After more leaks than a sieve, the Panasonic GH3 is revealed

Perhaps it was the multiple leaks of specifications to photo websites, or Panasonic itself posting a promotional video on YouTube and then taking it down, or yesterday, Samy's Photo posting specifications and pictures, but today's announcement of Panasonic's new GH3 seems like an anti-climax. It shouldn't, since Digital Photography Review writes that only the Canon 5D Mark III has a higher 2K video bitrate than the the GH3, and the Canon DSLR is priced more than $2,000 (U.S.) higher. The GH2 was a firmware hacker's dream, with the video bitrate taken all the way to 176Mbps in AVCHD with All I-frames, while the maximum video ISO was increased from 3200 to 12,800. The problem was that the some GH2s became unstable when run at this insane bitrate (most users chose to use a more reasonable 44Mbps, which is still much faster than the maximum 28Mbps of AVCHD 2.0 at 1080p60.)

Panasonic has taken the hackers' improvements to heart, and has implemented a maximum bitrate of 50Mbps in 1080p60, or 72 to 80Mbps in All-I Frame at 1080/24p or 30p, both using H.264 compression. (All the frame and bit rates of AVCHD 2.0 are also supported.) Its maximum ISO, in both still and video mode, is now 12,800. This gives the GH3 virtually the same performance as the GH2 with hacked firmware, without requiring hacking or voiding the camera's warranty. In order to provide better performance while maintaining the camera's reliability and stability, the GH3 has a new three-core Venus 7 CPU.

The GH3 also supports timecode in H.264 and AVCHD modes, and it has a headphone jack for audio monitoring, in addition to a microphone jack and manual control over audio levels. The HDMI out can be configured with overlays on or off, so it can be used for monitoring and with an external recorder. (It's not clear whether the GH2's HDMI quirks, which made it unusable in many cases with external recorders, have been fixed in the GH3.)

The GH3 is no slouch as a still camera, either:

• 16 Megapixel sensor
• 1.7 million dot OLED viewfinder
• 614K dot 3" OLED touchscreen display
• Autofocus speed of .07 seconds
• 6 fps maximum continuous frame rate
• Memory card slot for SD, SDHC and SDXC cards
• A fully sealed magnesium alloy frame
• Built-in Wi-Fi

The U.S. price of the GH3, $1,300 for body only, is comparable to the price of the GH2 when it was first launched, but the GH3 is much more camera. The GH2 became the budget "go-to" DSLR-style camera for many cinematographers, even though its Micro Four-Thirds sensor is smaller than APS-C or full-frame. With its faster native bitrate, and a faster CPU that hackers may well be able to tune for even more outrageous performance, the GH3 is likely to supplant the GH2 as the bargain camera of choice for cinematographers.

Canon's EOS C100: The new entry point into Canon's cinema cameras

IBC is fast approaching, and in anticipation of the show, Canon just announced the EOS C100 Cinema Camera, its new entry-level model. According to Digital Photography Review, the C100 is approximately 15% smaller than the C300, but it has the same basic design. It has a Super 35mm 8.3 Megapixel sensor, and the camera supports any lens with an EF mount, including Canon's Cinema lenses. Unlike the C300 and C500, both of which use Canon's 50Mbps 4:2:2 video codec, the C100 is strictly AVCHD-based, with a 24Mbps 4:2:0 codec. It has two SD card slots and can record to both cards simultaneously for automatic backup, or in relay mode to permit one card to be replaced while the camcorder records on the other card. The C100 records in 1080p at 24/25/30 fps, and 1080i at 50/60 fps. ISO sensitivity is from 300 to 20,000.

With the C100, Canon has included many of the automatic features that were left out of the C300: One-shot auto focus, auto iris and auto white balance. Continuous auto focus and iris adjustment when used with Canon's EF stepper motor lenses (STM) will be added with a firmware update next year. The C100 has built-in ND filters and dual XLR audio inputs. Video output is via a lockable HDMI connector. Expected list price when the C100 ships in November is $7.999 (U.S.).

The camera that the C100 will most likely be compared with is Sony's FS700, which has the same $7,999 list price without lens, and overall, very similar specifications. The FS700 uses AVCHD, but unlike the C100, it offers the 2.0 version that supports 28Mbps recording and 1080p at 50/60 fps. It also has full HD slow motion to 240 fps, and up to 960fps at lower resolution, while Philip Bloom notes that the specifications for the C100 don't say anything about slow motion support. The FS700 also has a 3G HD-SDI output, while the C100 is limited to HDMI out. On the downside, the FS700 uses Sony's E-mount, which has fewer available lenses than Canon's EF mount. In addition, it uses the "Lego bricks" design of the FS100, which seems to be about equally loved and hated by cinematographers.

