I love the new Panasonic HPX-301E but my main concern and it wont be the first time I have been down the P2 route is the cost and dated technology of the P2 cards themselves. If I were to produce work for television on HD the camera I would like to plum for is the 301 but Panasonic make this road very difficult with the price of the cards 32GB P2 card = £960 and the new 64GB card is £1708.

I would need two 64GB cards which would set me back a whopping £3416 !  If I sold the camera at a later date no one would pay any where near that price for the cards and I would take a big hit on it’s second hand value. I have always stated we only get these inflated prices because P2 is mainly Panasonic’s flagship broadcast kit, therefore we get inflated broadcast pricing !  

DV brought a lot of manufacturers to book in fact DV in my opinion killed of M2 and JVC’s D9, Sony’s betacam had a hand in this in fact the broadcasters were intrenched with betacam so much so they would not buy anything else giving Sony a great hold for many years. I remember years ago when I was at a trade show and Panasonic was showing off M2 and beside them was Sony with early DV footage and it blew M2 out of the water.

Sorry I digress, I find it very refreshing that Panasonic have brought out the 301 at a price of £8832 which is only £1589 dearer than the EX-3 but now the SxS cards are being sidelined by the MxM/SDHC card it’s takes the EX-3 to a new level of affordability. Knowing the video junkies as I am one of them we rook ourselves to get the best we can afford and forget about the ongoing cost of extra 16GB SxS cards putting us further into debt and sale close to the wind with our partners.

If Panasonic seriously want to make a dent in the EX-3 market they will have to re price the P2 card remembering that Sony will be on their heals with a 50mbs EX-5 full shoulder mount, 4 slot, broadcast 2/3 inch lens camera at a price of £8500…in my dreams.