Is the AJ HPX3700 Varicam finally dead?

H

Hugh DiMauro

Well-known member
I haven't posted here in awhile but am slowly getting back into the Panasonic fold. I have a friend who has the most incredible 2/3" Varicam 3700 camera and prime lens package that would knock your socks off. If you recall, back in 2010 the 3700 was the Lincoln Continental of cinema cameras at a 100K price point. Today, seven short years later, it's almost difficult to give the camera away. I utterly cannot believe this. Does anyone here have any ideas who would be a good market for an excellent condition AJ HPX3700 Varicam, 300 usage hours, Fujinon HD zoom lens, color viewfinder and nine Fujinon prime lenses all in excellent condition? Is anybody even still using 2/3" cinema cameras anymore? I remember watching Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" and Robert Rodriguez' "Once Upon A Time in Mexico" and just being blown away by the image quality. If the image on the big screen looked great back then, why aren't these cameras still in great demand? Have the large sensor cameras trounced the 3700 that badly? Any thoughts? Ideas?
 
Hugh DiMauro said:
If you recall, back in 2010 the 3700 was the Lincoln Continental of cinema cameras at a 100K price point.
Click to expand...

By 2010 we already had the Panavision Genesis, the Sony F35 and the Arri D21, and the Alexa emerged that year, so the 2/3" cameras were secondary to those as a budget version of a cinema camera. It's hard to imagine now, but $100K was by no means a high-water mark for digital cinema camera prices, as the aforementioned cameras cost several times that.

We used to spend a lot of energy dealing with the extended depth of 2/3" cameras. Every now and then I have to try to wreak a cinematic look out of them for broadcast applications and it's an uphill battle vs a large sensor camera. Factor in unremarkable low light performance, top speed of 30 fps, 1080 max resolution...there's not much there at this point.
 
The 3700 never caught on like the 2700 did(I own two, if that tells you anything). The fact that they were $60K+ vs. the 2700 at $40K didn't help. I have a client who has one and I do not know the last time they used it. Their workhorses are C300's and higher end are Amira's with their 2700's still working some. It was just a very limited "one trick pony" of a camera vs. what the 2700 could do(at lower resolution and cost).

I still use my 2700 regularly(just yesterday, as a matter of fact). It's still my favorite camera. Granted, I'm usually shooting it at 60P for News/Sports/Live, but I did pick it over my F55 and C300 for a 24P shoot a few weeks ago. Better tool for the job.

I bet those Fuji 2/3" primes are beautiful, though...
 
Never owned but I rented the 3700 & 2700 back in the day for certain corporate jobs. And yes - for ease of use / throwing on your shoulder and going - they both rank very high up there as my favorites as well. But agree with Charles statement above... in comparison with the crop of large sensor camera's cinematic IQ available today... no contest.
This also reminds me how far Panny has come with their low light performance...
 
Gentlemen, I am grateful that you took the time to answer my inquiry. This unlucky person spent 200K of her hard earned money for equipment that, according Mr. Papert, was a brick before she opened the box. I will try and convince her to keep and use this marvelous equipment. Thank you.
 
A brick before she opened the box? Entertaining interpretation of my statements, thank YOU Mr. DiMauro.

I shot a feature with the F900 in 2005. It was filmed out to 35mm in 2008 and screened in various theatres nationally. I thought it looked pretty damn good. The film included pickups and re-shoots done on the Genesis by another DP. Every time those came up on screen, I could immediately detect the improvement in image quality. It just felt crisper and more cinematic.

In 2009 the entire industry had a love affair with the Canon 5DMKII. I used the Canons myself for a couple of years. I look back on those projects now and the image quality feels variable at best.

Not everything that is new is better. Vinyl has made a comeback, film isn't dead, and ask any audiophile about tube amps. However, some tech just falls by the wayside. I don't see hipsters in my neighborhood sporting early gen iPhones or clickwheel iPods (but I do see 70's era cassette Walkmans)! I loved my XL1's and did cool stuff with the DVX100, but other than emulating footage from a specific period I can't see why I'd try to put those up against a modern camera.

Is there a market for that camera package? There are plenty of broadcast/reality/corporate/government scenarios where 2/3" is still alive and well. Have the big sensor cameras replaced the smaller ones in terms of cinema acquisition? I think shotonwhat.com would prove this is so. Very different market.
 
Mr. Papert:

I will certainly forward your positive scenarios to my friend. Heartbreaking situation here as well. We are talking $5k Chrosziel matte boxes, custom made Tiffen filters manufactured according to specs specified by my friend (yes, Mr. Tiffen personally worked together with my friend to custom make filters that would render actors' skin blemishes to a more appealing, cinematic state), the actual O'Connor fluid head used by Laszlo Kovacs in the movie Easy Rider, wireless sound systems, scores of other stuff. I know you are a working DP and maybe you know somebody who knows somebody who would like to contact my friend? Anyone who wants to take a look at this stuff and maybe help her sell it would be a Godsend. Feel free to send me a private message.
 
Oops! Is an apology in order, Mr. Papert? I hope I wasn't being too cheeky with my "brick" comment? I guess I might have twisted your post a bit towards the half empty glass scenario. If you knew the dollar amounts offered to my friend for her camera package, you would be amazed at their chutzpah. I keep calm and Chive on! Thanks again for your advice and assistance.
 
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