My suspicion is that this could turn into the video equivalent of Canon vs. Nikon still cameras, with camps of users who simply prefer the video from one manufacturer over the other. In any event, the C100 is likely to be a very popular camera with users and a very important camera for Canon.

Sony's new NEX-EA50EH: A large-sensor, low-cost ENG camcorder

In the DSLR News Shooter blog, Dan Chung writes about Sony's new NEX-EA50EH, a hybrid of ENG-oriented camcorders and the FS100/FS700 style of interchangeable lens cameras with Super 35 sensors. The EA50 looks like a long, thin ENG camcorder with a FS100-style viewfinder stuck on the handle. It uses the same E-mount as all of Sony's NEX cameras and camcorders, and it accepts E-mount adapters to support Alpha lenses, as well as FD, PL, Canon, Nikon and Leica mounts.

The EA50 comes with a 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 power zoom ENG-style lens with auto focus, continuously variable iris and image stabilization. The camcorder records in 1080 at 60p, 30p, 24p and 60i, and at 50p, 25p and 50i using AVCHD 2.0 (one model handles both 60 and 50 Hz.) It also has stereo XLR inputs, time code and built-in GPS. The EA50 can record to SD cards and Memory Sticks, as well as to an optional docking flash memory unit, but it only outputs to HDMI, not HD-SDI.

Dan Chung notes some negatives for the EA50: It doesn't come with built-in neutral density filters, so the user will have to add them. Its shoulder pad design is similar to Canon's old XL camcorders, so it's likely to be tiring to hold the EA50 for long periods of time. In addition, some sites have written that the EA50 uses the same sensor as the one found in the consumer-oriented NEX-VG20, not the FS100. On the other hand, it has a form factor that doesn't require any additional hardware for field shooting, and the expected price for the EA50, including the lens, will be $4,000 $4,500 U.S. (per B&H). The EA50 is expected to ship in mid-October.

With the EA50, Sony is responding to shooters who like the flexibility and image quality of the FS100 and FS700--or, for that matter, DSLRs--but don't like all the hardware they have to add to the cameras in order to make them usable in "run & gun" situations. It should be possible to take the EA50 out of the box, charge it up and take it into the field immediately, without any additional hardware. Of course, at $4,000 $4,500, there have to be some compromises in the design--the lack of a SDI output is an obvious one, and the quality of the included zoom lens may be another. Nevertheless, even with compromises, the EA50 may be the right camcorder for a good number of users.

Sony's new A57 brings high-end features to low-end DSLRs

Sony's new Alpha SLT-A57 is Sony's most important entry-level DSLR (yes, it's actually an EVIL design, but in a DSLR-like body) to date. Here's some of the new camera's features:

• A 1.44 megapixel LCD viewfinder
• 10 fps continuous shooting mode with autofocus
• Autofocus built into the body rather than the lenses
• 1920 x 1080 video at 60P or 24P (50P and 25P in Europe), with AVCHD 2.0 compression
• A bigger battery, the same as the A65 and A77

The A57, with a kit 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 lens, will have a suggested list price of $799. The body alone will cost $699. As Digital Photography Review points out, the A57 is a slightly feature-reduced version of the A65 with a 16 MP imager instead of the 24.3 MP imager in the A65, for $300 less. It's going to be a serious alternative to Canon's T3i and Nikon's D5100, especially for videographers. It's also a better value for the money than Sony's own NEX cameras, although it's considerably larger.

Digital Photography Review has a site where you can compare images from the A57 with those from a variety of other cameras side-by-side. Click here to visit their site.

JVC's 4K $5K Camcorder

After showing it at the 2010 NAB Conference as a non-working mock-up and at the 2011 NAB show as a working prototype, JVC has formally announced the first prosumer 4K camcorder, the GY-HMQ10, at CES 2012.  The GY-HMQ10 records at 3840 x 2160 resolution, or four times the resolution of a conventional 2K (1920 x 1080) camcorder, using a single 1/2" CMOS imager and a fixed 10X zoom lens. It supports frame rates of 24P, 50P and 60P. The camcorder can also record in 2K mode for compatibility with existing infrastructure at 50/60P and 50/60i.

The camcorder uses AVCHD compression...but the AVCHD standard doesn't support 4K. To do it, JVC splits the 4K image into four 2K images that it records and compresses simultaneously using the company's new Falconbrid processor. Each 2K image is compressed at 36Mbps, for a total bit rate of 144Mbps. Each 36Mbps stream is then recorded on its own dedicated SDHC card. So, yes, the HMQ10 has four memory card slots. For live broadcasts and external recorders, the HMQ10 has four (yes, four) HDMI outputs. The camcorder can also down-convert the 4K images to 2K on the fly, so if 2K is all you need, you can use a single SDHC card and HDMI interface. It's also got two XLR microphone inputs.

