Review: Panasonic AG-HPX300

At a cost of less than $10,000, Panasonic's AG-HPX300 brings 10-bit 4:2:2 recording to a new professional tier.

This is not a $30,000 camera. You might want to repeat that to yourself as you consider Panasonic's latest P2 offering. At a street price of less than $10,000, the AG-HPX300 camcorder is impressive beyond its affordability: 10-bit AVC-Intra recording, interchangeable 17X Fujinon lens, best-in-class LCoS viewfinder, and a 2.2-megapixel imager all in a rugged, professional package.

The HPX300 is the ideal tool for the way many of us work now: increasingly alone and wearing many hats—writer, editor, producer, and shooter. The new camera accommodates this emerging paradigm in news operations, corporate and events, reality TV, and even music videos. There are inherent compromises to consider, especially for those of us accustomed to more sophisticated camcorders, such as Panasonic's own Varicam AJ-HPX2700. But the HPX300 is capable of capturing some truly remarkable images, and did I mention this is not a $30,000 camera?

The Panasonic AG-HPX300 is a full-raster 1920x1080 4:2:2 camcorder fitted with three 1/3in. CMOS imagers, which Panasonic calls "3MOS." The camera shoots SD and HD in many familiar formats, including MiniDV, DVCPRO HD, and now AVC-Intra for the first implementation of 10-bit recording in an economical camcorder.

For the shooter, this means images with smoother gradients and an end to the ugly 8-bit contours that are occasionally visible in facial shadows and large monochromatic areas of the frame, such as the sky or the walls of sets. Ten-bit recording and workflow also mean the enhanced ability to perform precise compositing and color correction in postproduction. Remember that 10-bit recordings offer four times more accurate sampling; the HPX300 records to a P2 card one of 1,024 possible values for each sample rather than 256 as in 8-bit formats such as DV, HDV, DVCPRO HD, and the many XDCAM variants.

It's worth noting that Apple's ProRes 422 codec in Final Cut Pro supports a 10-bit workflow. So does Avid Media Composer 3.0, which provides native MXF support, thus obviating the need to transcode the AVC-Intra files into an intermediate codec.

I used the HPX300 recently on a grim documentary called Bliss Café, which featured standup comics performing in the dark clubs of Hollywood's underbelly. The camera's low weight—13lbs. with lens and battery—built-in wireless mic support, and long zoom range made this dual-slot P2 camcorder a good choice for capturing the raw and raunchy performances in this low-budget production.

The HPX300 can be a powerful tool in the creative shooter's arsenal. Like the painter who exploits to the utmost his brushes and palette of colors, the HPX300 shooter should also take maximum advantage of the camera's versatility. Need to add weight to a struggling actor's performance? Push the camera to 26fps or 27fps. The HPX300 can do it. Need to add visual drama to a car chase? Slow the camera down a bit and undercrank at 20fps or 22fps. This camera can do that too.

In fact, when shooting 24p, I seldom operate a P2 camera at that frame rate. Instead, I'm constantly tweaking the rate of pictures parading in front of my audience. You obviously can't do this when shooting dialogue, but at all other times, the boxing gloves are off and the creative-fun cap is on. Sometimes I'll even slow down my actors to shoot at 12fps and gain an extra stop in low light. So we won't talk about pixel counts in this article just now. It's your craft that really matters and ultimately gets you work—and in that respect, the HPX300 elegantly supports your creative impulses.

With the HPX300, I can shoot progressively from 12fps to 60fps via 20 selectable presets. Add to this ability a 3-second prerecord function in HD, loop record, and even single-frame shooting for animated sequences just like a film camera.

When comparing cameras, many folks talk endlessly of imager size, number of pixels, and color-sampling ratios. What should be of real significance to shooters is the camera's ability to record smooth, organic images. In this way, the economical HPX300 excels in features and performance that truly count.

The LCoS electronic viewfinder features much higher resolution than previous small-camcorder finders, and it's in color. The EVF controls for zebras, brightness, and peaking are controlled via a camera menu and thus may be assigned to a shooter's own User File—a nice touch.

