OTHER: Panasonic Broadcast US announces new member to the AG-AC AVCCAM camcorder family

The AC90 is a lot bigger than the HMC40. The AC90 is about as big as an HMC150. If you put the XLR adapter and handle on the HMC40, it would still be smaller than the AC90, I believe.

As for weight, an AC90 without battery is about 3 pounds. It's pretty much a perfect size and weight for a handheld camcorder, but it is not a micro-size camera like the HMC40.

So how will the Auto/Manual/Infinity focus button work? Hopefully it doesn't force you to pass through infinity focus whenever you switch from manual to auto!
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Works the same as the HMC40. You toggle between manual and auto with a button press. If you want infinity, you hold the button down for a second or two.

It works really cleverly. That was one thing I found impressive about the HMC40, and has been carried over to the AC90, is that they've managed to reduce the number of buttons on the body but haven't reduced the functionality. It's a slightly different way of doing things, but is still perfectly workable.

Only minorly annoying thing is that with no white-balance switch, you cycle between 3.2k, 5.6k, Ach, and auto with button presses. But if you want to get to Bch, you have to go into the touchscreen to do that -- and then you can cycle between 3.2, 5.6, Bch, and atw. You'd have to go into the touchscreen to choose whether you want Ach or Bch included in the rotation.

Not gonna say much else at this time except -- for those who were worried that image quality would have suffered from the HMC40 over to the AC90... er, no. Quite the opposite. :D
 
Barry_Green said:
The AC90 is a lot bigger than the HMC40. The AC90 is about as big as an HMC150. If you put the XLR adapter and handle on the HMC40, it would still be smaller than the AC90, I believe.
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How does one define "a lot bigger"? According to their brochures, the HMC40 is 12 inches long, and the HMC150 is 15 1/2 inches long.


Barry_Green said:
As for weight, an AC90 without battery is about 3 pounds. It's pretty much a perfect size and weight for a handheld camcorder, but it is not a micro-size camera like the HMC40.
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Well, Panasonic lists on their specs for the HMC40 that it weighs 3.08 lbs with the standard battery and XLR adapter. So that would mean that the difference in weight is only the weight of the battery of AC90, which I would have to believe will not be that great. So I just don't see the AC90 having any practical real world disadvantage at all regarding weight compared to the HMC40. It should be very close to the weight of the HMC40, and certainly much lighter than the HMC150, which comes in at 4.3 lbs with battery and 3.7 lbs without.

I just don't see a camera the size of the HMC40 having any practical advantage of any kind. Certainly not when it only has a single control ring, compared to three on the AC90, in addition to all of the technical improvements in the AC90. I would only want a camcorder smaller than the AC90 if I was using it for personal use, and taking it with me on vacation. But in that case, I would want to use a camcorder like the X900M.
 
I'll buy one AC90, But HMC40 size and quality is unique, in particular when you need not to call people's attention as Barry said is a Micro PRO Camera.
Say one Rig could be HMC40 with a wide angle, XLR adapter, handle, and a XLR shotgun, plus more accesories, but if you want to go compact or better if you
need to go compact and still have a Pro camera in your hands, this mini Rig
HMC40, Sennheiser MKE 400 without handle and small battery, that is anonimous and still capable of outstanding control and quality.
AG-AC90 Seems to be a fantastic camera, but just wish Panasonic doesn't descontinue this micro size in the Proline.
 
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I certainly think there's room in the line for both the HMC40 and the AC90.

I originally thought the AC90 was going to be a replacement, but after using it a bit, I just don't think so anymore. The HMC40's tiny size (especially when stripped down of the handle and XLR module) just gives it a unique place in the market. The AC90 is a much bigger camera, and in many ways a better camera, but not the same market niche. The HMC40 is the smallest pro camcorder on the market that I can think of, and there's not too many places you're going to find a three-chip XLR-capable camcorder with a waveform monitor in it, in such a tiny size, and that puts out images that are as sharp as the HMC40 (in daylight, of course).
 
AM writing the Marketing Bulletin on the AC90 right now. Looks like we will be about a month early on delivery. Probably end of October. Definitely seems like a very nice little camera. I would agree with Barry that it seems to be about the HMC150 siz but sufficiently sexier, if you can call a camera sexy. Has a lot of bells and whistles on it that are au courant tech, that is, only possible today. I love the image stabilizer, feels/looks like a steady cam. Anyhow we will be showing it at DV Expo next week for those of you on the West Coast.

Hope to see you there,

JAn
 
The image stabilization is ... well, taken in the hip-hop way, ri-dic-u-lous. Heads and shoulders more stabilizing effect than any Panasonic Pro camera before.
 
Hi Barry

For some reason in our area the moment the AC-90 was announced the PAL HMC41 and 42 models promptly disappeared off price lists so I figured that the 90 was going to be a replacement as the pricing will be pretty much the same. I just figured that why would someone pay the same amount of money for an HMC40 them the AC-90 gives you so much more for roughly the same price bracket. I'm assuming that in the USA sales of the HMC40 will continue???

Chris
 
I would expect so. I definitely don't think the AC90 is a direct replacement for the HMC40. It is similarly priced, yes, but so were the HVX and HPX170 and they sold side by side for years.
 
Barry: Do you still have access to this AC90? Would it be possible for you to shoot a few sample clips with it? Or is Panasonic forbidding doing that at this point in time?

I would really love to see how well the image stabilization and autofocus perform, as well as what the picture quality is like.
 
Based on my interpretation of the picture, I really like the way the LCD comes out of the 'handle' on the AC90 - neat feature.

As for the weight /size, different people like different features.

