Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD P2/DVCPRO HD Format Camcorder with Widescreen Aspect Ratio, 720p, 1080i and 24-Frame HDTV Recording

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

The biggest drawback to this camera is a horrible autofocus function. I am a one man band for an online journal, and I find myself in a lot of situations when a reliable autofocus would be a life-saver. Eight times out of 10 this camera lets me down. Manually focusing is frequently too time consuming for my purposes.

I do give the camera good marks for picture quality. It's just a shame to image has to pass through such an awful autofocus first.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

The Ps and Multi codec for shooting purposes are the most attractive thing about this camera.

The HD image is like a Rolls Royce compared to a Honda ( the low res DV format). Multiple frame rate are phenominal.

The lens is awsome although I find the focusing a challenge, they do give you a focus assist feature that you have to read about. It does help.

The weight distribution is a bit off, I don't know why but I find the camera in need of some balance. You just have to be extra steady with hand held. Or rely heavily on your tripod.

The Ps manager free download is a little bit more complicated than the P2 viewer down load.

All in all the whole idea of a computer in the back of the camera is pretty
revolunairy.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

I have been a longtime user of the AG DVX100A and finally decided to upgrade to the HVX 200 and all I can say is I wish I did this sooner! It's one amazing Pro camcorder especially for Independent filmmakers like myself that need something dependable and lightweight. I thought the p2 cards were going to be a hard transition from mini dv tapes but I couldn't have been more wrong. I'll never use mini dv again! Works great with my Final Cut Studio 2. thank you Panasonic and especially B&H Photo for having the best price[...] then anyone else!!!

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

I use it for weddings,sports,news gathering, and family use. The Television station, that I work at, have DVCAMs, and this camera by far has the better picture (and that is in Standard Digital.)

I really like the HD picture.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

I have been using this camera for event videos and movies and it works almost perfectly. The auto settings are surprisingly good and the manual controls are intuitive if you are familiar with the DVX series. The image is clear and depth of field is excellent.

The camera is a bit on the heavy side, so long hand held sessions can be a bit uncomfortable. With the iris wheel moved forward I have a hard time finding it, but it works much better than the DVX iris wheel. The flip out view finder is only good for framing. The eyepiece is much more accurate outdoors, but you will need an HD monitor for true color reference.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

I've been using the HVX200 for eighteen months now. When my station gave it to me as a new hire, it literally came straight out of the box. In the first year of use, it was in the shop no less than four months with different issues. I'll get to some of those later.

As you can tell from my title, I do not like this camera. In fact, I hate it. But to be fair, there are some good things about this camera. The obvious thing is that it is very light weight. You can carry the camera, a tripod and a run bag pretty easily where with the shoulder mounted ENG cameras, things can get heavy pretty quick.

Also, there have been times when I've been in a crowd of people (shooting John McCain or Barack Obama, for instance) and I've had to lift the camera over my head, turn the viewfinder down and shoot like that for five or ten minutes. This is a time when this camera shines. It's light weight and easy to use like this.

But other than that, the camera is rotten. It's not built for rugged, day in/day out use by a TV station. We've had to find new and interesting ways to use the camera live as the in puts on the side are not made for the heavy wiring from the reel to the truck. One guy had his camera stop working because things on the inside got pulled apart by the cable connecting it to the reel.

Shooting in low light is next to impossible. Where a shoulder mounted camera will get usuable video, this camera will not. Of course, if it's the only camera you've got, you might have to use the video anyway. Meanwhile, your competitor who was standing right next to you with a shoulder mounted camera will have better qualityvideo on his TV station.

We've also noted that condenstation builds up really quick inside these cameras moving from inside air conitioned rooms to outside in humidty. It does cause the lens to fog up, but over time, it also eats away the inside of the camera. I'm not an egineer, but this is how our egineer explained it to me. The camera stopped working one day and when he opened it up, he thought someone had used it on a rainy day without rain gear. When it happened to another two cameras in the station, he realized that wasn't it at all.

I believe there are internal audio problems with the camera, but we have not been able to pinpoint those just yet. There are other issues, but simply put, these cameras are not built to be used by ENG crews. I do not like it at all. In fact, this week I learned my station is going to start phasing them out with shoulder mounted cameras again.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

After reading the manual, and most of the book that comes with it( which really covers the practical use of most functions ect..),and using it in the field, I think its great. I shoot Professionally covering sports ect.. and really like how the basic desireable manual, and optional auto controls are laid out( white balance, Iris ect..). The controls and the menu are strait forward if you have read about these options and have some prior experience shooting 3ccd cameras of this type. Also, nice to no longer have to "capture the footage" into Final Cut Pro when using the P2 side ( or tape-less option). It dumps right into Final Cut Pro. If you have some experience with 3ccd camera's like this one ...You'll really like this new Panasonic AG-HVX-200p..alot!

