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MillimeterLooking Ahead to the HPX500
Apr 24, 2007 12:00 AM, By Darroch Greer
As discussed at its NAB press conference, Panasonic is laboring hard to promote the maturation of its P2 solid state memory card technology, and its line of camcorders designed to incorporate P2 cards into major production pipelines, particularly under grueling conditions. To exemplify this trend, the company promoted and explained the recent use of five AG-HVX200 P2 HD camcorders, five shoulder-mountable AJ-HPX2000 P2 HD camcorders, and 150 8GB P2 memory cards by seven field production teams to capture up-close-and-personal coverage of the Iditarod dog-sled race in Alaska.
Panasonic and its partners reported those cameras and the P2 cards held up well in Alaska, allowing both the Iditarod Trail Committee and Panasonic itself to capture rare footage now being used to promote both the race and Panasonic's technology. But the biggest news coming out of the production may well be the fact that Panasonic allowed cinematographers on the Iditarod project to field test its new AG-HPX500 camcorder in Alaska.
The HPX500, a shoulder-mountable, 2/3-in., 3 CCD, DVCPRO HD camcorder capable of recording at 11 different frame rates and compatible with a wide range of interchangeable lenses, was officially unveiled at that NAB press conference. But weeks earlier, independent producer/writer/cinematographer Barry Green, a well-known Panasonic user group contributor and author who helped design much of the workflow used during the Iditarod project, got a taste of the system, and came away more than a little impressed.
Green couldn't discuss the experience in detail at press time, just before the NAB unveiling, but did say, "I think they are going to sell every one of them they can possibly make. Because, here you have a camera with all the power of the 200, with the two-thirds inch chip and the interchangeable lens capability of the big cameras, but at half the price of the big camera. It was absolutely fantastic, and I think it is going to be a huge hit for them."
Look for more input from Green and other DP's on testing with the HPX500 in an upcoming issue of HD Focus.
