Market is heating up again - Trade in your EX for a cheap Varicam
 

Just got an email about a Panny promotion.

Here's the deal. Trade in your professional camera for a Varicam HPX-2700 for 20 grand. This kind of promotion came about last year but you had to fork over a RED, or a Betacam unit or some other big ENG style monster cam to be considered. This year the EX cameras are eligible for the promotion.

Is anyone tempted?!

Why would you pay Pana to downgrade from a 1080 camcorder to an out of date 720P one ;-) Especially with IBC just around the corner.

Not going to rise to the bait Alister! lol

Steve

Not that I have the money, but if i did, no I wouldn't be tempted in the least.

interesting...

If I had the cash and the need (remember the 20,000.00 you save on the camera will need to go to glass if you are using an EX), I'd certainly consider it.

You can say what you want about the sensor resolution, the cameras make really great pictures... (now the HVX200 I would say s a slightly different story as the 2700 has a 2/3 inch CCD...and at some point it's about image target size as much as it's about resolution...and maybe moreso above a certain threshold...

Good to see the religion runs deep. :) Come on people. Varicam. Ramping slomo, CCDs, 3/4" raster, essentially broadcast approved in almost all outlets. spend a gazillion on P2 cards, Bragging rights.

Now that we have Perrone and Alister out of the way, lets here it!

LOL!

Not sure what religion you speak of. I own two Panasonics. And now two Canon's as well.

That said, I think the EX1 has shown that you don't need to carry a behemoth around anymore for broadcast quality. An EX1 with a nano-flash costs 1/3 as much, makes nice pictures, and the media is a ton cheaper. Workflow is about the same for both cameras.

Yea 2/3" is nicer in some cases, but not enough nicer to even tempt me into carrying around 15-20 pounds all day.

But if you want one, grab one and enjoy it.

Sell your EX? on Ebay. Use the money towards a pmw-350 and a nanoflash.

I get a really nice picture out of the EX1.

I think I'll stick to what I got. Except maybe to get an EX1r just because it has a pre-record cache.

Don't give up your EX, just pick up an old BetaSP on ebay for a couple of hundred and use that to get the discount.

It is an insane situation that Panny have got themselves into.
Why not just drop the bloody price in the first place?! They obviously realised they had it all wrong - I suppose they didn't want to annoy all those who had spent $40,000 on the camera just a couple of months previously.
Steve

I own a HPX2100 and a EX3 - If you just choose from the final picture quality - Keep the EX camera.

That's interesting from someone who uses both side by side Bo - you really do feel that the EX3 has better overall picture quality?

Steve

And here I am thinking of going the opposite way - selling my HPX500 (not a 2700, I know) for an EX3. The EX3 is half the weight and takes great pics. Add a Nano - boom! Full raster 1920x1080, 4:2:2, at least 50mbps. Hmmm......
A production company I freelance with sold their HDX900 for two EX3s. They love their new cams.

The TV stations here in Chicago are moving from the big ENG to 'handy'cams. Comcast has EX3s, Telemundo and NBC use HPX170 or HVX200 (I am fairly certain they are 170s but I haven't been closer than 2 feet to their cameras). Prior to a press conference a couple months ago, both the FOX and ABC camera guys and tech guys who work in the van were loving my EX1. 2 of them were playing with the zoom rocker and the other 2 were playing with the Varizoom Pro-EX zoom controller. All 4 couldn't believe of the reach from such a small camera and lens.

But....the 2700 really sells for $40k without glass? Wow, Panny screwed up that one. Don't get me wrong, I'd take one and lug it around but all I can afford is a 350 & $8-10k lens.