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Filed under: Cameras •Hardware •Production •

Review: Panasonic AG-HPX370 1/3” 3-MOS P2 HD Camcorder

Conclusions

The HPX370 is a shoulder-mount 1/3” camcorder capturing full-resolution 1920x1080 images with high sensitivity and low noise, and it records them using the very transparent, full-raster, 10-bit AVC-Intra 100 codec. It also offers AVC-Intra 50 and DV-family codecs; 720p, including variable frame rates; and SD recording. The camera handles both 50Hz and 60Hz standards at the flick of a switch, and offers both interlaced and progressive recording, including 24p and 25p.

The camera handles just like any other well-designed ENG-style camcorder. It sits comfortably on the shoulder and can be used handheld, stably, for long periods of time.  The traditional shoulder-mount configuration carries instant “real camera” street cred with clients, too.

The permanently-attached LCOS EVF is sharp enough for focusing, and has a peaking control with enough adjustability to aid focusing in almost any situation. If that’s not enough, both EVF and LCD show peaking, and can show a “focus bar” aid as well.

Switches are just where they should be; two P2 cards slot in on the operator’s side of the camera; and a daylight-viewable LCD offers a waveform monitor and vectorscope display as well as images and menus.

The camera has Panasonic’s naturalistic colorimetry and a wide enough selection of gammas and color matrices to cover most bases. Its knee is a sophisticated “soft shoulder” system providing smooth rolloff of overexposed highlights without sudden hue shifts or harsh clipping—it’s the best knee I’ve seen on an affordable Panasonic, and closer to Sony’s celebrated EX-series cine gammas than it is to a traditional knee. Yet, like a traditional knee, it only starts affecting the image at relatively high levels (60% or above), so it leaves most skintones fully saturated at higher levels than Sony’s cine gammas will, making it a better bet for those who dislike cine gamma’s skintone desaturation.

The 17x kit lens has “real camera” ergonomics and very smooth controls. Its performance is good for the price, and you can always swap it out for a different lens if you need to go wider, closer, and/or reduce CA and breathing.

Yes, it’s a 1/3” camera; a lot of folks will dismiss it out of hand for that reason alone. But really, folks: if shallow depth of field is the deciding factor, just get a DMC-GH1 and hack it for higher-quality video recording instead. For the rest of us, the HPX370 is a highly-capable, fully professionalized shoulder-mount camcorder with high-end capabilities that just happens to have small sensors—and even so,  stylishly shallow shooting is still possible, even with unstylishly small chips.

Naturalistic highlight handling and pleasing bokeh on the 17x.

Pros

• Full-resolution 1920x1080 sensors.
• Panasonic’s superb colorimetry; excellent highlight handling.
• 10 stops of usable dynamic range.
• High sensitivity (ISO 800) with very low noise at 0dB gain.
• Transparent, very high quality AVC-Intra 100 recording.
• AVC-Intra 50, DVCPROHD also available in HD formats.
• DV and DVCPRO 50 SD recording.
• “WorldCam” 50Hz/60Hz flexibility.
• Variable frame rates in 720p.
• Interval, one-shot, and loop recording; pre-record capability.
• Dual P2 card slots below the flip-out LCD.
• Interchangeable lenses.
• Good quality 17x Fujinon lens supplied.
• High quality downconversion.
• Dual SDI / HD-SDI outputs with timecode and audio.
• Genlock; timecode I/O.
• FireWire / IEEE 1394 for DV-format I/O.
• USB host and device modes for mass storage I/O.
• Six scene files with plenty of tweaks.
• Good viewfinder data displays.
• Chromatic Aberration Correction (CAC) cleans up horizontal CA very well.
• Flash Band Compensation (FBC).

Cons

• No variable frame rates in 1080p.
• Only three user-assignable buttons on the camera body.
• No 180 degree shutter setting default in 24p/25p modes.
• Stock lens shows substantial breathing.
• Stock lens has moderate distortion and CA.
• CAC only corrects CA in horizontal direction.
• Stock lens isn’t very wide; M.O.D. without macro is 3 feet.
• No auto-iris f-stop limit; it’s too easy to stop down too far automatically, softening the image due to diffraction.
• FBC not available in 1080p, when VFR is used, or when shutter is enabled.
• DRS not available in 1080p.

