EVA1: Panasonic AU-EVA1! Announcement and latest updates

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I'm personally not bothered by the lack of an Evf solution. It pretty much drives home the point of this camera, a stripped down stepping stone between the GH line and the Varicams. It lets Pana really push the image quality on the camera without worrying about protecting their flagships due to these limitations, if someone really likes the image coming out of the Eva but wants a more professional setup with better build quality, they might be inclined to buy/rent an LT instead of trying to MacGyver some kind of piecemeal third party solution, and they'd have the perfect B/crash cam with the eva, with IQ to match.

I know people were dissapointed in the lack of the Varicam sensor in this camera, but it sounds like it was far more of a cost saving measure than trying to deliberately degrade the image coming out of the camera. From the Cinegear interviews, it would seem Pana is hard at work trying to squeeze as much image quality out of the new sensor as they can muster, which would explain their reluctance to give out definite DR/ISO figures or show any early footage they might have shot, before the camera is fully ready to box.

Can't wait to see the images coming out of the camera when Pana deems it showtime worthy, I'm personally hoping for/expecting at least 14 stops / 800-3200 iso and a 6000-6500 price tag, and hopefully as nice of a highlight rolloff as they can pull off with the new sensor, since that's one of my major gripes with the GH5.
 
14-14.5 stops
800/5000 Dual ISO + clean up to 3 additional stops
4K 10-bit 4:2:2 at 60p
$6.5K

Everyone would stop any potential whining, and game over competition...

13 stops
800/3200 ISO with + clean up to 1-2 stops
4K 10-bit 4:2:2 at 30p
$7.5K

Meh (for many)... still good (for the already Panny inclined)... wait for next Sony announcement (for me)...

Devil will be in the details, I think.

I'm kind of expecting somewhere in between, and depending on how in between that is or which details land in between makes me on the edge here.

Worst case this is a good camera. Best case this is an amazing camera. Likely case is this is a great 2017 camera that will be heavily challenged in 2018.

Looks promising. I look forward to the fall. Mostly happy with my GH5 until then. Hoping they don't play it conservative and it lands close to, or smack on, "amazing camera" and holds its market weight for the next few years, like the FS7 has managed. Hoping to not see it not quickly usurped and surpassed by more aggressive competition.
 
I was told by a Panasonic rep at Cinegear that the DR would be 14+ stops. Not sure if he was authorized to say so, but all the reps were just inundated with questions. You kinda had to be there to appreciate all the excitement and curiosity that the EVA1 generated. The Panasonic booth was extremely busy, a whopping success in terms of presence to say the least.
 
filmguy123 said:
Looks promising. I look forward to the fall. Mostly happy with my GH5 until then.
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Going by what's planned for the GH5 via Summer firmware upgrades, I imagine that the EVA1 is going to have the same kind of aggressive upgrade schedule. So the feature set will get better over time...
 
Mitch, I'm sitting here at work putting together one of our two new FS5s with the Sony f/4 28-135mm PZ power zoom lens (side note, these things are sweet). All the Sony power zoom lenses seem to be much more reasonably priced than their EF mount counterparts (more range for less money).

Is Panasonic talking to Leica, Olympus, or Fujinon about developing a power zoom similar to the Sony 28-135mm or 18-110 f/4's?
 
Isn't it a must for the full V-log to have 14+ stops or else the camera would have to use V-log L like the GH4/5 does? To me the camera using the full V-log pretty much means it has at least 14 stops.
 
Mitch,

Probably a long shot, but will legacy AF100 batteries work in this camera?

LCD screen size? Also, will you still recommend the need for a 3rd party external LCD or should the in-built LCD rival the display quality of many 3rd party displays in terms of brightness, color, and resolution?

Should we expect good high ISO performance beyond the dual ISO circuity, or lower our expectations here? Excluding the Dual ISO feature, will gaining up be competitive with how well the GH5 handles gaining up?

Do you have anything to say about the quality of the in-built Pre-Amps and how competitive they may be against other cameras and other external solutions?

Would you recommend EIS always on for handheld work, or will there be the possibility of digital artifacts?

Are you excited about the quality and innovation that may be present in the EIS system, or should we set our expectations in line with past EIS systems?

Will Panasonic be artificially limiting what codec/bitrate choices are available, or will it only be limited by hardware? Put another way, is the only reason 4K 60p 10-bit 4:2:2 may or may not be included due to hardware limitations? How aggressive is Panasonic trying to be here?

Is there any focus on trying to hobble the camera so as to not cannabilize Varicam sales, or does Panasonic realize the Varicam LT feature set maintains a plenty strong draw to it's clientelle base via items like PL mount, 4:4:4, so-on-so-forth, and also has limited appeal to independent filmmakers due to it's weight, cost, and workflow?

How closely in tune with the consumer division in charge of GH5 is the Panasonic cinema division? How closely have they worked and shared resources together for this camera release (EVA1, GH5) and will they be working in tandem on future roadmap items?

Will there be any features the GH5 usurps the EVA1 on? For example, speed of mode switching, menu and interface speed, ability to use in camera LUT monitoring, etc?

