Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

There are new point and shoots as well as video cameras from Panasonic for 2015. I am just posting the features of the two highest end camcorders:

HC-VX870
4K Ultra HD Camcorder with Wireless Smartphone Twin Video Capture
• 4K Video
• 20x Optical Zoom
• Wifi Enabled
• Twin Camera Function
• HDR Movie Mode

HC-WX970
4K Ultra HD Camcorder with Built-in Twin Video Camera
• 4K Video
• 20x Optical Zoom
• 5 Axis Stabilization
• Wifi Enabled
• Twin Camera Function
• HDR Movie Mode

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

Here's the official Panasonic video:


B&H listing:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1109408-REG/panasonic_hc_wx970_4k_ultra_hd_camcorder.html

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

that was an official panasonic video?.....that was appalling!

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

Nah. It reaches its target audience: families that want to record videos of their kids, with something better than a smart phone. 4K will future-proof it better than current HD. I liked the dynamic range in the videos. Too bad the cameras don't have an EVF. I do almost all my shooting with an EVF.

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

There are a few other samples out there.
Here's one with the requisite cats, koalas and parrots:


Some weirdness with moving detail (feathers and the bellies of the wrestling lions), but it's YouTube, and I'm not on a 4K monitor.
Any thoughts?

Also, someone pointed out that the mic input is under the flip-out door. Since there's no EVF, does that mean the LCD needs to ALWAYS be on when recording?
(I'd be using this unattended.)

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

Aside from a little 30p related motion stuff (slightly "jumpy" looking because of the low frame rate) with the parrots, looked pretty decent on my 4K Seiki. Probably a slower shutter speed would have helped there.

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

Article on the HC-WX970:

Panasonic Camcorders Flip the Selfie | Videomaker.com

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

B&H specs on the camera says it has a 460,800 pixel count LCD. Isn't that low, even for an HD camera?

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

The image it outputs looks very good though based on these 2 videos.

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

Has anyone seen any shipping ETAs on the HC-WX970?

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

Based on all the information available about the X970, it seems like it's not necessarily an upgrade to the X920, since the X920 is not being discontinued by Panasonic, while priced the same as the X970.

The X970 only uses one 1.23" sensor for the 4K, which means the low-light noise level is likely higher than the X920, which has the 3MOS sensor.

4K is not nearly as important to me as having lower noise in low-light shooting, so does that mean I should just keep the X920 I already have?

I called Panasonic and they couldn't tell me I didn't already know, neither could the guys at bhphoto.

Review of HC-WX970
 

First actual review I've seen...though it's in Russian (linked via Google translate to English):

www.ixbt.com/divideo/panasonic-hc-wx970

Sample footage is linked for download, in various bitrates and resolutions.

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

Thanks for sharing that review. The automatic translation of Russian is surprisingly coherent.

The color noise of the X970 is definitely higher than the X920, while the luminance noise is similar.

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

At last, now we know where the SD card goes: in the bottom. Different.

Re: Panasonic HC-VX870 and HC-WX970 at CES2015
 

I am leaning towards the 870 over the 970 if we get one for the shop. Just not going to take advantage of the additional couple features of the 970.