Panasonic AG-HPX500 and 16 GB P2 card
 

http://www.studiodaily.com/main/news...ines/7711.html
http://www.fletch.com/images/AG-HPX500_E-pre.pdf
The body including viewfinder is only $14,000

Do I spot a chroma aberration correction function? Oh my.

Including a lens, 30,000 dollars is definitely a steal for a P2 based High Definition camera with 2/3” CCDs.

Here is the original old thread for the camera
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=79962

By adopting a more aggressive gameplan and showing a belly full of options the price of this new Panny brings it to the front door of some of the new players doesn't it?
How will this affect Silicon imaging?
I also wonder if Canon will feel compelled to produce something similar. Why not? They've already got the lenses ready to go...
The only question then if Canon does decide to play along is whether or not they will adapt P2 or something else.

Nice Find Paulo!
 

"Panasonic Announces $14,000 2/3-Inch P2 Camcorder, Ups Cards to 16 GB"

This is exciting. Especially since it "...has eight gamma modes...," hopefully one of those is the same as the SDX900's cinegamma, as right now, on my HVX200, I shoot on the F5 & F6 settings 95% of the time.

I've been thinking about acquiring a 2/3 cam and have been happy with the HVX, it's images, P2 and the entire workflow that Panasonic and Apple have set up, so I'll start saving my money for May.

That little AG-HPG10 P2 player / recorder is looking pretty sweet as well - although at $4,000 it will still be a tough choice between a fully loaded 17" MacBookPro or that.

PS - Funny that this is camera is not even on Panasonic's site yet.

Oh Yeah... those 16 gig and 32 gig P2 cards are nice too...I guess ;)

In that sort of price range, I think I'd be looking more at RED.

It's funny, I made a mistake in reading some of the info and realized how much it's the P2 workflow that is holding me back from this.

I thought it said "256 minutes" on 4 P2 cards for DVCProHD. I was thinking, "wow, now that's getting to be reasonable. I could shoot nearly all day without changing cards and dumping data to a computer." Oops...that was just DVCPro. It's still only 64 minutes for DVCProHD...which completely changes my opinion and suddenly the option is unusable for much of what I do (or am willing to put up with).

So, get those 32Gig cards out sooner than later, Panny! We're getting closer to a P2 world...(of course, I'm loving the SONY HD CAM stuff, too...waiting on a 2/3rd chip version...)

With the release of this camera, Sony has no choice but to release a comparably priced XDCAM with either 2/3” CCDs or CMOS chips although the latter would be one heck of camera.

Agreed, and it won't stop with Sony. All of the manufacturers (including Panasonic itself) will have to look at their "camera prices to camera features" ratios in all categories... 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 and in all recording formats (various tape formats, P2, blueray, etc). That's another reason I thought this news was so great.

I'm not sure SONY will go as low as this...they already have with their 1/2" chip set cameras. I doubt the 2/3" XD Cam cameras will be under $25 or $30K. I'd be very surprised.

Yes, Panny is doing great things for us by pushing prices down. The video world is really following the same speed of trends that audio recording movement did 20 years ago...and we all benefit!

That said...we still need to write good scripts and cheap pens have been around for a while. :-)

KW

The CCD block sounds interesting for this camera. It is pixel shifted to get the HD out of it. This may be why Panasonic can come out with 2/3 inch optics while Sony came up with the 1/2 inch sensors for similar price points. Also it seems to record in Standard def (unlike the HVX-900) so it could be a very good straddle between HD and SD

Daniel, you are right there. Thats the trade off. 2/3" chips at the expense of pixel shifting, or 1440*1080 at the expense of 1/2" chips to get these cameras down to their price points.

I've just heard that the HPX500 will come with four 16gb P2 cards as part of that list price. Thats rather incredible, though I do wonder how Panasonic is making any money on this stuff.

There is some difference in the UK price and the US one. $14k makes it much cheaper than the XDCAM HD, while in the UK its 10k list price ex VAT makes it only a smidgen cheaper than the F350.

Will Sony respond to this? My opinion is that they will have to if the above information is correct. I think Panasonics plan is that by giving away the 16gb cards with the camera now people will be much more likely and less reluctant to buy a set of 32gb cards later in the year.

Who will win the format war? My opinion is nobody. Cost of ownership calculations work via many different aspects, and one format may suit one persons work type more than the other. I still hold the opinion, even with 32gb cards, that P2 is suited to short form programming, while XDCAM is better for long form.