Panasonic's new AG-CX350 camcorder

there lots of great practical info in this review. also nice to see some footage especially in lower light. look forward to seeing more footage hopefully in the near future!

david
 
This camera reminds me of my AG-AC90, a camera I always liked for it's design and functionality, yet CX350 shoots much better video. The images are not of cinema quality, but neither do they have any obvious flaws or weakness. Seems like broad, consistent good overall performance in varying conditions, a trustworthy cam. Haven't seen enough footage but so far seems on a comparable level to the Z280 and Canon 750. One gripe I have is about the video, an hour and fifteen minutes long of observation and opinion yet no more than 2 minutes of CX350 footage. The camera seems solid. I'd consider it for weddings which is a compliment, versatile features, stabilization, motorized zoom, frame rates, audio and apparent decent low light capability. The drawback is the same as other handheld broadcast style cams for the application, at 4 lbs it's light enough to run and gun with but too heavy to support for toasts, speeches for very long without sticks. Really would like to see more footage speak for itself without all the impressions.
 
I have been playing back via HDMI 2.0b and with 10 bit HEVC files processed with FPCX. Metadata from the NLE is correct (10bit HLG) but the images still come out rather poorly. I have posted before about the fault in the firmware that flags HLG as REC 709 (you have to switch the scenefile back end forth after you turn the camera on to get it to R2020) but maybe there are other mistakes in the metadata that makes it hard for FPCX deal with the files.
 
Tom Roper said:
This camera reminds me of my AG-AC90, a camera I always liked for it's design and functionality, yet CX350 shoots much better video.
Click to expand...
I always loved the AC90, only drawback to that little camera was the sensitivity.

It's tempting to think of all the prior Panasonics that the CX350 makes me remember, but to be honest, the CX350 pretty much makes me forget all the prior Panasonics. This one has it all, almost. It has all the best features of the prior cameras, it does everything they do better than they do, and it's even smaller than the UX180.

To be fair I do miss the true manual zoom and the dual codec recording, I wish it had those two features, but other than that the CX350 is simply the best handheld camera Panasonic's ever made. IMO.

One thing the CX350 does that's so refreshing is -- everything just works. There are so many things that I don't have to remember now, and when you get to my age you find that the brain gets full and it's harder and harder to cram new info in there, so having fewer new things to remember is better. Like, on the DVX200 you had to remember that the SDI and the HDMI don't work at the same time, and if you have the HDMI connected it's great unless you go to UHD/59.94p in which case the UHD drops out and the monitor re-connects as HD during recording, and then it re-connects as UHD when you pause. Or that the field of view changes, you can have the full wide field of view in HD but UHD is tighter and UHD/60 crops in quite a lot; on the CX350 none of that happens, it's just always wide, the HDMI and SDI always work, the HDMI always outputs UHD, etc.

Or that when doing VFR on the DVX, you had to remember that there were quality differences; 0-60 was fine, but above 60 the resolution dropped, and at 120 it dropped severely and the field of view cropped. On the CX350, VFR works in UHD, it works in 1080, and it's always the same quality as the regular mode (although technically there is a drop in quality for Super Speed 120, but it still looks fine).

Even stuff like in the menus, on the UX or DVX VFR would only work if you were set to the 50-megabit 1080 recording mode. If you went to UHD or wanted the higher-quality recording modes, VFR was disabled, and sometimes you'd have to scratch your head to figure out "now why can't I enable VFR?" On the CX, VFR works in all UHD and 1080p modes. It won't work in AVCHD, but there's almost no reason to shoot AVCHD and certainly there wouldn't be a good reason to shoot VFR AVCHD, so that's a compromise I can live with. On the UX, i.Zoom and Hybrid O.I.S. only worked in 1080, they were disabled in UHD. On the CX350, they work in all modes.

Even stuff like the Digital Zoom. On prior cameras, Digital Zoom = horrid images. On the CX, I'd say 2X DZ actually looks pretty good, and ... dare I say it ... I think the 5X might actually even be usable when recording HD. I wouldn't recommend it in UHD, but in HD there may be scenarios where it's good enough. I'd never have dared to use any manner of DZ before, but on the CX it's an option. I'd still go for i.Zoom over DZ every time, but if you need that extra punch-in on a live shot, you may find it workable.

And it's light! So much more hand-holdable than the DVX200, and even a little more compact than the UX180. Not quite as small as the magical AC90, but it's also 1,000 ISO vs. the AC90's 40 ISO, so ... I'll take it! :)
 
Hi,

Thanks for the report. I love the camera and have intended to use it mainly for HLG material, but it seems that I am the only one complaining about the fault in the firmware with the HLG setup and that the HLG image is flat even when monitored an an HLG monitor/TV. Can it be that these issues only exist in the European model? Anyone found these issues with the US model?? Anyway image looks great in Filmic and Cine mode so I'll use the camera with these modes to start with and we'll see what happens. / Mats
 
Wow, I am watching the YouTube video and amazed at the size comparison with the PX270. I would have never guessed it would be that much smaller!

CX vs PX.jpg
 
MatsWedin said:
Hi,

Thanks for the report. I love the camera and have intended to use it mainly for HLG material, but it seems that I am the only one complaining about the fault in the firmware with the HLG setup and that the HLG image is flat even when monitored an an HLG monitor/TV. Can it be that these issues only exist in the European model? Anyone found these issues with the US model?? Anyway image looks great in Filmic and Cine mode so I'll use the camera with these modes to start with and we'll see what happens. / Mats
Click to expand...

