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Monday, September 19, 2011

Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 3CCD AVCHD 24fps Camcorder

The AG-HMC150 handheld incorporates three 1/3-inch progressive CCD imagers to produce stunning 1920 x 1080 resolution picture quality far exceeding older Long GOP formats like HDV. It s equipped with a high-performance wide-angle Leica Dicomar 13x zoom lens and 24- and 30-frame progressive capture in a full range of HD formats, making it well suited for all types of projects. With an exciting range of professional video and audio features and a compact, well-balanced design, the HMC150 is a must have for video professionals and enthusiasts looking for the best in affordable HD. Includes: AG-HMC150 AVCHD Camcorder, AC adapter/charger, 2640mAh battery pack, AC cord, DC cord, Wireless remote controller with button-type battery, Microphone holder, Eye cup, Shoulder Belt, Component video cable, PIN-BNC conversion plugs, Ferrite core, Binder, CD-ROM, The following accessories are attached to the unit. Lens hood cap and INPUT 1/2 terminal cover

Amazon Sales Rank: #2564 in Camera & Photo Brand: Panasonic Model: AGHMC150PJ Released on: 2009-11-30 Display size: 3.5 Full range of HD formats: 1080/60i, 1080/30p, 1080/24p (Native); 720/60p, 720/30p, 720/24p (Native) Higher bit-rate recording than consumer models (21 Mbps PH Mode) 13X Wide angle 28 mm lens out of the box (35mm equiv.); 1/3-inch CCD Progressive Imagers Waveform Monitor, Vectorscope plus two Focus displays for accurate, quick focus 3.5-inch LCD monitor displays thumbnails for quick non-linear access to clips 13X Wide angle 28 mm lens out of the box (35mm equiv.) , 1/3-inch CCD Progressive Imagers Full range of HD formats: 1080/60i, 1080/30p, 1080/24p (Native) , 720/60p, 720/30p, 720/24p (Native)

