I had the good fortune to review a 160 camcorder and I must admit I was very impressed, the camera ticked all boxes bar one, no 1080 50p with sound, since my review Panasonic have announced that they are bringing out a FW update to enable 1080 50p with LPCM sound during the Spring of 2012…fantastic.

There is a lesser spec camcorder, the 130 with no SDI outputs and not switchable to NTSC is exactly the same otherwise but for the price differance of £400 most people are pluming for the 160.

I reviewed this camera during the Edinburgh Fringe, the camera itself is a fat MC50 with professional XLR sound connectors. The LCD is 3D which is a great feature and it only uses the left lens if you decide to use the camera in mono mode.

This is a great step forward as a portable 3D camcorder allowing you to use the 10x zoom and the professional sound inputs is a major bonus.

Picture wise the camera pulls in a great 3D picture but I found the camera very limiting in 3D mode only having the ability to adjust Focus and exposure, the feature I felt it fell flat on was its inability to have any control over your gain.

I first saw this 3D camcorder at IBC 2011 and it had an impressive number of features for the money.

3D is not for everyone but if you are looking at a semi pro 3D camcorder this must be one of your choices.

A bright 0.45-inch Live View Finder (LVF) with high-speed responses and a 1,227,000-dot high-resolution. The superb LVF makes it easier to optimize the focus, or for use in a situation that requires no excess light from an LCD screen.

• A dual SD Memory Card slot with the option of extended recording or back-up. When two SD Memory Cards are inserted and the first card reaches full capacity, the system automatically and seamlessly switches*3 to the second card. This allows extended recording without having to worry about interruptions due to a lack of card capacity. Or, during backup recording, the same data is recorded onto both cards for immediate duplicating or archiving purposes in the case of a faulty SD card.
• The bundled HD Writer XE 1.0 Software lets users cut out full HD 3D and progressive images and save to a computer.
• 2D/3D Still Image Recording Any Time. The user simply presses the shutter button to record a 2D or 3D (MPO compliant) still image*4 at any time. It is also possible to cut out images in all modes while shooting or playing videos. 3D and 2D still images are recorded simultaneously with 2.1-megapixel resolution.

Scarlet

Scarlet was announced the same day as the new Canon C300 which gave bloggers like me a major headache that evening.

Scarlet has its following its down to RED to ramp up production  to keep up with demand.

Scarlet brings your images to life with 4K footage that will change the way you look at motion.

No matter if you’re shooting a feature film or web content to go side-by-side with your stills, you will be working with crisp REDCODE RAW files that will give you ultimate freedom and control when finishing.

Scarlet harnesses the power to bring life to imagery and imagery to life.

 

 

 

Canon EOS C300

This was the major announcement at the end of 2011 the Canon EOS C300.

Its well built produces a cracking picture and has an ever increasing line of DPs wanting to buy one.

Canon pulled another first out of the bag by adding the magical 50MB/s broadcast spec in order to be the first Super 35mm sensor camera to be accepted by the BBC the same as their XF305.

Canon have played a great card with this camera and remember its the first and only Super 35mm camcorder to accept Canon EF glass which is further increasing its popularity.

Round up

So thats all 14 cameras produced this year my own personal favotites are the FS100 and the NX70 as they both compliment each other and match really well when cut together in the same program. Out of all the cameras I reviewed this year the Panasonic 160 was a joy to use and full of very useful features, if it had not been for the colour matrix not matching Sony I may have been tempted to buy one.