First consider the camera's tack-sharp color LCoS viewfinder. From experience, we know that focusing HD in a tiny viewfinder can be impossible, so the new high-resolution finder on the HPX300 is a godsend. It's still a bit too small for my taste, but it's a huge improvement over the traditional underpowered CRT-type viewfinders of models past. The camera also features two Focus Assist functions—a bar graph and a magnified center view—in addition to a vastly improved swing-out LCD. The 3.2in. display is so sharp that many one-man-band shooters might consider dispensing with an external monitor altogether.

Of interest to small or one-person crews, the HPX300 uses about 50 percent of the power of a similar-size CCD camcorder, which means that one can shoot virtually all day on a single Anton Bauer Dionic 90—a major plus for the weary pack-mule shooter who no longer has to haul a ton of batteries to a location.

As is characteristic of P2 cameras in general, the external array of switches and controls is laid out logically. No fumbling for shutter control, focus assist, or the scene file dial in the dark of night. The controls are large for Homer Simpson-size hands, and they're pro-grade—identical to the high-end hardware found on the AJ-HPX2000 and AJ-HPX3000 cameras.

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The HPX300 is Panasonic's first professional camcorder with a 3-CMOS imager. There are advantages to this sensor beyond its ability to deliver high resolution at an economical price. In night scenes containing specular light sources such as car headlights, the 3-CMOS imager produces sharp images without the flare and vertical streaking characteristics of CCDs.

While the look of CMOS is less organic than CCD in my opinion, the HPX300 nevertheless produces tasteful images thanks to the robust processing and 20-bit DSP. There are no maroon or weird hue shifts to contend with here. The camera's processing integrity and colorimetry is a proven entity; it closely approximates the look and feel of other Panasonic pro cameras (AG-HPX170, AG-HVX200A, AG-HPX500) with CCD imagers.

Like any other camera, the HPX300 is a storytelling tool. Whether it is the right camera for you depends on your particular story's requirements. For shooters who frequently carry their cameras aboard aircraft, it is reassuring that the 3-CMOS imager is impervious to cosmic rays, which can be a potential hazard to CCDs on international flights. Several trips to India last year produced several damaged pixels in the CCD of my Sony PDW-F350, demonstrating why black-balancing the camera is so important. In many models, the procedure covers the vanquished pixels that appear as stationary white specks onscreen. Since the CMOS imager is not subject to this kind of damage, the HPX300 is an excellent choice for shooters who periodically irradiate their bodies and HD gear at high altitudes.

While the HPX300 may produce the most compelling, nuanced images of any sub-$10,000 camcorder, the camera has a few weak spots—most notably the packaged 17X lens.

High-definition, full-raster cameras such as the HPX300 require excellent optics to properly exploit the increased resolution capability. Sure, we see greater picture detail in HD, especially at 1080, but we also tend to see more objectionable lens defects when peering through less-than-stellar optics.

The stock Fujinon 17X 4.5mm lens provides a reasonable wide angle and zoom range, with a standard 8-pin connector for external control. The lens delivers decent, albeit not great, performance with more apparent breathing and barrel distortion than I'm used to seeing or liking in a professional optic. Understandably there is a trade-off here in the quality of the lens, and it is entirely price-driven.

Panasonic recognized the challenge years ago as it endeavored to manufacture high-definition cameras at lower price points. Unlike the camcorders themselves, superior optics aren't getting any cheaper, so the question becomes how to wring the best performance out of what is, in effect, a very modest lens.

For HD shooters in particular, it's important to understand why cheap lenses look cheap. The main culprit is chromatic aberration (CA), the telltale bands of color that occur as multiple wavelengths of light with different energy levels pass through the glass at different speeds and so refract at different angles and focus at different points.

In high-end lenses, the color fringing around bright light sources is controlled by careful application of expensive lens coatings and/or by employing different glass types to compensate for the differences in light transmission. For the most part, CA fringing was not objectionable in standard definition owing to the rough edges around objects, but it is a much bigger issue now, especially in HD cameras that have no chromatic-aberration compensation (CAC) provision.