I find the AG-AC-160A to be just right for any use I make of it. BUT, I don't think I would take it on an overseas holiday trip. Then again, I probably would not take any camera on a holiday trip. The 160 is 17.25 inches long/ 5.3 lbs. The big deal for me with AC160A was the 22x Zoom.
 
kwkeirstead said:
Based on my interpretation of the picture, I really like the way the LCD comes out of the 'handle' on the AC90 - neat feature.
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Panasonic has a camera that acts just like it, the Z10000 3-D camera. This new AC90 shares basically the same body style, size, and layout as that camera. The sliding LCD makes for a cleaner approach on the body, allowing for more buttons to be easily accessible when the LCD is put away.

I find the AG-AC-160A to be just right for any use I make of it. BUT, I don't think I would take it on an overseas holiday trip. Then again, I probably would not take any camera on a holiday trip. The 160 is 17.25 inches long/ 5.3 lbs. The big deal for me with AC160A was the 22x Zoom.
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I don't think many people will be choosing between the AC160A and the AC90, they're in totally different price classes. AC160A is more sensitive, has the massive zoom, variable frame rates, SDI output, bigger chips, better sensitivity, all sorts of things that put it in a higher class. The AC90 in bright sunlight will be very competitive, but when the light goes down the AC160A will be the preferable choice, obviously -- as it should, for 2.5x the price. The AC90 has much more effective OIS, and appears to be a screaming steal at its price point for a servo-zoom, XLR-equipped professional video camcorder.
 
LanceOregon said:
I would really love to see how well the image stabilization
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I was kind of gobsmacked by the OIS performance, so I googled around on Panasonic's site to find out what I could about the new "Hybrid" OIS and I found this on their international site. They have a video with a vibration demonstration that shows just how crazily effective the OIS is. Now, that's for a different camera, a little palmcorder, but from what I experienced I'd say it pretty accurately reflects how the AC90's OIS performs.
 
LanceOregon said:
Barry: Do you still have access to this AC90? Would it be possible for you to shoot a few sample clips with it? Or is Panasonic forbidding doing that at this point in time?
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The camera isn't done, it was shown live at a trade show so it's something you can play with and see the features and whatnot, but it isn't finished and therefore video clips would not be appropriate to share at this time.

I would really love to see how well the image stabilization and autofocus perform
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The image stabilization performs like a freakin' steadicam, practically. Not perfectly, obviously, but -- it's light years beyond what any other prior Panasonic has done. (am I being hyperbolic? perhaps... maybe I was just overly enthused by how much better it is than prior cameras. But I think you could do a walk 'n' talk and have it look basically like a glidecam).

Autofocus, I don't know, I don't bother with autofocus so I didn't check.

as well as what the picture quality is like.
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Perhaps the sharpest, crispest, clearest image yet. And gain performance is much improved, you could easily go to +18, maybe even +24 and still be usable. Keep it to 0dB of gain and you'll get images of simply amazing sharpness. The camera claims to take its denser-than-1080 chips and spatial-offset them to create a 4K image internally, which is downconverted to 1080p for recording, and yes, that is what it actually looks like, a fully completely and totally resolved 1080p image.

I can't say whether I know anything beyond what was demonstratable on the show floor, so anything I'm saying here would be easily verified by anyone going to a show like DV Expo or something.
 
Barry wrote"Panasonic's site to find out what I could about the new "Hybrid" OIS and I found this on their international site. "

Barry, that is the technology driving the OIS on the AC90.
Best,

Jan
 
Would it be correct to assume that the AC90 has a 4-blade iris, like the HMC40?

Barry_Green said:
The camera claims to take its denser-than-1080 chips and spatial-offset them to create a 4K image internally, which is downconverted to 1080p for recording, and yes, that is what it actually looks like, a fully completely and totally resolved 1080p image.
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That's pretty cool. Out of curiosity, do the AC130 and AC160 do the same? Total speculation here, but I wonder if Panasonic has plans to reuse the same imagers in an upcoming 4K model, perhaps as a competitor to the GY-HMQ10.
 
The AC130 and AC160 don't do that as far as I know, but -- I'm basing that solely on the notion that Panasonic advertises it as a feature of the AC90, but has never made such a statement about the 130/160. It may be that they do it, but I would dare to say that the AC90 may indeed be a little sharper than them, in bright daylight.

I cannot say what the iris is in the AC90. I do know it has the same kind of integrated ND filter that the HMC40 has, which helps to keep diffraction at bay and preserve its sharpness.
 
Barry run outside and point the camera at the sun. Then start to close the iris. Count how many points you have on the star pattern. It sucks to only have one camera. Can wait till next week when more show up. ;-)
 
Barry_Green said:
I don't think many people will be choosing between the AC160A and the AC90, they're in totally different price classes. AC160A is more sensitive, has the massive zoom, variable frame rates, SDI output, bigger chips, better sensitivity, all sorts of things that put it in a higher class.
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I don't believe that anyone here is considering that. The camcorders are simply far too different in so many ways.

I've found the AC130 to be a fabulous camcorder to use on a tripod. And I do use a tripod for most of what I do. But its size is just too bulky for me to feel comfortable hand holding it. I just cannot get comfortable with it. Plus its OIS is not at all the best. When I do need to get out and mingle at an event and do some hand held shooting, I've still been using my Canon HF G10 instead. Its powered Image Stabilization feature is simply fantastic. And the Autofocus on it works wonderfully well.

My Canon's image is not all that sharp, though. And it does not have any of the extensive manual controls and external buttons that the AC90 has, as well as no XLR support. So I'm considering the AC90 as an upgrade to replace my HF G10, and like it, use it to compliment my use of my AC130. It seems to me that these two camcorders together could make for a really great combo, and would compliment the features and abilities of each camcorder. Don't you agree?

However, I really do not want to give up either the image stabilization or autofocus performance of my Canon. So any replacement will have to be able to match it on those two features.
 
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