First Look, Panasonic AG-AC90 at DVExpo West

It's a little tough to compare the Sony NX30 with the AC-90 since it hasn't been released yet!! On a lucky few have played with it so it would be wise to wait for some user reports in a month or so.

It also depends on whether you are a Panasonic person or a Sony person too!! I personally don't like Sony's colours at all but I have great respect for their equipment...it's all a matter of personal choice..for me, the NX30 looks really tiny so that would be my very first negative but then again if you are looking for compactness the Sony looks a lot smaller .... bear in mind it's only a single chip camera too!!

Some swear to only drive a Ford and some will only drive a GM .... it all comes down to what YOU want and feel good with if you feel the specs are similar.

Chris
 
ChrisHarding said:
It's a little tough to compare the Sony NX30 with the AC-90 since it hasn't been released yet!! On a lucky few have played with it so it would be wise to wait for some user reports in a month or so.

It also depends on whether you are a Panasonic person or a Sony person too!! I personally don't like Sony's colours at all but I have great respect for their equipment...it's all a matter of personal choice..for me, the NX30 looks really tiny so that would be my very first negative but then again if you are looking for compactness the Sony looks a lot smaller .... bear in mind it's only a single chip camera too!!

Some swear to only drive a Ford and some will only drive a GM .... it all comes down to what YOU want and feel good with if you feel the specs are similar.

Chris
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Yeah i feel like theres situations where i would want panasonics better image quality and full manual controls, but at the same time i could see where i would want the balanced optical steady shot that sony offers in the NX30... how do u feel about the 5 axis stablization in the panasonic?

btw thanks for the reply
 
I obviously haven't tried the OIS yet but Bob reports that the OIS is way superior to anything he has seen. Take a look at his video when he is interviewing Jan at the Expo in the AC130/160 forum and base your comments on that footage...consider that the entire interview was handheld and the shots are preety darn good. At full zoom it doesn't really work well (but neither will the Sony) If you do a lot of handheld like me, then I think it will be pretty hard to beat the AC-90 OIS ..My biggest gripe with OIS systems is that you tend to get vertical movement even with OIS on with other cameras and the 5 axis system seems to rectify that completely. It's pretty impressive I thought!!

Remember so far only Bob has posted any footage and every comment is based on that...he only had a short time at the expo but Barry Green is playing with the camera too so I'm sure he will have more time study it in far greater detail and be able to confirm what we have seen so far. I haven't seen specs in detail for the Sony ....does it have backlit sensors?? Barry has already said that they could add almost 2 extra stops to low light situations which is great news..I know the Sony CX has backlit chips.

We will know a lot more when the camera actually arrives and people use it... users here will post comments both good and bad (hopefully more good!) so far the only complaint has been the lack of WFM!!

Chris
 
A guy on Personal View posted this camera test between the Ac-90 and the GH2. It is on YouTube which isn't the best but I was surprised just how well the AC-90 did. Much better then my HMC-40 which I sold recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T7hHxDh5OcM

It is my understanding the guy used the 14:140 lens on the GH2 so not exactly a good low light performer either. At high gain levels however my HMC-40 looked like hamburger compared to this AC-90 at high gain levels. My biggest surprise was how well the color and dynamic range were in outdoor sunlight on the AC-90.
 
Not really surprised. The AC90 has a rock solid picture, and its image is true actual resolved detail, not aliased detail. I was tempted to do a res chart comparison to show how much sharper the AC90 is than the GH2, but ... I dunno, what's really the point?
 
I am hoping the rest of the world is starting to feel the same way. So many other important factors. As long as it can do GH2 level of detail and no less then I'm fine. I can understand the detail argument between Canon and Panasonic since Canon DSLR detail looks mushy to me but once you hit the level of detail of the GH2 anything higher is just not as important anymore. At least to me. I would take more dynamic range, better color reproduction and smooth gradations of edges and detail over detail any day.

Loved my HMC-40 and at 24db felt it could get bright enough but it just looked like garbage at 24db. If 24db on the AC-90 really does look that much better then the HMC-40 I may have to revisit buying a real video camera again. There are times when I do miss it for certain projects. Not enough of those type of projects to justify a more expensive video camera. I loved having the best of both worlds with my GH2 and HMC-40 but the low light finally got to me on the HMC-40. Would have kept it forever if it was usable at all in indoor situations.
 
