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MillimeterReview: Panasonic AJ-HPX2700
Sep 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Barry Braverman
The (re)making of a legend.
A new reinforced, multi-drilled handle can now support of variety of camera trimmings—including a monitor, light, and cooling fan for an overheated operator.
A few caveats when considering the AJ-HPX2700: This is high-definition camera only; it cannot shoot standard definition in any shape or form. Also, AVC-Intra 50 (albeit still at 10 bits) records a reduced raster size of 960×540 at 4:2:0.
Finally, one of my pet peeves: The AJ-HPX2700 menu array is way too convoluted. Many settings are spread illogically across several pages. Perhaps in a future update, the layout of the menus can be reconfigured to something a bit more sensible and user-friendly.
Tale of the Tape vs. the P2 Card
Click image to enlarge.
Conclusion
Owing to conflicting demands, every new camera design and feature set is a study in compromises. Higher-density imagers at 1080p, 2K, or 4K resolutions, for example, usually result in correspondingly poorer low-light response and dynamic range. Higher-density imagers can also be notorious power hogs. They can be extremely demanding with respect to optics and prone to problems inherent to the capture and transfer of massive files.
The new P2 Varicam skirts many of these issues by offering an excellent balance of features, resolution, operational advantages, and low-light performance. For broadcast-level shooters, this is a camera that gets the job done — and done extremely well across a multitude of genres and shooting styles.
So is the new Panasonic P2 Varicam AJ-HPX2700 the perfect camera? For this shooter, it's awfully close.
Vitals
Company: Panasonic panasonic.com/broadcast
Product: AJ-HPX2700
Assets: 10-bit recording using AVC-Intra.
Caveats: Confusing menus.
Demographic: Pro shooters.
Price: $39,950
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.