Gotta say, the latest camera offerings shown are disappointing me. I have my fingers crossed for Scarlett, the ‘mini-RED’, but I’m beginning to anticipate (dread) the horrible ‘barrel-cam’ form factor.
Two cameras so far, after the jump
Firstly, the Panasonic AG-HPX 170. The successor to the HVX200, this camera offers some minor improvements under the hood and little else. 14-bit AD processing seems the biggest improvement. Other than that, its design seems to have gone boxier (sort of a hark back to the mid nineties in my opinion), and its largely unchanged from the HVX200. I used to consider Panasonic a top pick for lower cost professional cameras, but I’m yet to be impressed by their HD offerings.
Next, the Sony PMW-EX3. Seriously, someone needs to provide the CineAlta team with a good designer. After the ergonomic mess that was the EX1, we have the EX3, a 2/3″, SxS based camera with all the design cues from the original Canon XL1. After how disappointed I was with the EX1 given how promising it was under the hood, the EX3 seems a bigger disappointment. The EX3 is very impressively spec’d, so why this weird front-of-the-shoulder design and lack of IDX or AB battery? Price will be a key factor of this camera, but given the price of the EX1, I doubt it’ll be in the realm of interest for anyone, especially if Scarlett is the camera I’m anticipating it to be.
My opinions on Scarlett:
I am hopeful that Scarlett will be a mini-shoulder mount design, similar to the Canon XL-H1, but leaning more toward the more forgiving design of the JVC GY-HD series. 2k shooting (no 4k), and an interchangeable lens mount, offering a 2/3″ broadcast lens adapter out of the box, and the optional ones for Arri, Fuji, Canon etc. Put a decent kit camera at about $20,000AUD (total) and you’ve got yourself a healthy little uber-indy version of RED, complete with television and small AV company capacities.
It’ll never happen, but I can dream…
:edit:
Panasonic also announced this little bugger, which I’m much more impressed with. Barrel-cam form factor not so great, but face it, this thing is small, I’d presume light, seems full-featured for a camera of its class, and records AVCHD to SD cards up to 32Gb. It has 1080i and 720p, and I’d assume the 720p footage would be quite passable at the bit rates (up to 24Mbps, which is higher than 720p HDV). This is actually a camera I’m going to keep an eye on, truly affordable solid state, and carrying a US RRP of $4,500.
