Panasonic Varicam 35 & Varicam HS
- Thread starter dcloud
- Start date
SJX
Veteran
Probably among the people who don't like the Sony FS100/FS700/F3/F5/F55 video look, want more than a Blackmagic, can't stand RED and can't afford an Alexa.
pulpfiction007
Veteran
I think the F35 looks better than all of the newer Sony stuff...but I haven't seen a ton shot on every Sony camera model.
steve phillipps
Veteran
SJX
Veteran
That's because the F900 had a general better image. The original Varicam only beat it in color. It was full HD vs Half HD, HDCAM vs DVCPRO. It was a different time.
New images of the varicam:
http://panasonicprovideo.tumblr.com/post/80965679215/varicam-modularity
To me, it looks a lot like the F55.
http://panasonicprovideo.tumblr.com/post/80965679215/varicam-modularity
To me, it looks a lot like the F55.
KINOKS
Well-known member
DendriteStudios
Active member
The fixed pl mount is a major bummer. That needs to be swappable. Otherwise everything else is very intriguing.
Same thought here, I really hope for their benefit that it is not a fixed PL mount. Unless this is priced in the Alexa area where only PL glass would be used anyways, not giving your potential customers the option to use non-PL glass would be incredibly stupid and I cant imagine they would do that. If my F3 and now F5 did not have the option to go non-PL I never would of purchased either and Im sure the same is true for hundreds of other owners. The reason the C300 did so well with a EF only version is because everyone who had been using 5D's and amassed a EF lens collection bought one.
They can't price this in Alexa territory, it may be as good but culturally that market is arri's and I can't see it changing. Panasonic is more of an ENG brand so they aren't going to push into the cinema market, even Sony struggles against arri in that market. Specs mean nothing, people choose the alexa over the epic all the time and on paper the epic appears to outgun the arri. I think it will be just under the f55 which is a market that would use PL's but also like the ability to use canon/nikon - especially the wildlife shooters for slow mo. An 800 mm canon would be awesome on this with slow mo. If it is close to the f55 in price but restricted to PL then the f55 seems a better buy.
In the photo the mount looks like it is separate from the body of the camera though, almost like it is a non fixed mount like the f55 has. It doesn't look like a moulded part of the camera body so my fingers are crossed that they have a universal mount and sell the camera with a PL mount you connect to the body.
In the photo the mount looks like it is separate from the body of the camera though, almost like it is a non fixed mount like the f55 has. It doesn't look like a moulded part of the camera body so my fingers are crossed that they have a universal mount and sell the camera with a PL mount you connect to the body.
The Varicam will output raw video, to a new recorder:
http://panasonicprovideo.tumblr.com/post/81453564820/varicam-raw
http://panasonicprovideo.tumblr.com/post/81453564820/varicam-raw
A RAW capability is good news in principle, but the big question now is what (if any) it will use in terms of compression?
It's that that makes RAW options from Red and Sony usable, otherwise the file sizes and data rates are just ridiculous.
Maybe less good news is that the recorder is having to be developed by a third party. I may be being overcautious, but somehow it always makes me happier when a system all comes from the same source......
But I still feel it will stand or fall on eventual pricing, and realistically has to beat about $25,000 for Panasonic to really make headway. But NAB is nearly here, so speculation ends soon......
It's that that makes RAW options from Red and Sony usable, otherwise the file sizes and data rates are just ridiculous.
Maybe less good news is that the recorder is having to be developed by a third party. I may be being overcautious, but somehow it always makes me happier when a system all comes from the same source......
But I still feel it will stand or fall on eventual pricing, and realistically has to beat about $25,000 for Panasonic to really make headway. But NAB is nearly here, so speculation ends soon......
Andrew Stone
Veteran
We'll see on pricing. It's truly is Panasonic's decision about which market they are after. If they have a product that appeals to the motion picture industry and price it at say $45,000 for the Varicam 35, it is their choice and it is not necessarily a mistake for them. People here want it to be below 25 grand but to infer it will fail due to pricing is placing too much emphasis on our importance in the equation.
