Wow what an accessory add on this is turning out to be, it even has holes for rails…fantastic !
Finally we get to see the XLR side with a 4 pin professional power socket and 4 HD-SDI outputs and a timecode input this is indeed a professionally specified DSLR, Panasonic can be proud of this achievement, taking the GH3 and revamping the whole camera up to professional video standards and beyond.
Once again everything on this camera accessory tells us Panasonic have stepped up several gears, line, mic and 48v phantom power with a neat selection between Stereo and mono.
I do wonder looking at this accessory if it will also work with the GH3 now that would be a smart move by Panasonic if that is indeed the case ?
This will be hard to beat… I think Canon and Nikon must be sick but all the professional camcorder manufacturers will find this hard to beat…2014 is Panasonic’s crowning glory and I can’t wait to get my very own GH4 plus XLR/HD-SDI accessory, all this and 4K as well…I am truly speechless…WELL DONE PANASONIC !!!
Thanks once again to 4/3 Rumours for this update.
That’s all good. But how do we change the battery on this ? the bottom part is blocking the access to the battery. Unless we can also attach the battery grip with the bottom part, I don’t see this as very ergonomic, even with 4K.
HDW : Making an educated guess I think there will be a battery compartment on the (HDMI) side of the camera, thats the only side we have not seen yet.
It doesn’t need a battery at all it has 4K.
🙂
It’s got Electrolytes! BRAWNDO!
I’d get excited if they stop with the 4/3 sensor size. Until they pop in a Super 35 or Full Frame I don’t really care. Close to impossible to find decent lenses for 4/3 that doesn’t look boxed in.
Panasonic have gone mad. They’ve put everything a proper camcorder has except ND filters in a package you can’t hold. There’s a reason camcorders are shaped as they are. This is what you get when you turn over camcorder development to stills photography people. Unbelievable.
The rail mountings and connectivity are making a lot more sense. But there is going to be an awful lot of cabling heading out the right hand side and the handgrip is already quite obstructed…
My other slight concern is that the riser on the left seems to also plug into the micro usb socet of the main body, as well as the contact pins. Maybe that’s how it feeds the power in? The battery grip on my D200 flexes a lot, with all the cabling on this…
I suspect it’s going to be one of those things that only makes sense to you or not in the flesh. Any rumours on price yet?
True, Les. It would have been more profitable to continue the evolution of cameras like the ag-af100a instead. I mean The 4/3 format isn’t probably not much of a problem, but you mostly do close ups with that & for good reasons, meaning tha photographies with this device (like GH2 & GH3) will be more of a pain that you don’t really need, but also it’s main intention is to cater to videographers while this should be a photo camera with optional video capacity. Something is really missing here.
It’s almost becoming a game with Video/camera makers creating excitement with new cameras but leaving two or more features off for another price bracket or future model. Wrong sensor format for video, Super 35 or Full Frame required, no ND filters, no 60fps in camera in 4k. Of course it’s an amazing camera but as always disappointing at the same time.
Over the past few days – reading the rumours, I wondered how Panasonic could possibly find a way to spoil this camera. Answer: No internal 4.2.2 recording. This is not an idle gripe. The broadcast video community has been waiting for an internally recordable broadcast standard HD (incl. 4.2.2) video – in a DSLR form factor for years. It’s 2014 and we still do NOT have it. The Canon XF100 has it. The tiny BMPCC has ProRes422. We know it IS possible in a small form factor camera.
Why then is it not possible to include an internally recordable broadcast accepted codec in a DSLR?
Sorry, but I’m not going to attach two extra boxes including cables, batteries and or mains power to what should be a portable camera. This is non-sense.
This could have been a C300 killer.
Not so!
Agree, we are being fed a constant stream of “nearly” cameras. No doubt the real 4k camera will turn up the year before “everyone” goes 8k.
wow…some bitter comments going on. You do realise this is a business for them, right? If they gave you everything you wanted, it wouldn’t be what someone else wanted… They have to ‘cripple’ certain areas for 2 main reasons:
To keep the price at a point where it will sell in bulk.
To allow other products in their range to sell as well.
If they bring out a DSLR with 4K, internal 422, super35mm sensor, XLR audio, long battery life, perfect form factor…. why would anyone buy any of their other products ever? They don’t want that.
If this thing is £2000 or less WITH the extra bit for the XLR and HDMI etc.. then they will sell a shit load of them.
No point arguing over form factor. You can’t please everyone. You don’t like it? Buy something else… it’s easy. The 1DC maybe? No…i didn’t think so.
You want 4K in a DSLR form factor with some decent connections? This is the one to go for..
No drama here, just a cool tool we can choose to use or not. Well done Panasonic for pushing things forward. We all benefit.
Actually Panasonic has no better cinema or Stills cameras to protect like Canon and Sony do. That was Panasonic’s lost opportunity. At the price of the GH4 and it’s brick, you are in C100 territory prices with C300 IQ and features. All they had to do was put it in the AF100 body and they’d have the DSLR fanboys plus everyone settling for the C100 plus a chunk of the C300 and FS100/700 markets. Stills camera designers don’t get that.
What happened to competition then ?
There are so many “nearly” cameras out there is no one going to break out of the pack and try to win ?
Of course it’s a business but having bought a few “nearly” cameras I think I am being played for a mug.
It’s time for tech, which is not leading edge and is found in various cameras at the same price point, actually to turn up in one camera.