The HPX300 with CAC houses a library of lens profiles or look-up tables for newer CAC lenses from Canon and Fujinon. The required compensation is applied automatically when a CAC-supported lens is mounted on the camera. Thus the stock 17X performs much better than one might reasonably expect because most contrast-robbing, resolution-impairing artifacts caused by chromatic aberration are mitigated by the camera's CAC.

This is one reason why cameras with permanent fixed lenses generally perform better than similar-class models with interchangeable lenses; the camera maker knows precisely the shortcomings of the lens and can easily and economically compensate for the CA and other failings during image processing. Panasonic P2 cameras with interchangeable lenses and CAC do not share this problem. (For more on CAC, see millimeter.com/cameras/revfeat/hd_reveals_all_07012007.)

There are a few additional caveats regarding the HPX300. The Expanded View Focus Assist does not function while the camera is recording. While this may seem to be a drawback to some folks, keep in mind the color LCoS viewfinder is so sharp that it is now entirely practical to find critical focus without an assist.

The flip-out LCD screen is bright and sharp but awkward to view when the camera is placed on the shoulder.

The camera's flip-out LCD screen is also dramatically improved; it's by far the best of any camcorder in this price range. Unfortunately, the LCD is nearly impossible to view with the camera positioned in a normal shoulder-mounted configuration. More awkward still are the LCD's audio-level meters, which are completely obscured by the camera operator. This may not be an issue for the one-man-band shooter who can eye the audio levels in the viewfinder, but it can be problematic for a dedicated sound person who would prefer to see and verify these levels on-camera.

The video-noise issue has always been a challenge for small-format HD camcorders, and that continues to be the case for the HPX300. While lowering the master pedestal and raising the detail coring can help, it's also most important to avoid shooting with elevated gain whenever possible. The camera will allow up to a staggering +24dB gain; at this level, however, the imager pattern noise almost completely obscures the image. I advise shooters to use the negative gain setting (-3dB) for most normal operations and not to venture much above +3dB in a pinch.

The mounting system for support rails and a matte box is nonstandard and requires an additional adapter beneath the camera to fit existing systems. This may annoy some shooters and rental facilities accustomed to using the standard Panasonic rail support. However, most ENG and reality-style shooters will likely opt for a clip-on matte box, if one is desired at all, for simplicity's sake and ease of use.

Finally, a lot will be made of the 1/3in. imagers of the HPX300 and how they exhibit less-favorable depth of field than the larger 1/2in. sensors of Sony XDCAM EX models. While there is a discrepancy owing to the inherent physics, the difference is hardly noticeable in practice. It's certainly not as great as, say, the difference between the 1/3in. imagers and the 2/3in. imagers of the HPX500 and other cameras.

The HPX300 is a remarkable camera that reflects the evolution of our industry. As business models change, the demands placed on shooters and their cameras become more severe and expansive.

At the major networks, we are already seeing producers and correspondents covering and shooting their own stories. The HPX300 fits this new paradigm, offering excellent performance in a lightweight, easy-to-master package.

The new camera certainly doesn't obviate the need for more sophisticated imaging machines to serve National Geographic or Planet Earth-style shooters. Nor might the HPX300 be the best camera for a John Toll or a Darius Khondji contemplating his next epic. But for nearly everyone else, it offers remarkable performance and functionality. And did I mention it doesn't cost $30,000?

Company: Panasonic

www.panasonic.com/broadcast

Product: AG-HPX300

Assets: Superb ergonomic form and rugged construction; true 1920x1080 imager; versatile SD/HD including 10-bit AVC-Intra recording; best-in-class LCoS viewfinder; very low power consumption.

Caveats: Furnished 17X Fujinon not up to par with camera's imaging capability; awkward placement of flip-out screen; Expanded View Focus Assist does not function while camera is recording.

Price: Less than $10,000