CX370: New Panasonic 1" Camera - CX-370

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Bassman2003

Veteran
I noticed Panasonic has announced a follow up camera to the CX350 that will be shown at NAB - the CX370

Here is an overview from Newsshooter - https://www.newsshooter.com/2025/03/24/panasonic-ag-cx370/

I must say, this looks like a copy and paste release which is quite disappointing to me. Maybe the hardware is updated or new but it sure seems to have the exact same specs as the CX-350. If Panasonic releases a camera with the same sensor and audio hardware etc... as a six year old model, that is pretty lame in my book. But I am sure it is not surprising by many.

NAB is not too far away but I am interested in knowing if the imaging sensor is new or not.
 
I'll look at this at NAB... I hope they've improved the LCD panel; that was a bummer on the CX350, imo. And with the Sony Z200 looking pretty impressive, well, hopefully Panasonic is responding to that...
 
Jim, if you are attending NAB I would be interested in hearing your thoughts after visiting the Panasonic booth. I will not be attending but I wonder if this camera offers any image quality improvements over the CX-350? Hopefully they will have active cameras and folks to speak with that know the answers.
 
I hope they changed LCD from 4x3 to 16x9 and made it touch screen beyond that I can't imagine they did anything else of significance.
 
Peter, I only worked with two different CX-350s; one was kinda soft, the other OK. But I with both had a bit more brightness in the sun and a bit more size overall.

Hope I can learn more about the CX-370 on the show floor.
 
I have lots of complaints but they're not fixing them so I didn't bother mentioning. In general this whole 1" camcorder can be soft, some of it has to do with the cheap kit lens. Sometimes the camera has to be sent in to have the focus calibrated. In general the AF is not camcorders strength.

I like the CX350 because it's one of the light full featured camcorders on the market but is has a number Panasonic non standard interface and features. Panasonic also did the very Japanese camera thing and made weird distinction to these style of camcorders and gave it an equally confusing naming convention. CX was I guess was supposed to be more broadcaster orientated but what ended up happening they produced two very similar lines and confused the heck out of any normal person.

It looks like the CX350 LCD design must have originally been for 4x3 aspect so rather redesign the camera they put 16x9 screen in a 4x3 flip out lcd frame.
 
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Hello,
I think about leaving the Canon C 200 für Panasonic cx 350 /370 because of better run and gun. Panasonic says that the fan of the CX 350 is alway on. When I start recording on the C 200, the fan stops immediately.
So do you have any experience concerning the noiselevel of the CX 350 and if so, does the noiselevel disturb your soundediting in post ?
What about the cx370s fan ?

best regards
Alex
 
Most if not all camcorder have the fan always running. The only time it would be noticeable is in a quiet room. For example recording room tone with internal mic you'll hear the fan. Most every other situation live events, interviews, out and about, etc the noise of the environment will over power the fan noise. The more likely issue when using the internal mic is handling and wind noise. For most pros the internal mic is only used as backup or in multi cam situations an easy way to sync...

The point of a camcorder is it's a Swiss army knife of cameras, versatile doing many things ok but not great. Any event work where you need sooth large range zoom.
 
I would say it is a non-issue. The fans are quiet and most time your mic will not be right by the fan to begin with. It will be interesting to see if the CX-350 stays on the market as the CX-370 is not very far away from it. I am not very happy with this turn of events. :( Its "fine" and can look great in certain situations but not so great in other situations. I was hoping for an overall lift rather than a nothing burger.
 
I have had one CX-350 since 2019. So I know the camera pretty well by now. It is very nice in certain circumstances. But I really wanted Panasonic to improve the DR and audio preamps or at least the input attenuation settings as my condenser mics clip too easily. Also the auto exposure over exposes. But it seems Panasonic is not playing ball anymore. They used to try harder but I guess the market is not worth their effort?
 
You're better off adding a MixPre or 32bit audio recorder to your setup. Camcorders are not in demand anymore so manufactures are doing the minimum.
 
I have a Zoom F6 but many jobs do not warrant lugging or finding a place to attach an external recorder. That is no excuse for the manufacturers imho. BTW, the Sony Z200 has great audio preamps and input attenuation settings. Panasonic is just coasting and it shows.
 
Bassman2003 said:
I have a Zoom F6 but many jobs do not warrant lugging or finding a place to attach an external recorder. That is no excuse for the manufacturers imho. BTW, the Sony Z200 has great audio preamps and input attenuation settings. Panasonic is just coasting and it shows.
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Depending on the type of job sometimes its worth the extra time of adding a separate audio device. Camera audio is fine for clean audio without large swings in levels.

