AG-AC90 starts shipping tomorrow. How many have one on order?

L

LanceOregon

Well-known member
Is anyone brave enough to be the guinea pig on this new camcorder? I know that B&H Photo has a 30 day unconditional customer satisfaction guarantee. So I suppose that one could pre-order from them, without taking on very much risk.

I bought my AG-AC130 almost exactly a year ago just a couple of days after B&H Photo got it in stock. Since I've already got two camcorders to work with now, though, I think I will be more patient with the AG-AC90, and play more of a wait and see game with it. Ideally, I think that it might be a good upgrade to replace my Canon HF G10 for handheld shooting.

But I sure hope that some others are willing to take the plunge, and give the AG-AC90 a shot. For it sure seems to offer a lot of potential. And I'm most interested in hearing how other users react to it.
 
I'll wait awhile. I want to see more than the video at the trade show.


LanceOregon said:
Is anyone brave enough to be the guinea pig on this new camcorder? I know that B&H Photo has a 30 day unconditional customer satisfaction guarantee. So I suppose that one could pre-order from them, without taking on very much risk.

I bought my AG-AC130 almost exactly a year ago just a couple of days after B&H Photo got it in stock. Since I've already got two camcorders to work with now, though, I think I will be more patient with the AG-AC90, and play more of a wait and see game with it. Ideally, I think that it might be a good upgrade to replace my Canon HF G10 for handheld shooting.

But I sure hope that some others are willing to take the plunge, and give the AG-AC90 a shot. For it sure seems to offer a lot of potential. And I'm most interested in hearing how other users react to it.
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The video that does the GH2 comparison is much better than the one shot at the trade show. Still, though, it is difficult to judge any camcorder based on a single brief video. We need to see some more examples, especially videos that document the effect that adding gain has to the quality of the image.
 
The answer here is to ask willing users to shoot the kinda footage that you might shoot so you can see whether what you have is better or worse. The issue is that everyone shoots different scenarios but I'm pretty sure that enthusiastic new owners would be happy to take requests other than the backyard and the front yard and maybe the dog. Definately a series of gain increases in low light would be very useful to determine excatly when the image starts to go soft as gain increases. That would give you a gain limit that you know would work well. I don't think autofocus will be a problem on this camera as it's back to a 12X zoom and 1/4.7" chips so it should be fast!!

Chris
 
I've preordered this cam and was planning on using it along with my other 2 cams on a wedding I was going to shoot on Dec 1st, but it looks like the new shipment date was pushed back from 10/30 to 11/15 (according to B&H). There was another guy that said it was pushed back by only a few days because of the storm, but the rep I spoke to said it was 11/15.
 
I'm holding off until I see and hear some professional feedback from other users. I'm overall very happy with my HMC-80 but am wanting a different form factor so I can play with some steadycam toys. I thought about an HMC-40 until I saw the AC90 show up. The thought of better low light performance is just one reason I'm interested.
 
I will wait wisely and see what others say with some practical usage...Bob and Barry did a great job but they only had the camera for a short time..It will be much better when we get some field reports.

Steve, I have two HMC80's (actually 82's cos we are PAL) and I love those cameras and wouldn't change the form factor for something tiny..I was brought up with SM's!! I run one camera on the stedicam with no problems..just bear in mind I'm also using a vest and double arm and it flies really well..then again my rig is optimised for cams around 8lbs!!

Chris
 
Joellrr said:
I've preordered this cam and was planning on using it along with my other 2 cams on a wedding I was going to shoot on Dec 1st, but it looks like the new shipment date was pushed back from 10/30 to 11/15 (according to B&H). There was another guy that said it was pushed back by only a few days because of the storm, but the rep I spoke to said it was 11/15.
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The B&H website itself is now updated, and now shows an expected availability date of 11/15. So the rep you spoke to was giving you the correct info.
 
I have one on order due to be with me around the middle of this month (November - I'm in Scotland). Having read reviews and the little footage there is I've a gut feeling this is the right camera for me at this point as it's my first forray into the world of tapeless and up to date cameras having shot with old Sony VX's for goodness knows how long. Plan to shoot the camera with both a slide, jib and on the tripod and will happily share experiences and footage as they unfold.
 
