Panasonic's 4K camcorder looks pretty feature-packed for $3,500
A new prosumer run-and-gun-style camcorder has tons of entry-level pro features -- it's just missing the three sensors.
In a somewhat stealthy announcement at IFA 2014, Panasonic debuted its first prosumer -- a little more "pro" than "sumer" -- 4K camcorder. The HC-X1000, which will go by X1000E in Europe, seems to offer the same recording capabilities as the GH4 , including a best video of Cinema 4K/24p at 100Mbps or 1080/60p All-Intra at 200Mbps, as well as a huge variety of formats, resolutions, frame rates, and bit rates in between.
Priced at $3,500 (Panasonic Europe hasn't announced pricing yet, nor has Australia), the X1000 uses a run-and-gun-style design, and incorporates a single 1/2.3-inch 18.5MP MOS BSI MOS sensor and an optically stabilized 20X f1.8-3.6 lens with an approximate focal range of 30mm - 600mm, depending upon aspect ratio.
The LCD, a 3.5-inch (8.83cm), 1.152-million-dot touchscreen, sits on the handle, with the same Slide-Retractable design as the display on the AJ-PX270.
I suspect that Panasonic dumped it in the "prosumer" bin because it uses a single sensor instead of three -- a nontrivial difference, of course. But feature-wise, it looks like it has quite a lot of pro capabilities, including two XLR inputs; USB 3.0 support with direct-to-disk recording; manual control over pretty much everything in the typical pro-style layout; individual focus, zoom and iris rings; an EVF, and color bars. It also has Wi-Fi/NFC support for remote operation. You can find the complete specifications here.