Barry, I hope you post a res chart for the AC90. Thank you!
Barry_Green said:
Not really surprised. The AC90 has a rock solid picture, and its image is true actual resolved detail, not aliased detail. I was tempted to do a res chart comparison to show how much sharper the AC90 is than the GH2, but ... I dunno, what's really the point?
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Barry_Green said:
Not really surprised. The AC90 has a rock solid picture, and its image is true actual resolved detail, not aliased detail. I was tempted to do a res chart comparison to show how much sharper the AC90 is than the GH2, but ... I dunno, what's really the point?
Click to expand...


I hope the fact that you have a AC-90 means that we can expect that you are writing a book about it?? :love4:
 
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Thomas Smet said:
A guy on Personal View posted this camera test between the Ac-90 and the GH2. It is on YouTube which isn't the best but I was surprised just how well the AC-90 did. Much better then my HMC-40 which I sold recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T7hHxDh5OcM

It is my understanding the guy used the 14:140 lens on the GH2 so not exactly a good low light performer either. At high gain levels however my HMC-40 looked like hamburger compared to this AC-90 at high gain levels. My biggest surprise was how well the color and dynamic range were in outdoor sunlight on the AC-90.
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Wow, that is quite an impressive looking video, I must say. If there are any faults to be found it in, I am very hard pressed to see them.
 
ransyn said:
Yeah i feel like theres situations where i would want panasonics better image quality and full manual controls, but at the same time i could see where i would want the balanced optical steady shot that sony offers in the NX30... how do u feel about the 5 axis stablization in the panasonic?

btw thanks for the reply
Click to expand...

It looks like the NX30 does have amazing image stabilization. No other camcorder may be able to quite match it on that feature.

But the camcorder itself is sort of a Frankenstein's monster, with some professional sound and advanced stabilization grafted onto a consumer camcorder. Other than those features, though, it is just an advanced consumer camcorder. My $1,300 Canon Vixia HF G10 has more manual controls on it than the NX30 has.
 
Barry is writing a book for the AC90, not the Z10000. The Z10000 has a whole set of features that are wrapped around the 3D nature of the camera and there wasn't enough room in the box for a full discussion about 3D which is what it would need. So if you wish to learn more about 3D, I will point you in the direction of Bernard Mendiburu's excellent book 3D Moviemaking. Easy to understand, then you can add that to the AC90 Book. The AC90 Books sold through the US will have the Book included, except for the first couple of months, but there will be a mail-in card for a copy of it, once it is printed.

Hope this helps,

Jan
 
personally im hoping they offer a firmware upgrade for the ability to shoot in 720p as well, just so i can fit more hours of footage into a single SDXC card
 
Panasonic manuals are not exactly the most helpful as they cover controls and what they do but never how to use them! Barry's books tell you so much more I would not classify them as a PLUS but more an absolute essential!!!

Barry ?? Just wondering is you have any dimensions of the 90 as yet...I cannot seem to find them listed anywhere and the closest is Jan saying "about a DVX100 size" It would be really nice to know the approximate length of the camera from lens hood to back if you manage to find the time??

Chris
 
ransyn said:
personally im hoping they offer a firmware upgrade for the ability to shoot in 720p as well, just so i can fit more hours of footage into a single SDXC card
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I would not bet on this possibility. It isn't going to happen. How do I know? I argued for it. It was a fairly heated discussion, well at least on my side. You can get a lot of time on the SD cards, up to 6 hours. However, I am not sure I would want more than an hour or two on any single SD card. I argued for 720P, not for time but for format, I have a number of customers that use 720P as their in-house standard.

Best,

Jan

Best,

Jan
 
Hi Chris,

Sorry, I thought the DVX size was useful. So here you go:

Dimensions (W X H X D):
160 mm x 195 mm x 350 mm excluding protruding parts
(6-5/16 inches x 7-11/16 inches x 13-1/16 inches)

Best,

Jan
 
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