"the 'industrys first professional' interchangeable lens video camera"
WTF were all those 2/3" interchangeable-lens video cameras for the last decade or two then?
Furthermore, this is another camera recording to a crappy, low-bitrate, interframe-compressed codec. So, no editing without recompressing, and sorry color resolution (4:2:0).
Panasonic, like Sony, continues to protect its overpriced upper-line cameras by hobbling this thing with craptastic recording quality. Seriously, guys, let's give up this garbage. Storage is cheap enough and fast enough to give people a reasonable bitrate and better sampling.
Also, INTERLACING? Interlacing is a relic of the '30s that has no place in a modern camera. Continuing to sell this crap is an insult to customers, many of whom don't know any better.
Not likely to be gifted with its price tag, Panasonic has announced a shipping date at end of the year for the AG-AF100 Micro Four Thirds camcorder.
The AG-AF100 is set to sail on December 27 with an MSRP of $4,995. Obviously intended for professional videographers only, the “industry’s first professional” interchangeable lens video camera uses a 4/3-inch, 16:9 MOS imager and a built-in optical ND filter.
Users have a lot of choices when it comes to recording modes, from 1080p at 60i to 720p in AVCHD. With the pair of available card slots (compatible with SDHC and SDXC cards), videographers can record a maximum 12 hours of footage on two 64GB SDXC cards in PH mode.
Without the lens or battery, the whole thing only weights 3.5 pounds. (It’s always the other stuff that gets you.) All in all, it seems like a great piece of camera equipment for the road…if you can afford it.