Does it work? I saw footage that was shot on JVC's prototype at NAB last year, using a true 4K monitor. The picture quality was stunning, but there was no way to test the camera under real-world operating conditions--panning, zooming, low light, etc. So, how much would you pay for all this? When the camcorder ships in March, JVC plans to charge $4,995 (US). That's right--$5K for a 4K camcorder. The 4K mode isn't terribly practical today, and with a 1/2" imager and without a removable lens, the HMQ10 isn't going to be as flexible as a camcorder like Sony's FS100 or Panasonic's AF100/101. Nevertheless, 4K for $5K? That's pretty amazing pricing.

My year-end waste of time: Predictions for 2012

I've decided to participate in one of the most potentially embarrassing annual blogging rituals: Predictions for the coming year. So, for what it's worth, here are my predictions for 2012, in no particular order:

eBooks and Publishing

• Both the European Commission's Directorate for Competition Law and the U.S. Justice Department will file suit against Apple and five of the "Big 6" trade publishers (Lagadere's Hachette publishing group, News Corporation's Harper Collins, Holtzbrinck's Macmillan, Pearson's Penguin Group and CBS' Simon & Schuster) for eBook price-fixing under the agency pricing model. Bertelsmann's Random House most likely won't be charged, because it joined in agency pricing long after the other five publishers. All the companies charged will strongly deny any conspiracy to fix prices, but they'll all eventually agree to a consent decree (and the European equivalent) before the cases go to court. The settlement will require Apple and the publishers to make cash payments for consumer damages, and the agency model will be discarded. eBook distribution will go back to the wholesale model.
• There's also a possibility that the U.S. government and European Union will use the antitrust litigation as a lever to force the Big 6 to make their eBooks available to libraries on commercially reasonable terms. Currently, only Harper Collins and Penguin make their titles available for library lending, and both companies impose significant restrictions.
• eBook sales in early 2012 will follow the same pattern as the last few years--there will be a huge burst of sales in January and February as millions of consumers who received eReaders and tablets as holiday gifts stock up on titles. However, the year-to-year growth rate in eBook sales will drop, due both to the increased share of eBooks as a percentage of all book sales and higher prices from the Big 6 publishers.
• Even though the growth of eBook sales will slow, print sales will continue to decline. Independent booksellers in the U.S. won't pick up the slack from the closure of Borders, nor will they make big strides in increasing their overall share of U.S. book sales.
• The Big 6 publishers' pricing policies will continue to encourage sales growth for smaller publishers and self-publishing authors, as consumers experiment with less-expensive titles and find that many of them are just as good as titles from the top publishers.
• While the number of titles from medium, small and self-publishers continues to grow, the Big 6 will continue to cut back on the number of titles that they release, focusing even more on pre-sold authors and titles, series and backlist titles that are reissued with a variety of value-adds.
• The "eSingle revolution" (short eBooks, no more than 50,000 words and typically 30,000 words or less) will grow, with more conventional book publishers offering titles. In addition, more media companies from other fields (magazines, broadcasting, cable and the web) will enter the eBook market with eSingles, either by themselves or in partnership with established book publishers.
• $99 will become the top-end price for dedicated eReaders sold in the U.S.; someone (probably Amazon) will go to $49-$59 for an entry-level model. The ad-supported/no-ads issue will become moot, as consumers show that they're perfectly happy with a cheaper, ad-supported eReader.
• The tablet market in 2012 will look very much the same as the market at the end of 2011: Apple will continue to dominate the high end of the market, with two lines of tablets: A new "iPad 3" (although I'm not sure that'll be its name) at the current iPad 2 prices, and the existing iPad 2, possibly with fewer storage and broadband options, at $100 or so below its current prices (for example, $399 for a 16GB model). At the low-end, a variety of tablets will compete in the $149 to $249 range, led (at least for the first few months) by Amazon. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Barnes & Noble drop prices of both the Nook Color and Tablet by $50, to $149 and $199 respectively.

Cameras & Camcorders

• We're almost certain to see new cinema camera models from Canon in 2012. The prototype cinema camera based on the EOS body will be launched, as well as at least one new model in the C3XX range, with improved electronics including auto-focus, auto-aperture and auto white balance and 10-bit log output. The new EOS model could be announced as early as NAB in April, and the new C3XX model is likely to be shown at IBC in September.
• Panasonic's AG-AF100/101 is getting a little "long in the tooth", so I expect a refresh of the model in time for NAB in April. I also expect the GH3 to be announced in the first half of the year.
• Given all of Sony's 2011 EVIL, DSLR and camcorder announcements, I don't expect any big announcements from Sony in 2012.
• AVCHD 2.0 (also called AVC Progressive) will become ubiquitous on all new cameras and camcorders supporting AVCHD.