Cautions

• 1/3” sensors require apertures of f/4 or wider for full resolution.
• 1/3” sensors have deeper depth of field than is currently fashionable.
• No analog component or HDMI outputs for HD; no Y/C for SD.
• No analog input for pool feeds (aside from light through the lens and sound through the mikes, of course).
• No tripod adapter, microphone, or power included.
• EVF is not removable.
• WFM/vector displays not available in EVF, only on LCD.
• There may be some faint, residual trailing in some images due to 3D adaptive processing.

Would I buy one?

I happen to be a fan of the Panasonic “look”; I love the way Panasonics render color and tone. But I was less impressed with the highlight handling on older affordable Panasonics, including my first-generation HVX200.

10-bit 4:2:2 onboard recording is an important factor for me; I like being able to push things around in post, especially greenscreen shots. I came very close to buying an HPX300 last year; it impressed me with its full-resolution sensors and its super-clean AVC-Intra codec. But I didn’t really have a need for a new camera, and there wasn’t any reason compelling enough for me to drop $8,000 on one when push came to shove; I have access to an EX1 and RED ONEs at work.

But the 370, now… The sensitivity and quietude of the 370’s full-resolution sensors are impressive, and with the 370’s soft-onset knee, all the gammas have the same smooth highlight handling that Cine-like V gamma was needed for on earlier affordable Panasonics. Sweet.

Don’t forget, it’s a full-res, 50/60 Hz, SD/720p/1080-capable camcorder with variable frame rates in 720p; there isn’t a whole lot it won’t do. And did I mention that it records AVC-Intra 100? And that it handles like a full-size broadcast camera?

Sure, the 1/3” sensors make shallow focus challenging, but between my own Canon 5D MkII and the company’s RED ONEs, I’m covered for depth-of-field fetish work.

Let’s just say that it wouldn’t take a lot of effort to convince me that I should get one of these puppies for myself, or to recommend that we get one for the company. All I need is an excuse…

More Information

Barry Green’s review, comparing the 370 with the PMW-EX3.

At the Bench with the Panasonic HPX370, 3-minute video by Andy Shipsides at Abel Cine Tech: nice comparison with HPX300 skew and noise levels.

Philip Bloom’s 11-minute video review of the HPX371 (Euro version of the HPX370); Mr. Bloom says the 371 has 50/60Hz “worldcam” flexibility the 370 lacks, but the 370 I reviewed has full worldcam capability.

AG-HPX370 Operating Manual

AG-HPX370 Series brochure

16 CFR Part 255 Disclosure

Panasonic sent me an HPX370 for review, and I returned it to Panasonic at my own expense.

No material connection exists between me and Panasonic, Sony, DSC Labs, RED, Andy Shipsides, Abel Cine, Barry Green, DVXuser, and/or Philip Bloom, and no one has offered any payments, freebies, or other blandishments in return for a mention or a favorable review.

Panasonic reviewed an early draft of this article for technical accuracy. Any remaining errors are mine alone.

(Page 4 of 4 pages for this article « First  <  2 3 4)

“The EVF on the HPX-370 is just too small to even get proper backfocus.”

As on many low-cost camcorders, you really need to fine-tune your use of peaking to be able to do any sort of proper focusing with the 370’s EVF. But (with the eyepiece in place, and with peaking) it is possible to use the EVF for backfocusing as well as normal focusing, even if it doesn’t give you the “big screen” presentation of, say, Sony’s more recent EVFs… or even Panasonic’s own GH2 still camera.

(Your pix appear to show the EVF without the eyepiece magnifier, as I do in the image at the bottom of page 1. I agree that the display isn’t usable in that manner; it’s more of an “aw, shucks, ain’t that just the cutest li’l thang!” curiosity than anything else.)

Posted by Adam Wilt  on  02/03  at  01:42 PM

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I disagree. I’ve tried that.
Critical focus with this camera (HD 18x4.2 Fujinon 2x lens) is never a sure thing. Higher shutter speeds betray my focal assumptions further.
I use this camera everyday for ENG in San Francisco.
It is great for the job but I just wish Panasonic would give us an alternative… maybe a possibility for an upgrade to a larger EVF screen.

Great Review BTW.

http://twitpic.com/4ezjzj

Posted by DeanCSmith  on  02/03  at  02:04 PM

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