This new mid-range P2 camcorder exceeds expectations.
By Jay Holben
As I opened up the case for the Panasonic AG-HPX370, I had a feeling of déjà vu. The body style, layout and whole approach to the 1/3" 3-MOS P2 HD camera is exactly in line with its sibling cameras: the AG-HPX500 and the AJ-HPX3000, both of which I’ve had extensive experience. The layout and style of the 370 is so familiar, in fact, that I had to wonder – why? Why are they introducing yet another mid-range P2 HD camera? And why are they introducing a 1/3" camera? How much need is there for a smaller chip camera when the 2/3" sibling is really only $2,300 more.
This confusion somewhat dissipated by actually powering up the 370 and realizing, “Oh my, Panasonic listened!’
Starting with the top of my "NICE" list is that fact that the HPX370 has a COLOR HD viewfinder! Finally! We’re in the modern age! Although the 0.45” (1.23 megapixel) LCD inside the viewfinder is tiny, and you can’t flip up the magnifying eyepiece to operate by just looking at the monitor, that’s a small price to pay for the choice of color or B&W in the same viewfinder. Glory, glory hallelujah! There is a loss, however. Unfortunately, peaking controls are menu-driven, not on the viewfinder itself, and they’re not as powerful as I would prefer. One hopes, however, that will improve in time. To assist you, the 370 offers a focus assist thermometer bar that fills as the image comes into sharpest contrast. It’s not really a whole lot of help in dark or low contrast situations, but it’s there if you like it. What’s even better is that Panasonic has incorporated a dedicated focus assist button on the camera which magnifies the image – just like the magnification switch inside an extended viewfinder on a 35mm film camera. This is an INCREDIBLY useful tool as it allows you to, much more accurately, judge focus. The magnified image is not recorded that way — so you can safely pop in and out of focus assist while shooting. I do wish this function was assignable to the lens return button — that would be fantastic, but I’m not entirely sure that’s in Panasonic’s control.
I still have a minor gripe about where the flip-out viewing screen is placed. I much prefer the placement of the screen on the HPX500 as it can be open when you’re operating so that someone behind you, be that an assistant or a director or a grip, can have a look at the screen. With its position on the 370, if you’re operating the camera handheld, the screen is useless.
Panasonic makes up for this small gripe, though, by incorporating waveform and vectorscope in the camera that can be displayed on the flip-out screen. This is a fantastic — and unexpected — addition to the camera. Unfortunately, the waveform and vectorscope are not able to be displayed in the viewfinder, only on the flip-out screen, but their presence there is so extraordinary that I’ll forget this tiny shortfall.
Another minor gripe is that there are only two P2 slots, and they’re on the operator’s side right at the neck/shoulder position. This means, once again, if you’re shooting handheld, there is no possibility of a hot-swap. Although with larger and larger P2 cards available now this is less of an issue.
Additionally, although I am still a fan of the HPX500, the 370 stands out against its older, larger-chipped sibling for being a full-raster 1920x1080 camera. Further, with the new U.L.T. sensors in the camera, the light sensitivity is quite impressive. As Panasonic explains in their literature, “The HPX370 utilizes a 20-bit digital signal processor and high-resolution 3-MOS imagers, enhanced with U.L.T., which boosts the sensors' performance to rival the image quality and [sensitivity] of 1/2" imagers.” And they’re not foolin'. In my tests, using cine-like gamma (my preferred, from the 500 and 3000) at 24p, 180-degree shutter (1/48 sec), I found the camera had a base ISO of 500 to 640, which is impressive for a 1/3” camera.
In addition to this sensitivity, there are gain functions between -3dB and +12 with a hyper-gain at +24. I found +9 dB already had too much noise for my taste, but having the ability to do -3 through +6 was fantastic.
The 370 is very light — lighter than the 500 or 3000. Some interesting additional features include a “Disp” button that can clear all of the data off of the viewfinder — nice feature for when things get crowded. There’s also a dedicated button for turning the Zebras on or off.
Image quality, as would be expected, is stellar. Color fidelity, resolution, and smooth gamma — all factors of all Panasonic cameras — are fantastic. The camera incorporates automatic chromatic aberration compensation (CAC) to "sweeten" the lower-end ENG lenses. It shoots AVC-I in full-raster, with options to shoot 720p, 480p, DVCPro HD, DVCPro 50 and DVCPro/DV. In 720p you also have varicam speeds for over- and under-cranking effects.
Although I did not have the opportunity to test it, the HPX370 comes with “flash band” detection and compensation built into the camera to avoid some of the pitfalls of shooting with CMOS sensors in strobe lighting-like situations.
All-in-all, if you’re in the market for a very, very high-end and powerful 1/3" full-raster HD AVC-I camera, the $11,700 pricetag on the AG-HPX370 is pretty darn appealing.