I am testing now with a CX350, shooting HLG, and monitoring on an Atomos Shogun Inferno. I had to change a few things on the Atomos to get it to look right; first I had to change the Monitor Mode to Atom HDR, then I had to change the Camera to Panasonic, the Gamma to HLG, and the Gamut to BT2020. Then I set the Scene Brightness all the way to HDR (1200% Rec709, SDR+3.6 stops). Finally, you have to ensure that the SDI and HDMI are outputting HDR, by going to the VIDEO OUT/LCD/VF menu, to SDI OUT>SDI OUT HDR, and ensure that it's set to "HDR", and do the same for the HDMI.

After setting these base settings, the output on the Shogun Inferno looks exactly like the LCD display when the LCD is set to "SDR" (which is the LCD's way of interpreting the HDR signal and presenting what it would look like on an SDR monitor, so proper saturation, proper colors, proper gamma, etc).

So -- I conclude that there is no bug (at least in the live feed), everything's there. You just have to ensure that your monitoring is receiving the proper signal, especially the BT2020.

I sent an HLG file to Tom Roper to see if he can find anything in the recorded file that's not what it's supposed to be; I glanced through it and it appeared to me to have properly set the gamma and gamut settings
 
I hopefully will get to test one soon. Talked to the local shop yesterday. Still working on the LANC options. I spoke to Varizoom yesterday and hopefully there will be some more info out there as the entities start talking to each other. The dual controller setup will need to be a new product design if it appears. And the camera needs to have all of the functionality built into the LANC specs for that to happen. So a lot of moving parts but I want to be optimistic that we can get to a proper zoom & iris setup eventually.
 
Thanks a lot for the tips on settings. I have also been tweaking the HLG settings in the camera and am getting more and more pleased. (using a Ninja V to monitor. A day or so more and I think I'll be there with settings to fit my personal taste and require little grading. Only remains the firmware "bug" that tricks FCPX to believe its REC709. The images are in the correct colorspace but with the wrong metadata but that can be forced with settings in FCPC . Thanks again./ Mats
 
Snagged a second one!

Although I am noticing some weirdness with the hdmi output. It doesn’t seem to be playing nice with my Roland video mixer.
 
Barry_Green said:
In UHD? Check if your mixer supports 18gbps HDMI, or if it only supports 10.2 gbps. You can adjust the CX's output to match.
Click to expand...


1080p output. When it goes into the mixer the image is slightly cropped in and pixelated. Same signal out looks fine when connected right to a 1080p monitor. It’s weird, never seen anything like that before.
 
nutmegger said:
Barry, is it safe to assume this Core SWX battery is compatible with the CX350?
Click to expand...
The CX350 is backwards-compatible with the CGA-D54 series, which dates all the way back to the DVX100 over 15 years ago. So pretty much any battery that's been made for a Panasonic pro handheld camera will work. The only exception was for the AVCHD-only cameras, most of those used a different type of battery which isn't compatible. The newest batteries they make have a charge gauge readout on them; these new batteries can't be used in the old cameras but the old style batteries and the new batteries can both be used in the new cameras.

Any battery that works with the DVX100, DVX200, HPX250, HPX170, HVX200, UX180, UX90, PX270, AC90 or EVA1 will work.
Batteries that work with the AF100, HMC40, HMC80, HMC150, AC130 and AC160 will not work.

The DVX200 is a special case, it uses the new batteries but only the new batteries, it's not compatible with the old batteries. And it has an enclosed battery compartment so there's a limit on how big of a battery can be fit in it.
 
Last edited:
I have an HPX250 and am considering upgrading to the CX-350. Would this be a wise upgrade path taking into account, quality, codecs and ergonimcs?
 
Well... literally everything on the CX350 is better than anything on the HPX250. I just pulled out my old HPX250 to do a comparison test a week or two ago, and it was shocking how gigantic and clumsy the 250 was, as compared to the sleek and ergonomic 350. The HPX250's lens is 22x, where the CX350's is 20x (optically), but ... you can use the lossless i.Zoom feature to get 24x out of it in UHD, and 32x when in HD. The sensor is bigger, so you get shallower DOF, the sensor is more sensitive so you get better low light performance, the camera is UHD so it's much sharper, and it records on SDXC cards so you can get dramatically longer record times for less money. It has many more picture profile options, it can stream video directly to the internet, it can be integrated into an NDI|HX environment, it's remote-controllable via an iPad or Android device, it shoots high dynamic range video, and in a future firmware update it'll even support AVC-Intra and AVC-LongG recording onto MicroP2 cards.

From my vantage point, an HPX250 to a CX350 would be a substantial upgrade. The only possible thing I can even think of that wouldn't be markedly better would be the zoom ring, the HPX250 still has the ability to use a fully manual mechanical zoom and the CX350 doesn't. And the wired remote control protocol changed, so if you have wired remote controllers from the 250 they won't work with the CX350. But all your batteries will.
 
Thank you very much for responding Barry. I knew you had and still have an HPX250 and I was hoping that you would respond with the most concise and accurate comparison. Very much appreciated! I will be upgrading. Thank you!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top