Panasonic POVCAM and Underwater Housing Demonstrates New Natural World Capture Capabilities at Wildscreen Festival This Week
Panasonic AV Systems Europe (AVSE) is showcasing at the Wildscreen Festival this week their latest AG-HMR10E AVCCAM compact field recorder/player and the AG-HCK10E compact, multi-purpose 3-MOS HD camera head – known together as POVCAM. Both are versatile additions to the company’s AVCCAM line of professional solid-state high definition products and offer huge developments for Wildlife film capture.
Carmen Mendoza, Marketing European General Manager at AVSE said: “Panasonic is always looking at ways to enhance the production experience and make things easier for professionals ‘on-shoot’. These new additions to our range of AVCCAM products fit in perfectly with Panasonic’s portfolio of solid-state solutions. We’re delighted to be able to bring such great technology to the European market at such a competitive price.”
AG- HMR10E Compact Field Recorder / Player Unit
The HMR10E professional AVCCAM recorder provides the flexibility of low cost SD memory card based recording and full 1080 and 720 resolution capture in a small, portable unit. The new AVCCAM recorder uses AVCHD (MPEG-4/AVC High-Profile) compression and is ideal for applications in nature video production and remote operation in areas previously impenetrable to cameramen. Equipped with an HD-SDI input and output, the HMR10E AVCCAM recorder is also suitable for back-up recording from any HD-SDI-enabled camera or for use in studio or event production. The 0.58 kg unit features a lightweight, ergonomic design suited for handheld use (96mm x 52.6mm x 133mm) and also has four threaded holes for flexible mounting.
The AG-HMR10E records stunning full HD 1920x1080(1) resolution images in three recording modes – the highest quality PH mode* (average 21 Mbps/max. 24 Mbps), HA mode (approx.17 Mbps) and HG mode (approx.13 Mbps). The HE mode (approx. 6 Mbps) records at 1440x1080.(2) Using just one 32GB SDHC memory card, a user can record three hours of full resolution 1920x1080 video and audio in PH mode, four hours at HA mode, 5.3 hours at HG mode and in HE mode, the camera can record up to 12 hours of 1440x1080 HD content.
In addition to HD-SDI input/output and an external mic input (stereo), the HMR10E comes standard with interface connections including the HDMI out and USB 2.0, and is compatible with TC/UB recording. Professional audio features include a built-in stereo speaker and headphone mini jack. The handheld unit has a built-in 3.5-inch colour LCD monitor that displays content in thumbnail images for quick viewing (the HCK10E camera head can be remotely controlled while images are checked on the LCD monitor.) The HMR10E operates on battery or 7.3V DC power, and has four threaded holes for mounting applications.
AG- HCK10E Compact, 3-MOS HD Camera Head
The ultra-compact AG- HCK10E camera head is equipped with three newly-developed 1/4” 2 megapixels HD resolution 3-MOS imagers to deliver high-quality image quality. Weighing a little over 0.275 kg, the HCK10E camera head is ultra-slim (53.5mm x 56mm x 123.8mm) and features a 12x optical zoom lens with Optical Image Stabiliser (OIS) and Dynamic Range Stretch (DRS); a dynamic range expansion tool that simultaneously compresses highlight information and boosts shadow detail in real time. DRS, mic settings, iris, focus, zoom control and power are all supplied from the HMR10E recorder connected via 3 metre or 20 metre cable - making this the perfect remote-operation capture team.
AVCHD, an MPEG-4 /AVC Hi Profile-based format, provides a nearly double bandwidth efficiency with improved video performance over the older MPEG-2 compression used in HDV formats(3). In addition, a free transcoder, available for download from the Panasonic Broadcast website, will convert AVCHD files to DVCPRO HD P2 and down converted DV files for use with most existing professional editing packages.
Accompanying POVCAM, is the underwater housing, FishFace, manufactured by Polecam with capabilities of complete submergence up to 4m. With obvious benefits to Wildlife cinematography, this complete package is causing a stir at Wildscreen 2010.
The AG-HMR10E and the AG-HCK10E camera head are both available in Europe from October.
For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand, visit the company's website at panasonic.net/.
Notes:
- The HMR10 records in HD formats including 1080/60i, 1080/50i, 720/60p and 720/50p
- With input from the AG-HCK10 camera head, the HMR10 will also record 1080/30p (over 60i), 1080/25p (over 50i), 1080/24p (Native), 720/30p (over 60p), 720/25p (over 50p), and 720/24p (Native).
- AVCHD is supported by wide range of editing options including Apple Final Cut Pro 6.0.5, Adobe Premier Pro CS4, Grass Valley EDIUS Pro 5 , EDIUS Neo 2
