty,
I really love the GZ-GX1 from JVC I got for fence-mount match recording. The f/1.2 lens plus a wide angle attachment gives me a great view of the whole baseline right below the camera even though the camera is mounted right at the fence. The other advantage of the f/1.2 lens is it gets a lot of light in and therefore works real well at night under the lights. It even takes decent high speed (300 fps) under the lights. But I am mostly using that with Dartfish. (And no, I'm still not to the point I can use the "tagging" feature of Dartfish the way I hoped to.) My Casio is nicer and easier to use for record and immediate replay on the court, but the slo mo is useless under the lights. The higher definition of the GZ-GX1's slomo is nice, but the one problem with the camera is that it records AVCHD files. It seems like you are doing mostly on court immediate analysis. In that case, you really need to look at Ubersense (were you the one that told me about that?). They have a great free app for iPhone and iPad. If you have a camera with file types that are compatible with the iPad (avi and .mov work), then you can take the file immediately into your iPad and you have a great screen for doing an immediate review with the student. You can even record what you are doing and email a copy to him right away. Just pop the SD card out of the camera and into the iPad input accessory and you have a big screen you can analyze on. And with the free Ubersense app, you can even do side by side on court comparisons to downloaded Tennisplayer clips.

don

[tennis_chiro]

Just noticed this one: JVC GC-PX100 Full HD Everio Camcorder

Stotty,
I just noticed they discontinued selling the GZ-GX1, but have a slightly more expensive JVC GC-PX100 Full HD Everio Camcorder that appears to address the problems I was pointing out of only having AVCHD video. It also delivers .mov and .mp4 videos. It is worth checking out. Now offered for $900, but by the time you get extra batteries, an extended warranty and even a wide angle lens, you could be a couple of hundred over your price range. Keep an eye on it at B&H and they will probably offer a package in the next couple of months that may hit your price range.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/909750-REG/jvc_gc_px100_full_hd_compact.html

See the video demo at:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/909750-REG/jvc_gc_px100_full_hd_compact.html

You still are probably better off with a $300 camcorder that has iPad compatible files and an iPad if you don't already have one, but you are going to have a hard time finding a high speed camera that operates well in low light. At least I did.

don

[stotty]

Stotty,
I just noticed they discontinued selling the GZ-GX1, but have a slightly more expensive JVC GC-PX100 Full HD Everio Camcorder that appears to address the problems I was pointing out of only having AVCHD video. It also delivers .mov and .mp4 videos. It is worth checking out. Now offered for $900, but by the time you get extra batteries, an extended warranty and even a wide angle lens, you could be a couple of hundred over your price range. Keep an eye on it at B&H and they will probably offer a package in the next couple of months that may hit your price range.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/909750-REG/jvc_gc_px100_full_hd_compact.html

See the video demo at:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/909750-REG/jvc_gc_px100_full_hd_compact.html

You still are probably better off with a $300 camcorder that has iPad compatible files and an iPad if you don't already have one, but you are going to have a hard time finding a high speed camera that operates well in low light. At least I did.

don

I read about this one. It hasn't been released yet in the UK. I don't mind spending the money but want to be sure I am getting a lot for what I am paying. I want a camera that works in poor light...lots of poor light in the UK.
and under floodlights. This is an everyday requirement.

I also want excellent clarity and good high speed features. A remote timer would be handy so I could shut the camera on and off from 70 feet away. Nothing worse than running down one end of the court and back just to switch the camera on, then off a few minutes later.

Thanks for your help.

[johnyandell]

That jvc as I said lacks manual controls. It might be fine for just recording matches but you don't need the high speed for that. Something like a go cam would be better and way cheaper for that.

To do the frame by frame at 120fps or 240fps the discontinued casio exilm is still the way to go... think you can find them for a grand or so last I looked...
It doesn't look great in low light but you can at least keep the shutter speed bump the gain up and see what you want to see even if it's grainy and or somewhat dark. Used it at a USPTA conference indoors in this fashion to good effect.