My open letter to Panasonic. DVX200 will be lonely, needs a brother called AF200!

[Andrew Reid]

Dear Panasonic...

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[PaperBag]

Some weirdly sexist and sexual metaphors! Or is that just me?

[JazzBox]

I endorse every single word, Andrew! And I hope that YAGH is not stopping them to give internal ProRes (or RAW) to GH4

[theSUBVERSIVE]

Does someone know the specs of the lens?

[rdouthit]

I agree they need to make an AF100 follow-up, and this is't it. That said, I have less than zero interest in an AF200. I simply wouldn't buy one. 

As for this new DVX200, Panasonic has my attention and I'll be seriously considering it for our 4k productions later this year. 

[Andrew Reid]

Some weirdly sexist and sexual metaphors! Or is that just me?

​Sexist - just you. Sexual - definitely not you!!

[Andrew Reid]

I endorse every single word, Andrew! And I hope that YAGH is not stopping them to give internal ProRes (or RAW) to GH4

​Even if they gave us raw via the YAGH only it would be better than doing nothing and not selling any YAGH LOL boxes.

The one in Berlin near me is reduced from 2200 to 900 so I can't assume it has been flying off the shelves.

Panasonic need to stop making silly mistakes.

Before the YAGH came out I told them in a feedback session exactly what design it should have, and they went and made something completely ridiculous.

[Julian]

Does someone know the specs of the lens?

​28-365mm (equivalent) f/2.8-4.5

According to: http://www.newsshooter.com/2015/04/14/nab-2015-panasonic-ag-dvx200-4k-handheld-43-camera/

[JazzBox]

That's crazy! I leave (and lots of people like me) Canon bodies thanks to you... they should listen better this community, because we are the crazy people that could sell all the Canon rig to switch to m43... but we are not blind... internet exists... and we see that BlackMagic made the mini Ursa for 3000... and the made a fixed lens for sub-5000...

(and btw: if they let us see V-Log and then nothing happens it's a lot worse then just doing nothing!)

 

[Julian]

​Even if they gave us raw via the YAGH only it would be better than doing nothing and not selling any YAGH LOL boxes.

​Would become an expensive affair though. YAGH costs around €1300 in webshops around here. But then what device is going to store the raw files? I can only think of the Odyssey 7Q, so there's another €2500.

I think raw on the GH4 is unrealistic.

[fuzzynormal]

...exactly what design it should have, and they went and made something completely ridiculous.

​If they made, say, a DVX200b and it was the exact same camera without the fixed lens --just a M43 mount... Well, that wouldn't be ridiculous.

The Japanese camera companies are great and all, but they certainly have different perspectives than the indy cinema/enthusiast market. 

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

If they remove the lens it's the af200. m43s 8mp 4K sensor,  4k60p, FHD120p, NDs, XLRs, lovely ergonomic body, V-log gamma

Anyhow, how about the codecs? 
 

They don't mention anything other than it Records to SD cards.

I hope it's at least 50mbps 4:2:2 as it does look like a perfect broadcast camera yet with the ability to get shallow dof/filmic look in your documentaries/TV shows.

I respect it as a fixed lens camcorder and yes it will have a big market, but why not release another m43s mount version alongside to appeal to an even wider audience? just seems like a no brainer. 

BTW all the samples I've seen from all cameras shooting V-LOG look absolutely beautiful. Very filmic image and perfect colour science even on the video-ish GH4. (look TheCameraStoreTV v-log review) I excpect this to have a nice non-broadcast image as well. 

[Andrew Reid]

​Would become an expensive affair though. YAGH costs around €1300 in webshops around here. But then what device is going to store the raw files? I can only think of the Odyssey 7Q, so there's another €2500.

I think raw on the GH4 is unrealistic.

​Shogun would take the raw, most likely. It is for other cameras.

How else to resuscitate such a dud in the YAGH interface unit?

And why is it on sale at Media Markt in Berlin alongside compact cameras? The mind boggles.

[Andrew Reid]

​28-365mm

​I wonder who needs 365mm telephoto reach...

Surely for documentary the 28-135 F4 on Sony FS7 would be more sensible.

The stabilisation is 5 axis on the DVX200 but that zoom belongs on a consumer bridge camera with a big "20X!!" badge not a professional video camera.

If they had made it shorter they could have also made it faster, not to mention a lot smaller!

[Andrew Reid]

Am told by a close friend who was in meetings 6 months ago for this camera, that he gave the engineers 5 pages of notes on the mockup.

It's just too dated!

The control layout, the concept, the....everything.... it is literally a 10 year old DVX100 with 4K and a red backside!!

[j_one]

When I saw this camera get announced, and I saw the fixed zoom lens, first thing I thought was "...*sigh*. Sure, maybe Canon can pull that stunt but not you too!"

[k-robert]

Kudos for Panasonic!!!
Again.
They are the real champions of the last 10 years of digital camera convergence.

They have made a fantastic camera, the first of the kind again!
It looks like the first real video-cam with a large sensor.
Yes, I am excited. I have been waiting for such a thing so long.

Everything started after DSLRs became capable of making video. The indy-cinema and enthusiast filmmakers were happy for the swallow DOF and the lowlight potential of the large sensors. But beside these things, almost everything else was and is troublesome.
You need a rig, external solutions for sound, focus, ND-filters etc…
When you are creative, you work around these and find solutions.

But if you have to move around with your camera, like documentary or news, a good old fashioned video-cam is a better solution. A fixed, reasonable lens with motor-zoom and autofocus, built-in ND filters, XLR and place for a mic, strong battery, viewfinder and LCD, functional buttons for everything, etc…

Like Panasonic has been thinking out of their box, we should also be able to. Large sensor cameras are not only for creative filmmakers and enthusiasts, and there are so many models to choose from already. So please don’t think about, why Panasonic haven’t done another kind of camera.
This time it was our turn :-)

Let's see first the correct specifications and some pictures of course.

[fuzzynormal]

It's just too dated!

​I agree.  But I don't view that as pejorative.  That 100 was a breeze to use.  

Then again, I've always wanted an all manual digital camera with identical controls and knobs as a Pentax K1000, so...

[M Carter]

I'm presently agonizing over, say, and NX1 or really biting the bullet (artillery shell?) and getting something like the Ursa mini. For my work that I need to look beautiful.

But y'know what? 70% of my video income the last year has been with an AC-130. Not sure why, one big corporate client likes me to shoot their community events and whatnot. I grabbed that camera the week before a shoot out of the US, loved it and still use it weekly.

Sometimes the local news is out there (smaller markets, big master planned communites out in the country - but $1m homes) with their DSLRs and AF-100's. And when things are moving fast, they miss about half the shots when I get 'em all.

All I've wanted as an upgrade for that kind of work is a 4K 24p camera, that can at least do 1080@60p, with decent low light and that will take my existing focus and zoom controls.

Looks like I got it. There's a market for this camera. At $5k, I dunno - under $4k, yeah. Sure, I guess we could use a another swappable-lens "cinema" camera with 4K. Throw in remote focus, iris and zoom, built-in ND, XLRs, etc, a good VF and affordable media and I could see it replacing this form factor for me - I would love love LOVE to have one system for everything I do. But often that means it doesn't do everything well. This new camera is great for a scenario that has a lot of billable hours. It's an evolution of a product that's worked well, from the DVX to the HMC to the AC line. I'm pretty psyched.

[tosvus]

darn another camera that I can't utilize my lenses for... Pass.