Motion Pictures

• We'll see major consolidation at the U.S. movie studios, like what we've already seen at Paramount, with even deeper cuts. Studios will become even more conservative about which titles they greenlight for production, continuing to focus on remakes, series and pre-sold titles (very much like the big publishers). This risk minimization strategy will lead to even more boxoffice and home video revenue declines.
• Online movie rental services such as Netflix and Amazon will continue to increase their share of home video revenues, but what could have been a huge win for Netflix will be a much more competitive market, due to Netflix's self-inflicted wounds from 2011.
• Studios will rethink the value of 3D given audiences' rejection of the format, and will put more effort into using 3D well on a smaller number of "event" titles. That means that 2D-to-3D conversion, which has never worked well, will go away. Studios will have to come to grips with the fact that 3D, like Blu-Ray before it, will not be their financial savior. Even well-done 3D won't save movies that audiences don't want to see.
• UltraViolet, the "online digital locker" system supported by most of the major studios, will fail to get significant market share, although the studios won't give up on it in 2012. Consumers will find it too hard to use, not worth the effort and not a compelling reason to go back to buying DVDs and Blu-Ray discs.
• With an handful of exceptions, independent films will reach audiences through VOD and online streaming services, not through theatrical exhibition or sales of physical media.

Sony: Getting its act together (at least with cameras and camcorders)

I've pointed out over the last several years the many times that Panasonic has eaten Sony's lunch in the camcorder and camera businesses:

• Panasonic's P2 and SD memory cards were the start of the solid-state, file-based camcorder revolution, while Sony's XDCAM optical disc has largely been a dead-end format.
• Panasonic and Olympus pioneered the big-sensor, small-camera interchangeable lens format with Micro Four-Thirds, while it took Sony several years to get on board with its NEX series of cameras.
• Panasonic and Canon introduced professional-level video to their DSLRs several years ago, while Sony's A77, just released a few weeks ago, is the company's first DSLR with professional-level video.
• It took Sony more than a year to respond to Panasonic's AF100 Micro Four-Thirds-based camcorder, with the F3 and FS100.

Finally, Sony is back in the game in a big way, in three different product lines:

• The new A77 DSLR is a first-rate still camera that can compete with Canon and Panasonic on video as well. It has a 24 megapixel sensor, a 2.4 megapixel OLED electronic viewfinder that's actually much higher resolution than its 920,000 pixel pull-out LCD display, and a 12 fps burst rate. It can record video at 1080p60 (1080p50 in Europe) using AVCHD 2.0 (Panasonic refers to it as AVCHD Progressive), which supports a maximum bit rate of 28mbps, versus 24mbps for previous AVCHD implementations. It also supports live autofocus in video mode. U.S. body-only pruce is $1,399.
• The NEX-7 is Sony's new top-of-the-line EVIL (electronic viewfinder, interchangeable lens) camera that competes with Micro Four-Thirds models. It has the same sensor and OLED electronic viewfinder as the A77, in a pocket-sized package. It also records video at 1080p60 using AVCHD 2.0, with the same live autofocus as the A77. Expected U.S. body-only price will be $1,199.
• The NEX-5n replaces the former top-of-the-line NEX-5 EVIL camera. It uses a 16.1 megapixel sensor and doesn't come with an electronic viewfinder; the optional FDA-EV1S viewfinder, which is connected to the top of the camera, has the same OLED display as the NEX-7 and A77. It records video at 1080p60/50 using AVCHD 2.0, and has live autofocus. U.S. body-only price is $699.
• The LA-EA2 adapter allows Alpha-mount lenses to be used with the NEX-series E mount. The adapter supports autofocus on the Alpha lenses. The LA-EA2 is almost as big as the NEX cameras themselves, and it costs $399, but it could be valuable for those NEX-family camera users who want to use Alpha lenses without losing autofocus capabilities.
• The F3 is Sony's lowest-cost digital cinematography camcorder. It uses a Super 35 Exmor CMOS sensor and PL mount for supporting film lenses. It records in 4:2:2 1080p59.94/50, and optionally in 4:4:4 1080p59.94/50, on SxS media. Its U.S. list price is $16,800 without lens.
• Sony's NEX-FS100 is Sony's answer to Panasonic's AF100, with a unique, squared-off form factor and top-mounted electronic viewfinder. It uses the same E-mount lenses as Sony's NEX-family of still cameras, and comes with an 18-200mm zoom lens. The FS100 uses the same Super 35 Exmor sensor as the F3. Like the new NEX cameras, it records video at 1080p60/50 using AVCHD 2.0. The FS100 records on SDHC/SDXC and Sony Memory stick cards, and the optional HXR-FM128 records onto 128GB of flash memory. U.S. list price with lens is $6,550.

For all of Sony's new competitiveness, the company still sometimes makes questionable decisions about product features. For example, the FS100 has dual XLR audio inputs, but only outputs video via HDMI rather than HD-SDI. HDMI connections, which don't lock, are notorious for becoming disconnected at the worst possible time. By comparison, the less-expensive Panasonic AF100 has both HDMI and HD-SDI outputs. Also, the AF100 has built-in neutral density filters, but the FS100 doesn't.

