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MillimeterTest Drive: Panasonic AG-HMC70, Part 1
Jul 14, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jan Ozer
The basic value proposition for the Panasonic AG-HMC70 is this: You get shoulder-mount stability, up to 32GB of SD card storage for AVCHD video, and good but relatively inaccessible exposure and related controls for less than $2,100 street. If this concept doesn’t grab you, let’s say goodbye now; your time is probably better spent elsewhere.
If you need a camcorder like this for ENG, education, or similar markets, here’s what you’ll get over this and the next segment. Here, I’ll describe the camcorder’s components, form factor and usability. In two weeks, you can read about quality and how the AG-HMC70 compares to its closest competitor, the Sony HVR-HD1000U. (Read my test drive of the HVR-HD1000 here.)
Hardware
The HMC70 itself is about 17in. long, 9in. tall, and 9in. wide, and it weighs just less than 6lbs. without a battery. It’s dark gray in color and tough plastic in construction, with a traditional shoulder-mount form factor: rounded bottom for your shoulder and molded hand grip with zoom rocker and record button on the right. There’s a handle on top with another zoom rocker and record button, with the microphone at the front edge of the handle, which also houses two cold accessory shoes, well positioned for a light and external microphone (neither supplied).
The unit comes with the VWVBG260PPK battery—which has a 1 hour, 50 minute recording capacity and a 2 hour, 50 minute charging time—but only a 2GB SD card; better plan on investing in additional cards when you buy the camcorder. There is a separate remote control and AC adapter, so you don’t have to charge the battery in the camcorder. Panasonic also includes HD writer software that can play back the AVCHD video on your computer and produce an SD DVD, but features are limited, and the interface is very challenging.
As with most shoulder-mount camcorders, you can shift the eyepiece about 2in. to the left to customize positioning, and it comes with a rubber eyecup to block unwanted light. The viewfinder itself has a .44in. LCD color display with 183,000 pixels. Or you can use the 3in., 251,000 pixel LCD panel on the left as a viewfinder. Audio connectors and large-sized battery compartment are on the back, with audio controls in the LCD compartment on the left along with the single SD card slot with a maximum 32GB capacity.
The camcorder has three 1/4in. CCDs, each with 520,000 effective pixels. This is a very low number considering that full-resolution 1080i requires 2,073,600 pixels for full-resolution capture. We’ll see how that impacted quality in the next segment. The HMC70 also has a 12X variable-speed zoom with a 35mm equivalent of 38.5mm to 462 mm, with integrated Optical Image Stabilization. Note that this is the same lens, imagers, and front end used by the much smaller Panasonic AG-HSC1U.
Audio connectivity is one of the HMC70’s key strengths, with two XLR mic/line switchable inputs with +48 V phantom power and auto or manual recording level dials, and an onscreen volume display and 3.5mm stereo headphone jack for monitoring levels. There’s also a 3.5mm stereo mini-jack for microphone input.
Note that the Sony HVR-HD1000 has only stereo inputs, so if you need to use XLR inputs with the Sony, you need to factor in the cost of an external adapter from BeachTek or another supplier. To be fair, however, the HVR-HD1000 comes with a stereo shotgun microphone— although obviously this won’t help if you need to connect a lavalier or boundary microphone.
The HMC70 captures in full-resolution 1080i at either 13Mbps (CBR) or 9Mbps or 6Mbps (VBR), all in the AVCHD format. Note that with a 16GB card, you can capture approximately 160 minutes worth of video at the highest resolution—a great convenience for long-form events.
While AVCHD is not as universally compatible as HDV, you can edit it using most professional and consumer video editors with the notable (and sorrowful) exception of Adobe Premiere Pro—a deficit that Adobe should address within the next six months. The camera doesn’t offer progressive-mode capture, which is a noteworthy limitation for filmmaker wannabes and, more importantly, for those shooting for streaming, because progressive mode can definitely improve the quality of streaming video.
The camcorder can also capture 1920x1080 still pictures via a photo shot button located just behind the zoom rocker on the front right handgrip. Video I/O includes BNC composite, component, and HDMI outputs along with two RCA audio jacks and a USB 2.0 connector, but no LANC input for an external zoom controller.
