» Posts Tagged ‘panasonic’
Even though it’s not set to be officially unveiled until Monday, a promotional video for the Panasonic GH3 (the GH2 replacement) was accidentally released ahead of the announcement. The first video was actually released by Panasonic themselves, and has since been removed, but thanks to fast users, it has been uploaded elsewhere. Check out the video and updated specs below for all of the details on the new GH3.
The forthcoming Panasonic GH3 has some big shoes to fill, especially given the popularity (in hacked form) of its predecessor, the GH2. That camera came out on top in a poll we conducted as the favorite scene of NoFilmSchool readers in the 2012 Zacuto Shootout — with the far more expensive Arri Alexa and Sony F65 digital cameras rounding out second and third. While that poll involved a test with subjective lighting, it’s clear that the hacked GH2 can hold its own, especially for a camera priced under $1,000. Rumors have been flying recently about the specs of the GH3, and if they turn out to be true, there will be significant improvements in the camera’s codec, dynamic range, and auto focus, as well as the addition of some potentially interesting new features. More »
It looks like the wait is almost over. According to 43 Rumors, the new Lumix G X VARIO 12-35mm f2.8 should be shipping this week in Asia and Europe (no word yet on the U.S. and Canada), and the Olympus 75mm f1.8 should be coming in July. If you’ve had a hankering to see videos of these lenses in action then you’re in luck: More »
NAB 2012: Final Recap - Was This Really the Year of 4K? (Blackmagic Proves Otherwise)
I’m still trying to catch my breath from this year’s NAB show, but all this week I’ll be posting more videos and a few more thoughts on what I saw there. This had been dubbed the year of 4K by many, but I’m not so sure we can call it that. 4K is still a couple more years from becoming mainstream, but there’s no doubt that manufacturers are pushing their televisions and cameras into the world of 4K2K and QuadHD. Even though there were a few devices capable of shooting in that frame size announced at NAB, none of them are currently shipping (though the FS700 is the closest – even though it won’t technically be shipping as a 4K camera). It was a big year for announcements, but a few companies stood above the rest, while others missed the mark. More »
RED, Canon, Sony, BlackMagic, and Bolex were all showing off their latest cameras at NAB 2012 , but we haven’t been hearing a lot from Panasonic. While they did have an ENG offering in the form of the HPX-600 (the first AVC-Ultra camera), and a mock-up of the 4K Varicam, there was no word on a successor to the AF-100. Instead they revealed some upgrades for the AF-100, AC-130, AC-160, and HPX-250, as well as new developments in P2 card technology. Panasonic’s Jan Crittenden breaks it down: More »
It’s that time of year again, when companies reveal what they’ve been working on for the past year, and quite a few prototypes that aren’t quite ready to see the light of day. A few have already thrown down the gauntlet for camera superiority, namely Canon and Sony (though Sony still might have one more surprise for us at the show). We’re still waiting on RED’s (and Panasonic’s) response to these new 4K RAW ready cameras, and Jim Jannard has been making some noise on the REDuser forums, showing his excitement for what they’ve got coming next. Hopefully we’ll get a glimpse of “Dragon” at NAB, but we’ve been told in the past on those same forums that we won’t see any new products until they are shipping. More »
Electronic Viewfinders have slowly been replacing traditional viewfinders for the past few years, but last year’s NAB saw an explosion in cameras with all-digital viewfinders – as well as standalone EVF products. Sony has been in the lead for the quality of the EVF on their cameras, specifically the NEX-7, A77, and A65. Panasonic is just behind with their GH2. But all of the EVFs on these cameras pale in comparison to MicroOLED’s technology. More »
Yes. You read that correctly. What was thought to be an impossibility only months ago – might soon become a reality. Clean, uncompressed, HDMI-out has been a holy grail for many DSLR filmmakers – particularly because the ability to record a much higher bitrate codec would solve many image issues. Interestingly enough, Nikon struck the first blow with the D4 and D800. It’s not likely that Canon will have clean HDMI in their next 5D, based on the 1DX not having it, and Canon’s worry about cannibalizing their video division. Panasonic also isn’t there yet – likely because of their own video division. But being able to enhance the current crop of Canon cameras and enable clean HDMI might be just around the corner. More »
The Panasonic GH2 is beloved by many because of its small size, small price, and, um, large hackability. It has always had 24p, but until now never had 25p or 30p. Thanks to a new firmware released by Panasonic, GH2 users will be getting one or the other (but unfortunately not both): PAL GH2 users can now get 25p embedded in a 50i stream, and North American buyers get 30p embedded in a 60i stream (both at 24mb/s AVCHD). Here are the rest of the details: More »