Also, Sony believes that, as a matter of principle, its products are worth more than the competition, even if they're objectively no better. Going back to the FS100-AF100 comparison, Sony's FS100 is about $1,000 more than Panasonic's AF100, even though the AF100 arguably has more professional features than the FS100.

Even given those caveats, however, Sony has clearly gotten back into the game with both still cameras and camcorders. It's good to see the company competing for business instead of resting on its laurels.

Sony gives its Super 35MM NXCAM a name: NEX-FS100

Sony has given its modular Super 35MM NXCAM a name: NEX-FS100. It's designed to compete with Panasonic's AG-AF101, but it's got an interesting mix of professional and prosumer features: It uses the same sensor as Sony's new F3 camcorder, which is approximately 10% larger than the 4/3" sensor Panasonic uses. The FS100 uses Sony's E-mount lenses, but can support other mounts with adapters. It's got dual XLR connectors like the AF101, but it doesn't have the AF101's HD-SDI outputs; its outputs are HDMI (4:2:2 uncompressed), component and composite. And, it uses the same AVCHD codec as the AF101. So, with the exception of HD-SDI outputs, the FS100 and AF101 are very similar.

Digital Photography Review is quoting a list price of $5,850 (U.S.) for the FS100 with a 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 lens. That would make the body-only price of the FS100 roughly comparable to Panasonic's $4,995 list price for the AF101. However, Slashgear is reporting a price of $6,550 and availability in July 2011, so there's clearly some confusion about the final price. Also, given the Japanese disaster, it's likely that final availability will be delayed, or the quantity of units initially available may be very small.

Update: Nofilmschool.com is reporting prices for the U.S. models of the FS100 to be $5,850 for the FS100U model without lens, and $6,550 for the FS100UK model with lens. That would explain the multiple prices reported by different sites, but it also means that the FS100 will be about $1,000 more than the AF101 for comparably-equipped models.

The  physical design of the FS100 is where it diverges widely from the AF101. Its viewfinder is hinged on the top of the camcorder, and can be augmented with an eyepiece or folded down if the cinematographer wants to use an external monitor. The FS100 is considerably smaller and looks more like a consumer camcorder than the AF101, which may make it less noticeable for news and documentary-style shooting.

The first videos shot with the FS100 are available for viewing, and the quality is very good. A video on the same site explains the camcorder's features and capabilities, and leads into a music video that was shot with the FS100. More footage and reviews are likely to appear between now and NAB.

Canon's new XA10 prosumer camcorder

Canon has announced the XA10, a new prosumer camcorder priced at $1,999 (U.S.) that brings many of the features of the XF100 to an even smaller camcorder. The XA10 has the same 1920 x 1080 1/3" CMOS imager as the XF100, and it uses the same 10x zoom lens (30.4 to 304 mm focal range). The advantage of a 1920 x 1080 imager is that it should be able to operate in lower light, and it shouldn't have the rolling shutter and moire effects found when using sensors with higher resolution that have to be decimated in order to get HD video.

Perhaps the biggest difference from a performance standpoint is that the XA10 uses a 24Mbps 4:2:0 AVCHD codec instead of the XF100's 50Mbps 4:2:2 codec. That means that the XA10's output will have the same color space, grading, keying and editing limitations as other prosumer AVCHD camcorders. The XA10 has dual XLR audio inputs, built into a removable handlebar. It has 64GB of flash memory built in and two slots for additional memory, but unlike the XF100, which uses Compact Flash cards, the XA10 uses SD/SDHC/SDXC cards.

In short, the XA10 is essentially an under-$2,000 version of the XF100 that uses AVCHD. Canon expects to ship the XA10 in March 2011.

The 35mm NXCAM: Another Sony Super 35mm camcorder?

The Japanese InterBEE broadcast electronics conference is underway, and Sony is showing what's being called the "35mm NXCAM" camcorder. Unlike the PMW-F3 that was announced last week, this new model looks more like a prosumer version of the NEX-VG10 consumer camcorder. According to Alistair Chapman, it has a Super 35mm sensor, flip-out monitor and modular attachment points for a handgrip and microphone, so that the camcorder can be configured to meet the user's needs. (Shades of Red, anyone?) It also has a cavity at the rear of the camera that's too big for a battery alone, and may be another modular attachment point for a solid state memory module and/or a HD-SDI output.

