NAB News: Avid buys Euphonix, Panasonic intros Micro Four Thirds Camcorder

The biggest players at NAB made their pre-conference press announcements today. The big news from Panasonic and Avid:

• Panasonic announced the AG-AF100, a digital camcorder that uses the same Micro Thirds sensor and lenses as those for digital cameras built by Panasonic and Olympus (for example, the Panasonic GH1 and GF1 and the Olympus E-P2 and E-PL2). No price was announced, but CrunchGear estimates that it'll sell for around $6,000 when it ships by the end of the year. One of the biggest issues with using DSLRs for digital cinematography is that they're designed to be used as still cameras, not camcorders, and are difficult to use for long periods of time. By putting the guts of a video-enabled DSLR into a camcorder package, Panasonic offers the benefits (big sensor, high resolution, interchangeable lenses) of DSLRs with the handling of a camcorder.

• Avid announced an agreement to purchase Euphonix, one of the top suppliers of high-end audio consoles for applications such as audio recording and film mixing. Avid is also a major vendor of audio consoles (the ICON and VENUE ranges), but the company has had trouble competing for sales of the most sophisticated systems. Euphonix gives Avid high-end reach, and adds the well-regarded line of Artist Series control surfaces for lower-cost applications. Euphonix had worked closely with Apple in the past on support of Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio with the Artist Series surfaces. That tight level of cooperation is unlikely to survive Euphonix's acquisition.