The Panasonic GH2 keeps getting better and better thanks to hacker Vitaliy Kiselev. Recently he enabled a extremely high bitrate, and now he’s bumped the ISO during video mode from 3,200 all the way up to 12,800. While the GH2 had high ISO modes available previously, they were only possible with a Panasonic lens in Shutter Priority mode. Now anyone using hacked firmware can crank up the ISO. Here are some video tests of the GH2 at 12,800 ISO: More »
The Panasonic GH2, arguably the most aliasing-free, highest-resolution hybrid camera out there (pictured here with the $500 ReWo GH2 cage), natively records to a 24Mbit Long GOP codec. “Long GOP” means that redundant information is retained across moving frames, which is a very efficient way of compressing video, but can also leave behind compression artifacts. In addition to the original hacked firmware by Vitaliy Kiselev, a new hacker named Driftwood has managed to drastically increase the bitrate of the GH2, in addition to switching the codec to a 176Mbit intraframe codec, which could offer even better image quality with less artifacting. More »
At yesterday’s NAB press event Panasonic unveiled the AG-HPX250 (its first handheld P2 HD camcorder), the AG-AC160 and AG-AC130 (two new compact AVCCAM HD camcorders), and the AG-3DP1 (a full-size twin-lens 3D camcorder). They also showed a number of P2 transfer tools. For filmmakers interested in a shallow depth-of-field aesthetic, none of these cameras (without a 35mm adapter) is going to give Panasonic’s own AF100 a run for the money. Read on for more details: More »
The Sony F3 Put to the Test: 12+ Stops of Dynamic Range and a Bit of Aliasing
Video gurus Art Adams and Adam Wilt have put the Sony F3 through a suite of proper resolution, aliasing, IR sensitivity, and tonal-scale tests, and compared it with the Panasonic AF100 (now in stock at B&H), RED, and ARRI ALEXA cameras. We’ll have to wait for Zacuto to publish their forthcoming single-chip shootout to get a look at proper real-world comparisons (their DSLR vs film shootout was nominated for an Emmy), but here are the result for the time being. The F3 gets 12 + stops of dynamic range — before upgrading to S-Log, which Sony is claiming offers significantly more dynamic range — which, in this price range, is unprecedented. More from their results: More »
While RED releases EPIC to production and Panasonic prepares to ship their AF100, Sony has announced their most significant small-form factor camcorder since the VX1000 (the original miniDV camcorder, released in 1995). The PMW-F3L and PMW-F3K — which are the same camera, the “K” moniker indicates the inclusion of three kit lenses — are Super 35mm CMOS sensor-based CineAlta cameras, with a PL lens mount and variable 1080p frame rates. Sony is not messing around — these are pro cinema cameras. Let’s take a look at the vitals: More »
Sony showed two new cameras at IBC this year: one was a shoulder-mounted 3D camcorder that looks like a direct competitor to Panasonic’s own forthcoming 3D Camcorder, the AG3DA1, and the other is a smaller form-factor camera with a 35mm sensor that looks like a competitor to the Panasonic AF100 – that, or it’s a direct attempt to capture RED’s market. More »
By disabling the “write speed detection” failsafe of the Panasonic GH1, hacker Chris has doubled the GH1‘s AVCHD bitrate from 44Mbit to 86Mbit — a drastic increase over the camera’s stock speed of 17Mbit/sec. The culprit in limiting the previous incarnation of the hack to 44Mbit was apparently Panasonic’s desire to make the camera compatible with cheaper SD cards, thus placing an artificial limit on the SD write speed, independent of the actual speed of the card used — since removed by Chris. From EOSHD: More »
We’ve already heard most of the basic details about Panasonic’s AG-AF100, their Micro 4/3 camcorder that promises shallow depth-of-field images combined with pro video camera features. But the massive trade show IBC is currently taking place in Amsterdam, and Panasonic has chosen the event to make their official “global premiere” of the camera. Here are a couple of videos from the conference: More »
New details have emerged about Panasonic’s “DSLR killer” (my words, not theirs), the AG-AF100. First announced in April, the forthcoming camera will be priced around $6k and will use a Micro 4/3 sensor paired with an interchangeable lens mount. While the leaked document is marked “preliminary,” I’d imagine that the specs listed in the document are all but final: More »
Anyone currently shooting with a DSLR should know that this is a very particular time in digital imaging history, a time when inexpensive still cameras are shooting prettier video than more expensive dedicated video cameras. This won’t last. DSLRs have two main advantageous features over similarly-priced video cameras, which are: big chips and interchangeable lenses. Surely those two features can be adapted to a dedicated video camera, while eliminating some of the annoying ergonomic DSLR issues. RED has been working on this at DSLR pricepoints with their SCARLET system, but the question remains: how soon will inexpensive video cameras from mainstream manufacturers adopt these DSLR features, and which companies are going to be the first to do it? Panasonic has announced their first entry into the forthcoming post-DSLR video camera market (UPDATE: Sony also has a similar entry). More »
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