Notes on Video is reporting that a Sony Electronic Marketing Manager has tweeted the following specifications for the new camcorder:

• Large format sensor Super 35mm is over 20% larger than micro 4/3"
• Existing and future E-mount lenses attach directly. Alpha A-mount lenses via LA-EA1 adapter
• Designed from the ground up for "motion picture capability"
• From the design team that brought you the HXR-NX5u

In addition, Engadget is reporting that it will record in 1080p at 59.94, 50, 29.97, 25 and 23.98 frames per second, and will be available in mid-2011. Notes on Video reports a rumored price for the 35mm NXCAM of approximately 6,000 Euros. This looks like the camcorder intended by Sony to take on the Panasonic AG-AF100/101. We're likely to see a working model is NAB at April 2011, if not sooner.

Sony posts details about its new PMW-F3 Camcorder

Sony's U.K. division has posted details about its new PMW-F3 camcorder, which will use a Super 35mm Exmor CMOS sensor with sensitivity equal to ISO 800 and a signal-to-noise ratio of 63dB. 1080 frame rates will be 59.94i, 50i, 29.97P, 25P, and native 23.98P. The camera also supports 720P in a variety of frame rates.

The F3 is positioned significantly higher than Panasonic's forthcoming AG-AF100/101: Its standard HD-SDI interface will output 10-bit 4:2:2, vs. the 8-bit output of the Panasonic AG-AF100, and in April 2010, a Dual Link HD-SDI option will be available that will output 10 bit uncompressed RGB and support 1080/59.94P and 50P. It will record using the MPEG-2 Long GOP codec at 35Mbps or 25 Mbps, not AVCHD. The F3 will support variable frame rates from 1 to 60 fps in 720P and from 1 to 30 fps in 1080P in 1 fps increments. SxS cards will be used for storage, and an optional adapter will support Memory Sticks and SD cards.

The F3 will have its own proprietary lens mount and will come with a PL mount adapter. Optional hot shoe interfaces will be available for Cooke /i and ARRI LDS lenses. Sony is offering some unique bundling options: The PMW-F3L will come without lenses, and the PMW-F3K will come with not one, but three lenses: 35mm, 50mm and 85mm, all at T2.0.

Both PMW-F3 models will ship in the U.K. in January. UrbanFox.TV is reporting that the "tentative list price" for the F3L will be 14,500 Pounds, and 20,700 Pounds for the F3K. Sony has also announced Japanese pricing, which converts into around $17,000 for the F3L. There's been a fair amount of push-back on the Internet to Sony's pricing. The U.S. list price for Panasonic's AG-AF100 is $4,995, and while the F3 has a bigger imager, 10-bit 4:2:2 HD-SDI output and an optional Dual-Link HD-SDI interface, it's hard to argue that those features make the F3 worth more than three times as much money as the AF100.

The F3's price puts it at where the RED originally was at its introduction, and while the current RED is more expensive, it's not that much more expensive. It appears that Sony didn't want to cannibalize sales of its EX3 camcorder by pricing the F3 too low, but if they keep their tentative pricing, they could end up helping Panasonic more than themselves. Panasonic positioned the price of the AF100 against DSLRs, while Sony appears to be positioning the price of the F3 against the rest of the CineAlta product line.

Panasonic's new GF2: Full HD in a compact camera

Panasonic's long-rumored GF2 has finally been announced, and Digital Photography Review has had a few days to test a pre-production model. Panasonic will ship the GF2 in the U.S. in January, and will release U.S. pricing in December.

The GF2 is slightly smaller and lighter than its predecessor, the GF1. (It's still slightly bigger overall than Sony's NEX-5, but when using its pancake lens, it's a bit thinner.) It uses the same 12.1 Megapixel imager as the previous model. In order to reduce its size, Panasonic had to remove some of the physical controls that were on the GF1 and replace them with menu options.

Perhaps the biggest change in the GF2 is that it now has Full HD video, rather than the AVCHD Lite in the GF1. That means that the GF2 has 1080/60i and 720/60p video (the 60i mode reads the image data off the sensor in 30p mode).  However, the GF2's AVCHD bitrate maxes out at 17Mbps, not the 24Mbps maximum that Panasonic's GH2 and some other DSLRs can achieve. ISO sensitivity has been increased to 6400 from the 3200 maximum of the GF1. The GF2 also has a built-in stereo microphone, but as with most DSLRs, you'll be better off capturing audio with an external recorder. It fully supports Panasonic's new 3D lens, which will turn it into a tiny, albeit limited, 3D camera.

Digital Photography Review didn't do image and video quality testing, so that will have to wait for another review. The fact that the GF2 only goes to 17Mbps AVCHD means that its video output almost certainly won't stand up to that of the GH2. There's no word about whether the GF2 provides a live output on its HDMI interface while recording, what the resolution of the live output is, and what (if anything) is superimposed on it by the camera.

The GF2 is clearly a consumer-oriented camera, a step up from point-and-shoots rather than a smaller replacement for a DSLR. It's unlikely to have many cinematography applications, especially if it's priced only a few hundred dollars less than the GH2.