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

This camera is all Pro! I also bought FS-100 AND CAN RECORD FOR HOURS! Remember, the learning curve is there, but if you shot with a pro camera before, you will understand all the different settings. I can edit in Final Cut Pro 6 without a lot of rendering.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

I was surprice bay de image and the versatility that with one camera you can confronto both dvcprohd100 and minidv and everthing in between

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

I am a college student and I saved for just about 2 years soI could get this camera and it is by far more than Iexpected. The learning curve is a bit steep but you stillget phenomenal footage out of the box. I am so excited toget to work with this great piece of equipment. B&H was sogreat to deal with and I would definitely order from them again.

Problems Encountered: None, with the camera per say. The learning curve is steepso I am having trouble doing what I want. Also, the cameraisn't the best at low light. Just light appropriately andyou wont have any problems. Low resolution of LCD Screen.

Items I Recommend: Extra 9 Hour battery, P2 Cards

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

I'm impressed by this camcorder, you get varicam, almost every video recording format, superb quality, great optics and revolutionary technology.

Problems Encountered: I suggest to avoid (for now) P2 cards and buy a Focus Fire wire Hard Disk instead

Previous Equivalent Items Owned: Sony FZ1

Items I Recommend: Focus Firewire Hard Disk, Letus35 adapter with Nikon optics

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

To start, the manual controls are amazing. The Panasonic manual layout is the best by far- total control of all zooming, and easy to use manual focus. The DOF is outstanding. One of my favorite features is the auto button for white balance. It seems more accurate than other camera I've used. The audio capture is nearly perfect. I've used ambient band music, along with prerecorded music on a soundtrack and could hardly tell the difference. Oh yeah, most amazing picture quality ever. Overall great camera. In my opinion, the best on the market.

Problems Encountered: The only problem is the low resolution LCD. You'd think that for such an awesome camera, they would've thought about that. Oh well, nothing's completely perfect.

Previous Equivalent Items Owned: hmm not equivelent but DVX100A, Canon XL-1

Items I Recommend: Avid HD with Mojo

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

Overall this is a great piece of equipment. The quality ofthe picture is outstanding and the flexibility to shoot inmany formats (1080i, 720p and 480i along with several othersis unmatched in this price range). It takes some adjusting(and investment) to get used to the tapeless workflow, butI'm liking it more all the time. Being able to bypass thecapture step is a real time saver. Also, the ability to shoot DV on miniDV tape as analternative to the P2 card is a plus.

Problems Encountered: No problems per say, but I would have prefered a cleanersolution regarding saving settings. You can save scenefiles which save some, not all of your camera settings (eg. film cam emulation vs. video cam selection). While savinga user file saves other information (such as recordingformat 720p, vs 1080i for example).For me one method to store the entire camera state would bemore useful and intuitive.Even if you agree, don't let this small nit deter you... Ican't stress enough, this is a great camera.

Previous Equivalent Items Owned: Sony

Items I Recommend: DVD training

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

FLAT OUT GREAT CAMERA CANT SAY MUCH MORE!

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

Beautiful results, and the WOW factor is what you will get from customers and anyone that sees the footage with the purchase of this camera. We have (3) DVX 100B and now (3) HVX200. Panasonic just needs to change the low resolution on the LCD readout and then they will have a true winner. Maybe on the upgrade... Way to go Panasonic...520 Productions, LLCArizona

Problems Encountered: Low Resolution LCD readout.

Previous Equivalent Items Owned: DVX 100B

Items I Recommend: Whatever else you can afford

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

Shot some 720p 24f on the cards and connected the camera to a 720p native 46 inch samsung monitor and was blown away..looks like the varicam. Color was as rich as it gets, detail incredible. Can't get any better for the money.

Previous Equivalent Items Owned: DVX-100a

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

Film-like--not an exaggeration. Not just in image quality, but in manual control--gamma, frame rates, progressive vs. interlaced. As a DVX100A and B user, this camera took me two minutes to figure out. The shadow detail and limited depth of field are awesome. Color is great. Highlights, when blown, look just like video--what are you going to do? Transfer to computer is so fast and easy. As with DVX100, great on the wide end but you need the tele adaptor; all those manual features will require a lot of practice for the average camcorder user. I've had the opportunity to handle every one of the prosumer HDV cameras out there, and this is far and away the best, overall--if you like the Panasonic layout. Expect killer results. On the whole, even with the expense of the P2 cards, this is a VERY good deal.

Problems Encountered: Remember--100mbps means you need a disc array with a terrabyte or two, and a fast system (or hardware accelerator, like Avid Mojo) to edit this stuff...may not be as hard to get started with the 19mbps JVC or the 25mbps Sony HDV offerings.

Previous Equivalent Items Owned: DVX100a

Items I Recommend: Lots of P2 cards

Comments about Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD HD Format Camcorder:

Panasonic has proven itself again with this new HD CCD cam. They revolutionized the indie film industry with the DVX100 series, 24P and now this marvel. As attractive as Canon's XL-H1 looks, the HVX 200 is on my list of must have.

Previous Equivalent Items Owned: DVX100A