I am seriously considering buying this camera by the end of his month. Hopefully its been out a few weeks by then. I am mostly going to use if for corporate events. I would really appreciate Vimeo footage of scenery, people, and street scenes. I am really curious about with the built in stabilization what would work to get steadicam type shots without one. It might just be as simple as a consumer/light weight tripod. Sound testing is vital to, since its going to be mostly a one-man-band for me too. I would also be interesting seeing one shoulder mounted via on a rig.
 
I'm personally hoping at least someone from Massachusetts will get one. I have some gigs coming up such as a music cover or 2 this month in which I definitely wouldn't mind using an AC90 on it. I can't afford the camera but if someone in Massachusetts gets it, I can hire them to show up on the shoot so I can use it. It would be like they just got a discount on the camera.
 
Actually we have shipped the cameras to the distributors. You should be able to get it easily from virtually any reseller this week.

Best,

Jan
 
Lookin' at replacing my ol' Canon HFS-10 with one. Interested first in seeing how it might cut with the AC160 ....
 
The manual is online, I think 6 scene files, 6 gammas including 2 cine, 3 knees, stretch, press, coring, black balance, several color matrix presets, phase, chroma, detail. With 1/4.7 chips, it's gonna need 'em. That said, I've seen some spectacular imagery from my tm900, but some clips have been ungradable because it fundamentally has minimal dynamic range and latitude, so in certain high contrast situations one primary color might clip, or roll off or shift, it's very hard to correct in post and not enough control in-cam to manage it properly. Other flaw is lens flare, so Panasonic know what was needed to improve it and their future consumer cams. First pixel shifted full HD cam I'll have my arms around, and not sure which benefit it's supposed to bring to a full HD sensor, but I hope it assists with DR and latitude because the tm900 already has more than adequate resolution.

But I've cut the tm900 with my Sony PMW350k, I'll shoot the tm900 in 1080/p60 and the pmw350 in 1080/p30, just load them both on a 1080/p60 timeline.

Am I going to be the first to receive an ac90 and post about it? Overnite tracking number says delivery Tue a.m.

And thank you Jan, I pursued the local reseller route, but no stock, so B&H customer service wins the day.

I'm hoping this cam helps me get more keepers. The ac160a would be good, but I want the smaller size, XF105 would be better still but I'm smitten with 1080p/60, I've got good workflows for cutting it with anything really. 1080/p60 has a lot of benefits, mixes well with other frame rates.
 
My C90 arrived this morning.

I plan on doing a full review on www.luminous-landscape.com in a couple of weeks, but I'll post observations here from time to time as I become familiar with the camera. We are currently using two AF100's and two GH2's for our own training and location productions, and have familiarity with a number of previous camcorders (EX1, FS100, XF300), as well as most video DSLRs.

Battery is charging, weather is crummy here in Toronto, but I'll be pleased to answer questions as I get up to speed on the AC90.

Michael
The Luminous Landscape
 
Some initial observations...

- Love the way the LCD folds safely into a closed slot under the handle. Better design that Canon's.
- Camera feels light and slightly front heavy until the battery is inserted, then comfortable heft and well balanced
- EVF not as bad as some had feared. Low res but adequate.
- LCD is a beauty
- Battery claims 6 hours. Even if it's half that still terrific.
- Camera takes 128 GB SDXC cards without problem. Gives just under 13 hours per card at 1080/p24
- Auto WB indoors is very good. Slow to adjust, but accurate when it does.
- Active stabilization is amazing. Makes walking footage look like Steadicam. Full optical zoom (380mm equiv) hand held is steady enough for real work.
- AF is lighting fast
- +27db indoors under modest indoor lighting appears clean enough not to need any NR. But detail is sacrificed. This is not a low light camera.
- Auto aperture to auto Gain system with built-in ND works well, but let's wait for a sunny day to really see.
- Three ring focus, zoom, iris system is dynamite
- Hate the permanent built-in hood. Makes a matte box impossible and variable ND and polarizers awkward

More to come.

Michael
 
Last edited:
Michael Reichmann said:
Some initial observations...

- +27db indoors under modest indoor lighting appears clean enough not to need any NR. But detail is sacrificed. This is not a low light camera.
More to come.

Michael
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Argh, when will Panasonic learn. They always put a ton of great features into a sub-$2K camera and then neglect the most important technical aspect for event videographers... low light sensitivity. Everything else about this camera sounds amazing, but poor low light sensitivity is a deal breaker.
 
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