Sony introduces its first DSLRs with 1080p/i video

Sony has just introduced four new cameras, two DSLRs (A560 and A580), and two quasi-DSLRs (A33 and A55). Their video specifications are very similar; all four cameras can do 1920 x 1080 1080i at 50/60fps with AVCHD compression (at 17Mbps average), and 1440 x 1080 1080p using MPEG-4 compression (at 12 Mbps average). So what, you ask, is a quasi-DSLR? Sony's new design uses a permanent, highly light-transmissive fixed mirror than enables continuous autofocus and live mode for both still shots and video. This means that the cameras have electronic, not optical, viewfinders, although they have a largely conventional DSLR body and can use Sony's conventional Alpha-range lenses. The A560 and A580 are conventional DSLRs and can't do continuous video autofocusing.

Digital Photography Review has published a review of the first production version of the A55. There are some unusual "features" that it found in its video tests:

• The camera can record approximately 29 minutes of video in AVCHD mode, but it can only record 9 minutes if SteadyShot is turned on. The review is unclear as to why image stabilization affects storage capacity so much, but it may be due to the fact that the camera does digital image stabilization inside the camera rather than using lenses with optical image stabilization.
• Even though MP4 uses a lower bitrate and should allow a storage card to save more video, storage of MP4 files is limited to 2GB at a time, which limits the maximum duration of a shot to around three minutes. AVCHD doesn't have this limitation and can span multiple files in a single shot.
• DP Review found that the A55's autofocus feature was often less than helpful in video mode, as the camera sometimes lost track of the object that it was focusing on and went out of focus. This problem was especially pronounced with fast-moving sports events.
• They found that the A55 has a fairly pronounced rolling shutter "jello" problem, about the same as many other DSLRs, but more severe than some competitors.
• The review states that the A55's average AVCHD bitrate is 17Mbps, but it's unclear if that's the camera's maximum bitrate. Some other DSLRs and camcorders can support 24 to 30 Mbps.

DP Review was very impressed with the A55 as a still camera, and in fact gave it a Gold Award, so it's important to recognize that it's a very good camera. However, as with many DSLRs, the video functionality of the A55 isn't as well implemented as the still image features. In the U.S., the A55 will ship in October at a list price of $750 (body only) and $850 (with an 18-55mm lens). The A33, which has essentially the same video specifications as the A55, will ship in September priced $100 lower than the A55.

How much is a camcorder body worth?

I've been thinking about how much a camcorder body is worth vs. a DSLR ever since Sony released details about its NEX-VG10 camcorder last week. The NEX-VG10 is essentially a NEX-5 with a camcorder body and updated firmware, for $1,200 more ($1,999 for the NEX-VG10 vs. $800 for the NEX-5 with the same lens.) Leaving the firmware aside for now, is there really a $1,200 difference between the two cameras?

DSLRs don't have the proper ergonomics for video. Still cameras are designed to be held only when a photographer is framing and shooting an image or a series of images, while camcorders are designed to be held at the eye for a long time. To compensate for DSLR ergonomics, companies like Zacuto and Redrock Micro have come up with eyepieces that fit over the cameras' LCD displays and a variety of mounting hardware that makes its easier to hold a DSLR at the eye for a long period of time.

Taking Zacuto as an example, a Zacuto Z-Finder Jr. lists for $265, and a Target Shooter, which is the company's least-expensive DSLR mounting solution, is $475. You're also going to need some kind of audio recording solution; at the bottom of the price range, you could probably get away with Zoom's $99 H1, although most people will go with something like the H4n for $299 to get its dual XLR inputs. So, to bring the NEX-5 up to the NEX-VG10 in handling and audio capability will cost from $839 to $1039. And, you still wouldn't have the updated firmware that supports manual controls and a higher AVCHD bit rate.

Once you put it into perspective, the $1,200 premium that Sony is charging for the NEX-VG10 really isn't that much of a premium. The bigger question is whether you'd want to use the NEX-VG10 at all, when you can get DSLRs from Canon that are much more flexible and have a much wider range of lens options, or from Panasonic with third-party firmware that blow away the image quality of the NEX-VG10.

I believe that the NEX-VG10 is going to find a market, and it's probably going to be quite successful, but more serious videographers and filmmakers will stick with the Canon and Panasonic DSLRs, even if they need third-party hardware and firmware to work well as camcorders. However, I also believe that the NEX-VG10 and Panasonic's forthcoming AG-AF100 are the first entries in an entirely new class of camcorders that integrate DSLR imagers, electronics and interchangeable lenses into camcorder bodies. There may be new entries as soon as IBC in September, and there's certainly going to be more at CES in January and NAB next April. At that point, you won't have to trade off form factor for capability as you will with the NEX-VG10.

