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Panasonic HC-X1000 4K camcorder gets small for the ENG crowd

Panasonic's answer to Sony's FDR-AX1 is quite a bit smaller and lighter.

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LoriGruninNewHeadshot.jpg
Lori Grunin
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
Lori Grunin
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1 of 12 Colin West McDoanld/CNET

Small and light

Panasonic takes on the Sony FDR-AX1 with a camcorder that's slightly shorter and about two-thirds the weight.

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2 of 12 Lori Grunin/CNET

Microphone

The onboard microphone is similar to that of Panasonic's higher-end ENG camcorders.

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3 of 12 Lori Grunin/CNET

Filter-friendly

The lens has a bayonet mount for add-ons.

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4 of 12 Lori Grunin/CNET

Hooded

In its typical configuration, with the lens hood attached.

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5 of 12 Lori Grunin/CNET
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6 of 12 Lori Grunin/CNET

Touchscreen

The camcorder has a reasonably responsive touchscreen, though you can only use it for navigating the menus, which is a bit disappointing.

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7 of 12 Lori Grunin/CNET

Display

The LCD is pretty typical for this class of camcorder.

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8 of 12 Lori Grunin/CNET

Compact

You can see how short this camcorder is.

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9 of 12 Lori Grunin/CNET

Control details

The camcorder has a fairly robust manual feature set, though it might be hard to differentiate some of these buttons by feel. Under the central cover sit two SD card slots; Panasonic recommends a U-30 card for shooting 4K.

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10 of 12 Lori Grunin/CNET

Three-ring circus

The three rings on the lens control zoom, focus, and iris, and are easy to differentiate by feel. Panasonic managed to compact the 20x zoom by using four lens groups that are independently moved by a single driver.

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11 of 12 Lori Grunin/CNET

Connections

The camcorder supports USB 3.0 and clean HDMI out, but it may require a firmware upgrade to finalized HDMI 2.0 for 2160/60p output.

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12 of 12 Lori Grunin/CNET

XLR

Though it has two XLR inputs, because of the size of the camcorder Panasonic had to split them up.

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