Major Development: Panasonic merges HD-SLR with a professional HD Camcorder – finally
One surprise today at NAB. Panasonic has announced it’s Micro Four Thirds camera, the AG-AF100. Now you can capture video with all the beauty of HD SLR cameras (shallow depth of field, attractive soft focus) without all of the problems.
If you remember, HD SLR cameras have some serious flaws. Namely audio recording, highly compressed aquisition codecs and short record times. There will be none of that with the Panasonic AG-AF100. It records to two SDXC cards (AVCCAM codec) and has XLR audio inputs.
It has Multi-HD formats and can record at various framerates – allowing for slow motion and fast motion recording.
A wide variety of Micro Four Thirds digital SLR lenses are available already, however you can also use 35mm lenses (like your Canon or Nikon lenses) with the mount adapter. No news as to whether this comes with the camera or if it must be purchased separately.
Other professional features:
HD SDI output
Dynamic range stretcher
Gamma select
We will be doing an on camera video demo tomorrow with a product specialist so stay tuned.
Due to release in December 2010 for approximately $6000 without lens.
Better images and more details to follow.
2 Responses
Very interesting development, John. You’ve got to ask a few questions for me.
First I’m curious to know how the 4/3 sensor, which has a 4×3 aspect ratio by nature, will produce a 16×9 image. Cropping the top and bottom?
Its a step in the right direction, but the 4/3 sensor is half the size of a frame of 35mm film or a full frame DSLR. Of course 35mm motion picture film is a little smaller than 35mm still film because of its orientation on the reel, so the size difference between it and motion picture film is less dramatic. Still, the 4/3 sensor size is smaller than a DSLR DX sensor on a Nikon or the 7D sensor from Canon. Its actually almost exactly half way between a 2/3″ video sensor and a RED ONE or Canon 5D mkII sensor.
Does the smaller 4/3 sensor size mean we’ll see a magnification factor of somewhere between 1.6 – 2 when using a full frame lens from Nikon or Canon? A magnification factor like that would really neuter a super-wide lens, taking a 17mm ultrawide FX lens to an effective focal length of 34mm. Something like that would turn a $2000 ultra-wide zoom lens into something you can find on the shelf at Costco. Maybe the Nikon and Canon lens mounts fix the sensor size disparity?
Also, do they use a Bayer Mask to extract color from the single sensor imaging system?
And of course, its very interesting that Panasonic beat Canon to the punch on this, but perhaps since canon doesn’t make 4/3 lenses, they’re holding out for a true 35mm full frame video camera. Just a thought.
Yeah – those are my questions exactly. The person that we spoke with gave us some conflicting info so I am waiting to talk with the product specialist.
In my opinion Panasonic took a step in the right direction. However, if I were to make a decision today about a new camera I would choose the Canon 5D MII. That thing was EVERYWHERE on the show floor. They’re compact, they look great and they’re cheap. Professional? No – but pretty darn close.
We’ll see what tomorrow’s interview will bring and I’ll definitelly ask your questions!