I think the Zoom F6 is unwieldy form factor and poor interface. Most video jobs only need two channels of audio. MixPre 3 has excellent limiters, can be mounted under the camera or attached to the tripod. Zoom F3 is also a better option that can be mounted into the camera hot shoe. That's a set it and forget it as a backup that if the camera audio got clipped or sound bad you have a fall back. An easy to use audio recorder you'll more likely use.
 
I can't imagine not needing external recorders, weddings, dj, recitals, book signings, TedX, auctions, corporate meetings; There's always a need. I bring numerous Tascam, Zoom, lav mics, cables and small tripods for recording non-amplified musicians, speakers, just part of the kit, sometimes up to 6 cameras too. I don't do sporting events generally but I would think there is a soundboard that needs to be recorded. It's the audio timeline that syncs together all the multicam tracks. Yes there is lugging of stuff around that doesn't all get used; I check off an inventory list to keep track. I engage with the client and guests; hard work often pays dividends with large gratuities when people respect the efforts.
 
I think you guys are blowing this out of proportion. Yes, we all know the place of external recorders. I did not question that, you did. I have used my PX-270 cameras to record all kinds of things which turned out great with some post attention. I have found the Zoom F6 to be fine for live music recording and interviews etc... But that does not take away the usefulness of having solid preamps in-camera. I guess I still think a professional (or marketed as a prosumer/professional) should have an accompanying toolset. I have also said in the past that I would prefer the cameras to 'cost more' so they would have more professional level features. Not cost less but have less useful tools.
 
I think everyone would agree camcorders should have great preamps, but it's also worth considering a microphone's sensitivity values.

This was something I learned early in my career during my crazy spending where sometimes you had popular mics sitting at like -53dB (ECM-44B), which is just insanity, especially back then, and you need very good preamps to boost it. I imagine many of those prosumer camcorders would be at 9 or 10, maxed out, and it would still not be enough (or barely), but you'd have all that extra noise and hissing.

While other mics are at ~-30dB or what not, and much more usable with mediocre preamps.

But now if you take camcorder 1 (a Panasonic or whatever) and camcorder 2 (a Sony or whatever) and both are at, say, "5" and the same mic produces like a 20dB difference when recorded then one company is definitely lacking with the preamps, at least in that model.

I don't know how that ECM-44B became so popular for all those years (probably because it was Sony and one of the very few options).

[The F6 also has a tripod mount/plate to sit under the camera just like other recorders.]
 
I think about it more in terms of the sound of a mic in front of someone vs a sensitive mic that's picking up all the other sounds in the room. I'm not doing the same things necessarily but I don't want all the extraneous sounds of the room in front of the speaker's voice.
 
I am usually plugging a condenser mic into the cameras. Most of my mics are pretty hot and run best at -40 dB. My shotgun is a little less sensitive and gets -50 dB. For some reason, Panasonic shifted gears with the CX-350. -40 dB on this camera results in clipping fairly easy where the same mic on my PX-270 at -40 dB is just fine. The Headroom setting needs to be at -12 dB to get a decent level on the CX-350 where the Headroom on the PX-270 can be at -18 dB which still yields nice levels and protects more from overmodulation. The end result is less of a safe window with the CX-350 and more chance of over driving the preamps. Plus the sound is a little bit thin in comparison to the PX-270. The PX-270 cost $5,500 and was a camera that Panasonic really tried to be the best with. The CX-350 cost $3,500. You get what you pay for and would prefer to pay more to get more.
 
Bassman2003 said:
I am usually plugging a condenser mic into the cameras. Most of my mics are pretty hot and run best at -40 dB. My shotgun is a little less sensitive and gets -50 dB. For some reason, Panasonic shifted gears with the CX-350. -40 dB on this camera results in clipping fairly easy where the same mic on my PX-270 at -40 dB is just fine. The Headroom setting needs to be at -12 dB to get a decent level on the CX-350 where the Headroom on the PX-270 can be at -18 dB which still yields nice levels and protects more from overmodulation. The end result is less of a safe window with the CX-350 and more chance of over driving the preamps. Plus the sound is a little bit thin in comparison to the PX-270. The PX-270 cost $5,500 and was a camera that Panasonic really tried to be the best with. The CX-350 cost $3,500. You get what you pay for and would prefer to pay more to get more.
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These cameras have poor limiters. Its counter intuitive, you'd think turning they protect against clipping but I've found the opposite. They give a false sense of security. The meters will never go above -12 and you'll won't see red indicator but all that time the limiters are engaged at -12db crushing the audio.

Turn off the limiters and be more conservative with the levels. Otherwise I use the other options like a MixPre that has quality analog limiters. The camera can still perform well if the levels are set right.
 
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