Local TV News Station switches to Panasonic Consumer Camcorders for reporting

Barry_Green said:
It is wrong, but not for your Jan-bashing. I think it is wrong because - it just has to be wrong. The smallest 3-chip 1/2" camera on the market is the EX1R. This camera is probably 1/4 the EX1R's size! It just cannot actually be three 1/2.3" chips.
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Although I guess you´re probably right, I want to point out the Sony RX100 has a 1" chip and is much smaller than the X920, so maybe...
 
But the point is, it's only one chip. Not three. The GH2 has a 1.33" chip and is smaller than the X920.

The problem is when you have three chips, they have to be put in a light-splitting prism configuration. That takes up space. And then you need a lens that will cover that range. The RX100 only has a 3x zoom. The X920 has a 12x.

I dunno, maybe they're absolute wizards and have invented an incredible shrinking x-ray machine... or maybe their PR people messed up and printed the wrong statistic on the marketing materials. My money is on option #2!
 
I would have to echo Barry's earlier comment about the iAuto on the AG-AC90 being really good and easy to use. It seems to me that feature makes the AC90 as easy to use as any consumer camcorder. At the same time, the AG-AC90 still has numerous professional and manual features that consumer camcorders lack. To me, it would thus offer the best of both worlds, and would consequently be the ideal solution for this new generation of news reporters.

If Panasonic is not marketing the AG-AC90 to local TV news stations, they really should.

B&H is even discounting the AG-AC90 a bit further now, and bundling a Porta Brace Rain cover with it for news reporters. The entire package is only $1,893.61

Sure seems to me that this would be a smart choice for news rooms to go with:


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=911631&Q=&is=REG&A=details
 
Amazing indeed that they are expecting to get one thousand dollars for something like this, when for only $800 more you can get the pro-line AG-AC90.
 
Because you can control it with your iphone and broadcast your footage live through Ustream. That's pretty cool and useful, like multicasting a wedding live to people who can't make it to the ceremony...
 
vanvideo said:
Now, for the price of one old Beta camera, you can equip a whole news operation with video cameras, and throw in some NLEs as well. And the little home HD video cameras of today can produce images we could only dream about back then.

Technology marches on.
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It's been fairly widely reported that BBC News have recently purchased a very large number of smaller, cheaper cameras for use by their journalists throughout the world - in their case from JVC, the HM650. See http://broadcastengineering.com/eng/bbc-add-500-jvc-gy-hm650-prohd-camcorders-newsgathering

No, you didn't read it wrong! Over 500!

It's worth making clear that they are not moving wholesale to this type of camera, period, even for news. The JVC cameras are intended for Video Journalists, B-cameras etc - they recently took delivery of a large number of Sony PMW500 shouldermounts as main cameras.

What does seem to be attractive about these JVC cameras is that they have multiple codecs, including XDCAM at 35Mbs, same as the PMW500s are being used for in the news operation - hence codec compatability between big and small cameras.

And for the expense of a 50% increase in datarate, a better quality and far more edit friendly codec than the AVC-HD of the NXCAM and AVCCAM ranges.
 
The JVC GY-HM650 and Panasonic HPX-250 are hardly consumer, or even prosumer camcorders. They are both full featured professional camcorders, that dwarf a consumer camcorder in size. The JVC sells for $5,700, and the Panasonic for $4,800 here in the USA.
 
The era of watch once, disposable news footage is here. I can even use my cell phone as a 2nd camera while the main HPX250 one is stationary with XLR audio in from the press pool feed.

It'd be out of place if I see a guy w/ a Sony F55 or Red 4K camera covering news unless it's a special long-form doc. 4K is way overkill for disposable, air-once news program.
 
LanceOregon said:
The JVC GY-HM650 and Panasonic HPX-250 are hardly consumer, or even prosumer camcorders. They are both full featured professional camcorders, that dwarf a consumer camcorder in size. The JVC sells for $5,700, and the Panasonic for $4,800 here in the USA.
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It depends where you're coming from. They may seem expensive compared to consumer cameras - but compared to even the cheaper 2/3" cameras (current mainstay for news) such as the JVC are a fraction of the price. In no way can a JVC GY-HM650 or a Panasonic HPX-250 be considered "full featured professional" when compared to something like a PMW400. (And it's possible to go a lot upmarket even from that.)

Hence "prosumer" describes them very well. Heck, both of those don't even have a fully manual lens (unlike the XF305 or PMW200) - their "manual" operation is via servo control.
 
Sad news indeed for the media industry. I'm glad I'm on the other side of this 3rd world practice. This is a big mistake on their part as most readers' loyalty will shift to quality and not the bottom line. As they always said, "Quality will always cost less in the end." They're short sighted for profitability.

I don't think it's the end to the media in the US. It's simply in a period of decay for America in general. Eventually a collective conscious will rise back to higher standards again. Timewise, don't know. It's a disturbing trend nevertheless. This is like a junk food restaurant vs. healthy gourmet restaurant. On the bright side, this will open new opportunities for quality photo & video journalism people who have self-respect & dignity for themselves.
 
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