The cooler than cool AG-HMC150 drew big crowds at the 2008 NAB Show. Why? Simply because it offers an unheard of Bang for the Buck, in a 1/3-inch three-chip hand held tapeless HD camcorder, while retaining the core versatility of the DVX100B. The HMC150 sports a 28mm lens right out of the box and a new PH Record mode (21 Mbps) which offers higher resolution with a host of recording formats including 24p. Add to that, amazing low light performance, long record and battery time and professional Audio capabilities at a price that will make it an instant hit with a wide range of AV Shooters, Indie creators and Event video professionals. From the Manufacturer The cooler than cool AG-HMC150 drew big crowds at the 2008 NAB Show. Why? Simply because it offers an unheard of Bang for the Buck, in a 1/3-inch three-chip hand held tapeless HD camcorder, while retaining the core versatility of the DVX100B. The HMC150 sports a 28mm lens right out of the box and a new PH Record mode (21 Mbps) which offers higher resolution with a host of recording formats including 24p. Add to that, amazing low light performance, long record and battery time and professional Audio capabilities at a price that will make it an instant hit with a wide range of AV Shooters, Indie creators and Event video professionals. Shown with optional microphone (sold separately) The AG-HMC150 represents a major step forward in the introduction of a next generation solid state HD camera that extends the six year successful track record of the popular DVX100 plus a lot more. The HMC150’s lightweight (lightest 1/3-inch 3CCD available), well-balanced professional design features a high performance wide-angle Leica 13X zoom lens, 24 and 30 frame progressive capture, both in 720 and 1080 formats, making it perfect for even high level projects. Designed from a clean sheet of paper with much customer input to Panasonic's product development engineers, the HMC150 sports a Die Cast Alloy chassis and a Three year warranty (upon customer registration) that further endorses its reliability. Main Features: Full range of HD formats: 1080/60i, 1080/30p, 1080/24p (Native); 720/60p, 720/30p, 720/24p (Native) Higher bit-rate recording than consumer models (21 Mbps PH Mode) Three latest design 1/3-inch CCD Progressive Imagers 13X Wide angle 28 mm lens out of the box (35mm equiv.), MOD .6 M, 72mm Ø (Shoot in confined spaces with no need to buy an accessory lens) Time Date Stamp for Legal Depositions or surveillance Waveform Monitor, Vectorscope plus two Focus displays for accurate, quick focus Professional XLR audio input connections Time code (DF, NDF, REC RUN, FREE RUN) and USER BIT HDMI out, Component Out (mini D terminal), Composite Video Out and RCA Audio Out jacks External Time Code Link (Slave & Master Preset) uses the Composite Video Out terminal USB 2.0 for file transfer (no need for a VTR) 3.5-inch LCD monitor displays thumbnails for quick non-linear access to clips Remote control connection for Zoom, Focus, Iris, and start/stop functions 14 bit A to D converter and 19 bit Image processing Cinelike Gamma & DRS Dynamic Range Stretch (Filmaker requested features) Three Neutral Density Filters 1/4, 1/16, 1/64 Pre-Record (3 Seconds), Digital Zoom 2X / 5X / 10X (in 1080/60i & 720/60p only) Three User Set Buttons with 11 choices for customizing Camera to Shooter Additional Highlights: Using the latest in compression technology (AVC High Profile) and widely available SD memory cards as the recording media, the AG-HMC150 is as easy to use as a digital still camera. The content recorded on the SD card can be directly played on a growing number of affordable consumer players, including select models of Playstation 3, Blu-ray players, plasma screens and PC’s. With most NLE systems now supporting AVCHD, content can be edited and rendered to play in any type of SD or HD playback system. Dynamic Range Stretch. With DRS ON your customer can capture better Video quality when shooting bright, halftone and dark objects in the same frame. (Bride’s white gown details and the Groom’s shades of tuxedo black.) This clever circuit estimates the gamma curve and knee slope of each pixel’s brightness and applies the estimate on a real time basis. The result is more accurate Video with a visually wider dynamic range. DVX100 users want more HD in a similar form factor at a reasonable price. DVX100 users are craving for a camcorder with the same size and and key design elements but with the increased resolution and color quality of the widescreen HD format. With Optical Image Stabilization and Manual & Auto Focus, the HMC150 appeals to a wide variety of shooters. In the new PH mode, the HMC150's image quality far exceeds what is possible with HDV, and at a lower bit rate. The HMC150 is simply an incredible value! Enhanced Tools to make better Video. The WFM allows for critical evaluation of too high Luminance levels which can ruin a job, like the shine on a model's forehead. The built-in Vectorscope allows for color analysis and matching because it measures color saturation as gain, and Phase (Hue) as the angle. When it comes to critical focus, two 'Focus aids' are on board. In addition to the Center Zoom which enlarges the center 2X filling the entire the entire LCD screen, the Histogram display shows fine focus as Amplitude & Frequency, making it easy to see critical focus. The feature-rich HMC150 raises the bar for video quality. As the camcorder & display market moves swiftly to High Definition, superior image quality and higher-end features are now a must-have. Panasonic is confident that the HMC150 will give customers the higher quality and creative edge they need to stay ahead of competitive shooters with SD or HDV pro camcorders. The HMC150 will meet and exceed the expectations of professionals who make their living shooting video. Professionals Need Great Audio. Two locking XLR inputs at the front, complete with hard switches for Line and Mic with +48V Phantom Power, Manual level controls, and Internal/External assignment. Up & down volume adjustments can be made to the internal speaker or stereo headphone output. Don't be afraid of the Dark or of your tape running out. With 14 bit Analog to Digital conversion and 19 bit Video processing, users can shoot in low light situations with virtiually no fear of video noise detracting from the highly detailed video. They can also forget about the 63 minute record time limit of DV & HDV and the need to estimate remaining battery life. The new Info Data battery system used in the AVCCAM line up updates remaining time left to the minute. Competitive Advantages of the AG-HMC150: Solid state capture and playback eliminates the problems inherent in tape and disc drives, while allowing high quality HD content to be captured on affordable, readily available SD cards Its 21 Mbps PH mode records far higher picture quality than HDV Tape systems MPEG-2 compression works with blocks of only 16 X 16 pixels whereas H.264 compression works with blocks down to 4 X 4 pixels. What’s more, AVCHD’s motion prediction is content dependant Continuous, silent recording of between 3 and 12 hours with Time Date Stamp is a powerful capability No head wear, alignment or cleaning and it carries a Three Year Parts & Labor Warranty Lower storage needs & lower distribution costs HDMI Digital Output, HD Component Output, and selectable SD 16:9 Output (RCA) 28 mm Lens achieves wide angle without having to buy attachments Built on a one piece die cast alloy chassis that is compact, well balanced and weighs less than 4.5 lbs. (4.37lbs with Battery, Mic Holder, AG-MC200 Mic and SD Card) Immediate Playback, random access & ability to preview shots and delete on location Benefits of AVCHD: AVCHD is a new HD industry standard, tapeless format introduced by Panasonic and Sony and now supported by over 30 manufacturers (Advanced in compression, color and motion prediction) It utilizes the AVC High Profile codec- Providing the benefit of equal recording quality at about half the bit rate of older MPEG-2 used in HDV systems. More record time using less storage space AVCHD content can be played directly from an SD card in a growing number of affordable devices Content can be edited and rendered to many different formats for use on other playback devices Like Digital Still camera files, AVCHD content files can be transferred to and stored on any affordable, data storage device including HDD, optical discs, flash drives etc. No format specific deck (like HDV 720p or HDV 1080i) is needed for ingest Ultra Solid state reliability -- Benefits in Temperature, Humidity, Vibration, Maintenance, No Dropouts No FF or REW, no camera down time due to clogged tape heads or slipping, hardened pinch rollers Panasonic’s professional AVCHD camcorders use widely available SD or SDHC cards: 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB & 32GB whose trend is increasing capacity and decreasing in cost Longer recording time for capturing uninterrupted, extended events –between 3 and 12 hours depending on bit rate chosen with a 32GB SDHC card Faster workflow -- like digital photography, no ingest, random access to content, lower storage and distribution costs AVCHD Editing -- AVCHD editing is now supported on both dual core PC and Intel based Mac platforms and files can be transferred as uncompressed HD video utilizing a simple HDMI to HD-SDI converter. Recently announced AVCHD editing support is available in: Apple iMovie, Apple Final Cut Express, Apple Final Cut Pro 6.0.1 & above, Adobe Premier Pro CS3, Grass Valley EDIUS Pro v4.5, Pinnacle Studio Plus/Ultimate 11 & 12, Nero7 Premium Reloaded, Ulead Video Studio 11 plus and DVD Movie Factory 6 Plus. An available free downloadable transcoder is also available to convert content to DVCPRO HD on our website.

