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MillimeterReview: Panasonic AJ-HPX3000
Nov 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Barry Braverman
Rugged, high-performance 10-bit camcorder offers HD shooters a new choice.
Your connection to the world is here via USB 2.0. Each P2 card appears as its own volume on the PC or Mac desktop.
Dynamic Range Stretch
The HPX3000 features every gamma setting that Panasonic has ever offered in a professional camera: HD; SD; Filmlike 1, 2, and 3; and Film_Rec. The latter imparts the HPX3000 with an instantly familiar look for former and current Varicam shooters.
The Dynamic Range Stretch (DRS) feature in the HPX3000 is related to Film_Rec in that minimal knee is applied to the camera's response curve. DRS tracks hot areas across the frame and applies an autoknee-type correction only to those sections, thus mitigating the overall graying of the highlights that is typically seen when autoknee is applied in a traditional way. For many shooters, DRS obviates the need for autoknee entirely, because the maximum dynamic range of the imager — typically 500 percent to 600 percent — may be employed to control specific problem areas of a scene.
One point to keep in mind for HPX3000 users: To apply DRS, the function must be assigned to a user button. There is no menu selection to enable it.
Output
The HPX3000 can output 1080i, 720p, and 480i concurrently through the various external outputs. The rear video out is controlled externally via a convenient slide switch for HD-SDI, SD-SDI, and VBS (composite) signals. There is also a dedicated HD-SDI/SD-SDI output on the side of the camera in addition to a monitor out, which is useful for affixing a standard-definition reference.
For offloading the P2 cards to external storage, the camera can be mounted on the desktop of a Mac or PC using the USB 2.0 connection. Important to note: AVC-Intra records in native mode, and so the FireWire port, which requires a valid video stream, is disabled when working in the AVC-Intra format.
P2 cards appear to offload to a hard drive much more quickly now than previously; a typical transfer rate is about 2GB per minute. I achieved this on an Apple MacBook Pro running OS X Leopard, fed by a five-slot AJ-PCD20 reader connected via USB 2.0. The halving of the transfer rate (within only the past few months) is helping to make the flash-memory-card-based workflow much more practical for every kind of production.