By aligning themselves to CODEX to develop the RAW recording component already signals to me they are focused on the motion picture market for this camera. They may have other strategic partners in this but so far the hand they have revealed points to Hollywood style budgets for this cam. We'll know a lot more in a few days I figure.
By aligning themselves to CODEX to develop the RAW recording component already signals to me they are focused on the motion picture market for this camera. They may have other strategic partners in this but so far the hand they have revealed points to Hollywood style budgets for this cam. We'll know a lot more in a few days I figure.
But quite a lot about target market can be inferred from even basic specifications, matters such as 4096x2160 sensor and no global shutter. And isn't it such matters that really define what market sector any product sits in, not pronouncements by marketing departments?
In this case, looking ahead a year or so to when it will be available, the benchmark for the (high end) motion picture industry is likely to be sensors with global shutter around the 20Mp mark (as the 6k Red, and the Sony F65 etc). That's what any camera with a $45,000 price tag will have to compete with.
And referring to a previous thread ( http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...e-2013&p=1986383014&viewfull=1#post1986383014 ) then the announcements from Panasonic so far have seemed to indicate it's being aimed far more at broadcasters, and much less at cinema use. Hence their previous emphasis on AVC-Ultra modes and late confirmation about RAW.
The $25,000 figure for body only, whilst ball-park, hasn't just been snatched out of thin air by myself and others. For starters, it's looking at Sony pricing, and especially F5/55, to which it has many similarities. On what we know so far, the spec seems definitely better than the F5, but overall not up to the F55 (let alone the F65) - hence it's reasonable to expect pricing somewhere between the two, hence a best guess of $25,000.
If - IF - it was to be nearer the $45,000 you suggest, then it begs the question of why anyone would buy it over an F55! Much more expensive, and seemingly not quite as good.
William_Robinette
Shallow Member
Panasonic mojo.
Hmmm. I go back to an earlier comment -
"Roll back a decade or so and compare the Varicam with something similarly priced from Sony and you'd see a very different story, you'd be looking at two very different animals. For example, the Varicam would be 720 and progressive, the Sony 1080 and interlaced - one or the other. That would aim them at very different markets for starters. And line-up - fundamental "look" - would be far more baked in than today.
A very different story today, where all such tend to be format switchable, and their "look" is far more down to line up than intrinsic hardware. Go to something like s-log, and especially RAW, and that becomes even more true."
A manufacturer "mojo" may have had real meaning a decade or two ago, now it's vastly less, if any. With RAW, any look is going to be largely down to processing software, not the camera.
If Panasonic are going to rely on "mojo appeal", and set a price around $45,000, I think they may be in for a nasty shock. I still think it more likely that they've done the same sums as several here have done (spec halfway between F5 and F55, let's price it between them) and come to the same conclusions. And as such I think it would be very successful. Maybe add a few thousand on for "mojo appeal", but rely on such to add $20,000........? Well, we'll see. (And if it was to be $16,999.99, it will wipe the board.
)
Run&Gun
Veteran
Mid $20k's… at that point, I'd spend the $2k-$3k more and get the F55: Global shutter, higher frame rate, almost universal lens compatibility... Unless it's BOTH heads and the recorder all together priced in the $20k's. But there's not a chance in HELL of that.
The last Sony camera that I bought was in the Beta days 10 years or so ago, all of my HD ENG cams have been VariCams and my entry into s35 was the C300 because that's what everyone was going with. But now a lot of guys are adding and going to the 5 and 55. Maybe there will be a Sony camera on my gear shelf, again (that's not collecting dust).
The last Sony camera that I bought was in the Beta days 10 years or so ago, all of my HD ENG cams have been VariCams and my entry into s35 was the C300 because that's what everyone was going with. But now a lot of guys are adding and going to the 5 and 55. Maybe there will be a Sony camera on my gear shelf, again (that's not collecting dust).