New Panasonic Single Sensor B4 camera - AJ-CX4000GJ

Greg_E said:
Does it need special lenses that cover the larger than 2/3 inch sensor? Obviously if it is using the "standard" b4 lenses, the image circle is pretty small, and the sensor is pretty deep in the mount.
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Assuming it is the same sensor technology as is used in the AK-UC4000 camera that was released about a year ago, it is a 4.4K (11 MP) sensor with an internal conversion lens. Sensor size is about 1-inch, so larger than the 2/3-inch broadcast standard, but not dramatically so. The internal conversion lens allows for standard B4 lenses designed for 2/3" 3-chip cameras to be used with the larger single CMOS sensor.

There is a page describing this larger sensor approach on Panasonic's website:
https://na.panasonic.com/us/lssiel-imaging-system-broadcast-cameras

I'm not exactly sure where the new AJ-CX4000GJ camera fits in the broadcast lineup, but the AK-UC4000 sells for $40,000. I believe the existing UC4000 camera is designed for studio and multi-camera usage (so just live output, no internal recording). This new CX4000 camera seems like it may be built around the same basic camera platform, but is designed more for mobile broadcast/field usage, hence the inclusion of the internal recording and live streaming capabilities.
 
Run&Gun said:
I don't know many people shooting 30P. I'm either shooting 60P(59.94P) or 24(23.98P). For the most part, everyone shooting "video" is either shooting 59.94P or 59.94i. I can count the times on one hand with fingers left over that I've been asked for 30P. If you're watching live sports or basically anything live, it's 60(59.94). One of the locals around here was doing 1080/30P(don't know if they still are. I can't watch them) and it looked HORRIBLE. I actually can't believe someone approved them to go on the air thinking that it looked good.
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Talk to CBS about that. Lots of stuff at 29.97p for newsmagazines and the like. Are there any soaps still on the air? For awhile they were 29.97p as well.
 
Hmm...if it's in the $40K neighborhood, not as interesting to me as a rental, I would probably rent an Amira or Venice or something like that instead. I am sure this Panasonic is lighter though.
 
Eric Coughlin said:
I did a three day shoot for Good Morning America on ABC, somehow the field producers seemed pretty inexperienced; I asked them, "What frame rate do you want?" They said, "I don't know. What do you recommend?" I said, "Would you like to check with your editor?" They said, "Just whatever you think is good." I said, "Well TV is often at 30, so I guess we'll go with that." So we shot at 30.

I get asked for 30 perhaps 10% of the time, often for TV applications. For corporate videos and docs, it's typically 24p. I very rarely shoot 60p except for slow motion.
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There are lots of people who still think 30 when they think TV, because we were historically 30fps for acquisition and transmission in the analog, SD, NTSC days(30 frames interlace which was 60 fields which was the same motion cadence as 60fps). I saw some people shooting 30p in the early transitional days, because they were used to shooting 30fps interlace and didn’t fully understand the difference between that and progressive. I would often ask them why and they would almost always reply, “Because we’ve always shot 30fps”. Those that did understand were shooting 60P or 60i.

Technically, there’s nothing wrong with 30p, as it’s largely just an aesthetic(the motion cadence), like 24p, and there are some that argue that it’s actually a better match for “TV” instead of shooting 24p, but most of the time when I saw it done, it was because someone didn’t understand what it was and actually needed 60. We used to make it real simple for the producers that didn’t know, we’d ask “do you want it to look like ‘film’ or ‘video’?” ‘Video’ = 60p and ‘film’ = 24p. One of the few(probably only) times I’ve ever shot 30 was something for Microsoft for the web. I just remembered I did have a client ask for it earlier this year. They were a long-time client and I questioned them on it, because it didn’t sound right as we have never shot 30 since the SD days. And this is where understanding where it’s going to be used pays off. I asked them to give me a little more info on what it was being used for and it turned out it needed to match the broadcast, so I told them that it needed to be 60. It was another case of the producer not understanding. FYI: we were shooting UHD and chewed through the cards like they were going out of style.



Of course it goes without saying, that in the context of this, 24, 30 and 60 are 23.98, 29.97 and 59.94 and this is all ‘real time’, no over/under cranking.
 
Mitch Gross said:
Talk to CBS about that. Lots of stuff at 29.97p for newsmagazines and the like. Are there any soaps still on the air? For awhile they were 29.97p as well.
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As I did mention, I understand that some shows are. Not sure if they still are, but 60 Minutes, at least at one point was 29.97p. I’m speaking on the larger whole. I shoot for ESPN, FOX, NBC and have also for CBS and ABC, to name a few, and have other friends that do, as well, and the vast majority of what is being done is either 59.94p/59.94i or 23.98p.

The original post that I was responding to said that the majority of what we were seeing off of broadcast and ENG cameras was 30p, which is not the case.
FWIW, most of the time all we're seeing from these cameras is 30p footage...
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Run&Gun said:
The original post that I was responding to said that the majority of what we were seeing off of broadcast and ENG cameras was 30p, which is not the case.
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It is the case in my opinion, but you're not applying critical thinking to your evaluation.

When people are interested in seeing camera samples, where's the first place they go? The Internet. YouTube. Vimeo.

We don't watch ESPN or FOX or whatever to check out the image quality of these broadcast cameras.

0% of the audience knows which cameras were used.

So when we're looking for these samples online, guess which framerate many of them have when you click 'Stats for nerds' on YT or the letter 'd' on Vimeo? 30p.

Now whether that's a mistake or a decision to shoot 30p for the Internet, I don't know. And of course there are 24p and 60p videos too, but I replied with what I am seeing in response to research and not your own work life, which I'm sure is 100% the case for you, but it's out-of-context in regards to my own reply.
 
NorBro said:
It is the case in my opinion, but you're not applying critical thinking to your evaluation.

When people are interested in seeing camera samples, where's the first place they go? The Internet. YouTube. Vimeo.

We don't watch ESPN or FOX or whatever to check out the image quality of these broadcast cameras.

0% of the audience knows which cameras were used.

So when we're looking for these samples online, guess which framerate many of them have when you click 'Stats for nerds' on YT or the letter 'd' on Vimeo? 30p.

Now whether that's a mistake or a decision to shoot 30p for the Internet, I don't know. And of course there are 24p and 60p videos too, but I replied with what I am seeing in response to research and not your own work life, which I'm sure is 100% the case for you, but it's out-of-context in regards to my own reply.
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You're right.

Silly me for talking about broadcast cameras in the context of their use on broadcast/network TV.
 
puredrifting said:
Hmm...if it's in the $40K neighborhood, not as interesting to me as a rental, I would probably rent an Amira or Venice or something like that instead. I am sure this Panasonic is lighter though.
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I don't know what the price will be in the end, but it will certainly be significantly lower than $40K. Much, much lower.
 
I would shoot 24p for the internet, more bitrate per frame.

I can say without question that this new camera will be way out of our price range at work, huge budget crisis. We are thinking all in one type camera that has focus, zoom, iris manual controls (or electronic auto) and in the $2000 or so range right now. Even if we can get a federal grant, we won't be buying anymore $8000 cameras.
 
The brown M&M thing actually has a connection to my alma mater and former employer, CSU-Pueblo (then USC).
 
As Van Halen explained it, brown M&M was a canary-in-the-coalmine test for the promoters and so on to pay attention to the contract details. In other words, had someone been asleep at the wheel and not followed up on brown M&M's rider, their reputation would take a corresponding knock.

The band did not actually eat the candies.

PS. Mmmmm, candies .... mmmm, chocolate.
 
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