Should we expect any more surprises up Panasonic's sleeve at fall, or should we set our expectations as "only further details on the currently announced specs/features" so as to not be disappointed?

Lastly, what do you think the EVA1 does particularly well that will keep it competitive post launch in the face of new competition?

Thanks for your time! :)
 
Before we start, I admit I am making a grand assumption here that the EVA-1 is going to get us some nice images. This may seem like a significant leap of faith given that this is the same company that launched the DVX-200 without fully sorting out their colour science. Be that as it may, I think that basing the EVA-1 colour off of the Varicam colour science is a tremendously smart move that will be relatively easy to gauge.

From a feature standpoint the Panny is clearly superior to Canon especially at it's stated 'less than $8K' price point. I personally feel that they should be aiming for $6000, $7000 tops, if they really want to steal some significant market share but maybe I am being greedy. I think placing it in between the FS5 and FS7 makes a lot of sense. The size and weight advantages of the FS5, with a feature set that makes the FS7 jealous and for less money. That would be a great way for Panny to take some market share fast!

One of the significant advantages that you are getting with the Canon is their colour science. If Panny is true to their marketing than the EVA-1 will have Varicam Color Science, which depending on who you ask, would essentially put the Panny on par or ahead of Canon in terms of Colour.

The dual ISO feature really separates this camera from anything currently available in the under $10K pricing bracket. The next closest camera that even offer Dual ISO is the Varicam LT which will come in at more than double the cost of EVA-1.

From a feature perspective they are now competing with Sony, and Sony just does not bring with it the same reputation for bringing you good baked in colour science, so in my view Panny overall is ahead of the current Sony offerings.

I love that they are offering good internal CODEC's all while using SD cards....that is a big deal as many of the super spec'd competitors force you to use way more expensive storage options.

The OIS is a nice feature that further separates this camera from the competition. We are obviously waiting on more information but I am guessing that the 5.7K sensor allows for enough wiggle room to implement an electronic OIS solution, I guess we will have to wait and see what they bring forth.

The way I see it, the only company that has any real advantage is Canon with their AF. I know a lot of traditional cinema guys will tell you that AF is not needed but what I hear from C users is that while they went into the C line of cameras with fairly low expectations on using Canon's AF.... but at a later point it become a valuable tool in certain situations. That value comes at a significant premium with Canon, which for some people may or may not be worth it.

The lack of a loupe is not a biggie for me, I am sure there will be plenty of after market options. That being said, how hard is it for Panny to engineer a basic snap on solution much like Sony did for it's Cameras. I think that would show a huge degree of good will for it's new customer base at a nominal cost. Remember Panny is trying to capture market share from a market segment where they currently have 0% market share. A little can go a loooong way.

The only really significant unknown for me is dynamic range. As some have already stated, a higher dynamic range will make the log profiles infinitely more usable. 14 stops of dynamic range along with the stated features would certainly thrust the EVA-1 into very Elite level functionality for any price range. Given that the FS7 has 14 stops, we know that it's doable in EVA-1 price range. Blackmagic even managed to squeeze 15 stops out of it's sensor. I think 14 stops is well within Panny's reach. Provided some of the existing unknowns (dynamic Range, IQ) are executed well, in addition to the feature set, I feel as if the EVA-1 will be a significant success that could quickly take significant market share away from Sony, Canon and Blackmagic. I am looking forward to seeing some images!
 
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Thomas Smet said:
Mitch.

Just got back from our ultrasound to find out we are having a girl. If we name her EVA can we get a camera for free?
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Mike Harvey said:
My wife is 11 weeks pregnant. If we name them Eva if it's a boy, can I have one for free? :)
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If I get my wife pregnant before the release and pinky promise to name the child Eva can I have a free camera? I would also expect that to carry over into a three-camera setup if it happened to be triplets.
 
Well said True North! TBH my biggest concern is just the codec and how far it scales. Of course we will have external options, but a big sell of this camera for it's target market is great internal recording in an ultra-lightweight package.

Vlog is essential for good DR, and 10-bit 4:2:2 is essential for vlog. They go hand-in-hand. Frankly, 10b422 it's the only codec mode worth using the camera's internal recording in. Thus, if 4K tops out at 30p for 10-bit 4:2:2, it's really limiting. If FHD tops out at 60p for 10-bit 4:2:2, it's also a bit limiting.

Sure, external options exist, but those effectively double the weight. If 10-bit 4:2:2 (which enables good vlog) can be had up to 96fps in FHD (ideally 120), and 60p in 4K, then I'm all in (assuming the other unnanounced features don't dissapoint).

It's not a cost thing, it's not an entitlement thing. It's strictly a weight thing as an independent OMB. External recorders are size, weight, bulk, and complexity. A big sell of this camera is the lightweight compact design.

So please Panny, please. If you do one thing, please make sure the 10-bit 4:2:2 codec is far reaching. Even if it means 4k 60p 10-bit 4:2:2 LongGOP, with All-Intra available only at the lower 30p, that's fine!

But having 4k 10-bit 4:2:2 for very limited modes only actually would limit *everything* about the camera: It limits the effective DR range/grading possibilities for all modes where 10b422 isn't available, it limits the size and weight benefits of the camera, etc. It's a trickle down effect.
 
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