Most helpful customer reviews 43 of 49 people found the following review helpful. By Bob McKelvy WOW :-) I've got my 150 a little more than a week. Bought because the increase in HD, and I wanted to get out of the band's business. It came with an SDHC card. Bought an 8 GB transferred me to come to my 16 GB card from Amazon. I'm still on the learning curve. Especially fond of large, comfortable eyepiece color screen. I was also surprised by the clarity of video playback on my 48 "LCD. Use the first three cable outlet, with the camera (video, audio Lt Rt) was very clear video, much clearer than my old Canon GL-2, it does not come with an HDMI cable. purchased locally and tried it. Connected at one end of the HDMI port on the camera and the other end into the HDMI port on my TV. I was gone, blown away, how clear it was! The video was clearer than some of the stations that I see in HD. On playback, you will have a thumbnail of the first frame of each scene shot when you turn the camera on playback, you can skip the scenes you want to view or delete if necessary. The goal is to help another interesting feature. When used, the display momentarily in the middle of his next release, so you can concentrate well, if necessary. It has many other features I have not tried yet. The publisher bought Pinnacle 12 Ultimate, as it is configured to handle format AVHCD and a PC with AMD Phenom quad-processor with 3 GB of RAM. The wait for a more powerful graphics card to arrive before trying to change this new format. The battery that comes with it is small. I recommend buying a larger battery as soon as possible to balance. At this point, it feels a little out of balance due to the smaller battery. I also liked the solid magnesium body. No plastic anywhere! Overall, I am impressed with this camera. 140 of 169 people found the following review helpful Not worth the price, but actually there is no alternative by Cornelius III Fortinbras Panasonic AG-HMC150 I shoot weddings and have the HMC150, Canon AH1. From the outset let me first say that my opinion comes from - Price: $ 3500 First, none of these cameras are light in low light. They have 1 / 3 imagers. I do not care if they are made of gold and ten of them. Imager 1 / 3 are too small to capture enough light, even if you Hubbell telescope attached to them. These small sensors $ 3500 is technology, poor cheap, especially if larger SLR sensors, shooting HD and do not cost much. Who are these camera angles? Indie filmmakers and videographers. As a filmmaker you are most concerned about - low light. Why? Because you can not control the lights at weddings at parties, etc. So, the camera is able to go. As an independent filmmaker what are you most concerned with - the ability to look like the film is made with gamma 24p and film, this is all you need. But you pay a premium. But for me, just as important as watching 24fps film is the choice of the lens. Here, you get none. While it is 24fps which is rooted in the conscience of the world should look like this film, they also do not realize the depth of field and range of lenses too. With these cameras you get no choice of a 13x zoom with very wide depth of field at least every focal length, because it's a zoom and because the imagers are tiny. The good news AG-HMC150 can handle most lighting situations. Bad news - AVCHD codec, is noisy, even in the sunny afternoon. The image is made of stain. Measurement integrity of the image by the zoom factor - 100% AVCHD compression is clearly visible. 200% of the image is a spin-off, the infected mess. While the Panny can hold-up in low light. I shot in a dark room and there was still something to see and 'very strange mode of the automatic diaphragm, which brings more light, even when you do the exact settings in the manual. I do not know if there is a magic touch, I did not last long.

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