We knew the DVX200 was going to come in somewhere around $5,000, but $4,200 is significantly less. We obviously focus a lot on fiction cinema here, and if you're shooting a film with a decent budget you're obviously going to rent or use something with interchangeable lenses, and likely recording dual system sound. That's not who this camera is for. This is a camera for documentaries and live event shooting where you'd like a more cinematic look and it would be cost prohibitive to have a lens with a focal length of 28mm - 365.3mm on full-frame (which would be close to a 17.5mm - 228mm lens). That's incredibly versatile considering at its worst, it closes down to f/4.5 on the long end (but opens up to f/2.8 on the wide end). 

I think this could also work great for high school students or people just starting out in fiction work, where you want a camera that does everything right out of the box — and shooting Micro 4/3 means they have a better chance of keeping things in focus. 

Thanks to Newsshooter for the scoop on this price announcement, here's our video from NAB if you missed it:

We've also seen some early footage from the camera from a few different places (this first clip is graded pretty heavily):

To an external recorder:

Another look, graded and ungraded:

A few more clips:

Here's a look at the specs (you can see all of them in detail here):

  • Micro 4/3 Sensor with 12 Stops DR
  • Variable Frame Rate Up to 120 FPS in 1080p
  • 4096 x 2160: 24p (100 Mbps)
  • 3840 x 2160: 60p / 50p / — 150 Mbps and 30p / 25p / 24p — 100 Mbps
  • 1920 x 1080: 60p / 50p / 30p / 25p / 24p — up to 200 Mbps
  • Also can shoot 1440 x 1080, 1280 x 720, 720 x 480
  • Can record two codecs at once, and MP4 / MOV Recording in 4K
  • Native 500 ISO (Unclear on Max ISO, but GH4 has similar sensor with max of 25,600)
  • Internal: 8 bit 4:2:0
  • External: 8 bit 4:2:2/10 bit 4:2:2 (HDMI output of UHD/59.94p/50.00p becomes 8 bit 4:2:0. Also, when 10 bit 4:2:2 is selected, recording is not possible with the main unit)
  • Still Photos in all resolutions
  • Integrated Leica 13x f/2.8 - f/4.5, 12.8mm to 167mm Lens
  • 35mm Equivalent of Lens — DCI 4K: 29.5 ~ 384.9mm, UHD 4K/HD: 28 ~ 365.3mm
  • ND Filters: 1/4, 1/16, 1/64
  • 3 x Individual Lens Control Rings
  • 2 x SD Cards Slots (U3 Compatible)
  • SDHC memory card (4 GB to 32 GB SDXC memory card (48 GB to 128 GB), UHS-I supported  
  • HDMI 2.0 Outputs up to 4K
  • 3G-SDI Outputs up to 1080p
  • V-Log Picture Profile
  • Built in Mic, 2 XLR Input (3.5mm Headphone Output)
  • LCD Monitor: 4.3 type HD color monitor (Approx. 2760000 dots) 
  • Viewfinder: 0.39 type OLED (Approx. 2360000 dots, video display area: Approx. 1770000 dots)
  • Battery 7.2V
  • Availability: October 2015
  • Price: $4,200

We've got a few first looks at the camera:

Side-bigger

The only thing I've found about the sensitivity of the camera is that it is native 500 ISO, but Panasonic is only listing it as Gain in their specs (or I somehow missed this detail somewhere). I'm sure the max ISO is going to be decently high if the performance is anything like the GH4, and it will then become a question of how usable it is. 

We should remember that this isn't really a true cinema camera, though that doesn't mean you can't use it as one. You're not getting interchangeable lenses and some of the other things that people want in cinema. However, this camera will certainly be capable of cinematic images, and it comes standard with the V-Log profile to get the maximum dynamic range possible. We're likely going to see a lot more footage of this over the next few months, so stay tuned. 

You can pre-order the camera right now from places like B&H using the link below.

Source: B&H

Cinematography & Cameras