Comment on Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 3CCD AVCHD 24fps Camcorder by Michael Harvey.
Nothing new to add… other than I love this camera,
One thing you need to keep in mind is that editing AVCCam/AVCHD is a P.I.T.A. I’m using CS4 on a 2.4 quadcore with 8gig of RAM and Vista64 and it’s sluggish with frequent lockups. I’m getting Cineform ProspectHD v4 when it comes out to compensate. Vegas 8.0c and Edius works well I’m told, and FCP need to convert it to ProRes (or whatever it’s called). I think Avid needs to convert it to a native codec as well. Panasonic does offer a free converter to DVCProHD on there website
[Update 6/5/09… Premiere CS4 4.1 update is out, and editing is much easier. Also, Prospect v4 is out, and editing with the demo I’ve been trying has been a joy]
That said… the camera itself is awesome. Really. I’m coming from the DVX, and this is leaps and bounds above that (which is saying something). The images I’m getting are beautiful. I’m planning on going out now on my days off to shoot just for the fun of it.
I really can’t add anything that hasn’t been said already by others. But if you’re looking at the HVX200a or HPX170 (they all share the same chips, and the HMC shares the same glass as the HPX), but don’t want to deal with the costs of P2 or need all of the features of the HPX or HVX, I would HIGHLY recommend buying this instead.
Just be prepared for some editing headaches at first (the problem with bleeding edge technology is sometimes you need to get stitches).
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