Sony's NEX-VG10 Camcorder Ships in September

According to Camcorderinfo.com, Sony has announced specifications and pricing for the NEX-VG10, its new camcorder based on the same platform as the NEX-3 and NEX-5, Sony's answer to Panasonic and Olympus' Micro Four Thirds system. The NEX-VG10 uses the same E-mount interchangeable lenses as the NEX-3 and NEX-5, and has the same sensor and resolution as the NEX-5. However, it's packaged into a prosumer-style camcorder body, with both an electronic viewfinder and a 3" LCD display, and a new "Quad Capsule Spatial Array" microphone that's designed to address some of the complaints that DSLR users have had with poor audio recording performance.

Sony has also added some features to the NEX-VG10 to distinguish it from the NEX-5. For example, the new camcorder does away with the NEX-5's recording time limitations, has a higher maximum AVCHD bitrate (24 Mbps,) and has manual control over shutter speed, aperture, gain and white balance (all of which are automatic with no manual overrides when the NEX-5 is in video mode.)

The list price of the NEX-VG10 with a 18-200mm zoom lens with optical stabilization will be $1,999 in the US when it ships in September. This compares with approximately $800 for the NEX-5 with the same lens (which is not yet available.) On the other hand, Panasonic's AG-AF100, a camcorder based on the company's GH2 Micro Four Thirds DSLR, is rumored to be priced at $6,000 in the US when it ships later this year. The AG-AF100 will have more professional features, including dual XLR audio inputs and a wider range of frame rates and resolutions, and it's likely to be able to take advantage of some of the new third-party firmware that is available for the GH1 and GH2, but $2,000 looks like quite a bargain compared to $6,000.

50Mbps 1080p MJPEG from Panasonic GH1

A developer who goes by the name of Hacker13 has managed to increase the encoding bit rate on the Panasonic GH1 from the base rate of 17Mbps using AVCHD to 50Mbps using MJPEG. In turn, EOSHD.com has come up with optimum settings for the GH1, and shot some spectacular footage, which I've embedded below. The 50Mbps bit rate is higher than that of the Canon 5DMkII, and because the GH1 doesn't do line skipping, it's easier for the camera to scale and encode the incoming images.

This firmware hack, and a similar one for Canon's DSLRs called Magic Lantern, illustrate that there's a lot of potential untapped capabilities in today's DSLRs. Less expensive cameras with hacked firmware can exceed the capabilities of more expensive cameras with factory firmware. Here's the footage:


Longshan's People Part II - 50Mbit GH1 MJPEG from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.

Panasonic may be making the biggest news at NAB

A few years ago, I was at NAB when Panasonic announced its P2 flash memory camcorders and media. They were models under glass, not even working prototypes. The P2 media was going to be very expensive, capacities were low, and the whole idea of using flash for professional video production was untested. Sony had recently introduced its XDCAM optical disc technology, and the company laughed at Panasonic for moving to P2. Flash forward a few years, and flash memory has become the standard for most video production; even Sony has jumped in with both feet. In a few years, I think that we'll look back and see that Panasonic is doing the same thing this week.

The first big news is the $21,000 AG-3DA1 3D camcorder. There are a number of things that make the AG-3DA1 interesting: First, it's a one-piece 3D AVCHD camcorder that records in 1080p and 720p at frame rates up to 60fps, depending on resolution. It can adjust and track convergence points and horizontal/vertical alignment from within the camera, without using a separate computer. It uses dual SDXC cards for storage and weighs just over 6 pounds (2.8 kg). In short, it's a professional 3D camcorder that you can take out and start shooting with immediately. 3D production is much harder than shooting in 2D, but the AG-3DA1 could make 3D both easier and faster.

The second major announcement is the (estimated) $6,000 AG-AF100, which I wrote about earlier this week. The AG-AF100 takes the guts of Panasonic's Micro Four Thirds digital still cameras and puts them in a camcorder body. The biggest single complaint that cinematographers have with DSLRs is that their ergonomics are designed for photography, not video, so they have to kludge together eyepieces, external monitors and mounting hardware to make DSLRs handle like camcorders. The AG-AF100 offers the sensor size and interchangeable lenses of DSLRs together with the ergonomics and features of a professional camcorder.

The AG-AF100 is a harbinger of what's to come. Consider what would happen if Canon put a 7D, 5D Mark II or 1D Mark IV, or if Nikon put a D3s, in a camcorder body: High resolution, big sensors, multiple frame rates and interchangeable lenses (including some new killer prime lenses from Zeiss.) If you've been following the DSLR shootout that Zacuto's been doing, you know that the new DSLRs can do things that motion picture cinematographers have dreamt about for years. Put that capability into a familiar package,  and you redefine the professional camcorder business.

The AG-3DA1 and AG-AF100 are both game-changers. Even if they don't go on to be big sellers, they're establishing new directions for professional camcorder design that will fully play out over the next few years.