Adorama offering free lenses or adapters with preorders of new JVC GY-LS300!

As reported earlier, JVC is going all-out to get its soon-to-ship Super 35mm camcorder into the hands of videographers and filmmakers with a terrific promotion - and the major online retailers have started to include it on their GY-LS300 product pages.

Now, when you pre-order your new LS300 from Adorama for $3995, you get your choice of either a free Rokinon 24mm or 35mm cine lens - or a Canon EF, Nikon or PL mount adapter.

This is a real bargain - "4K for $4K" (sorry, RED) - plus compatibility with your existing lenses straight out of the box (unless you're an NEX shooter :)).

And the image quality is top-notch.

I don't know how I missed this, but when Matthew Allard did his LS300 test a few weeks ago (which I wrote about in this post), he compared the UHD and HD output from the LS300 with UHD/HD output from the Sony A7s - both recorded to the Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q+ in ProRes.

Using the same Zeiss lens on both cameras, the results were surprising.  To Matt's eye (and mine), the LS300 produces "a sharper, more detailed UHD image than the A7s."  Here's the video:





This is the camera many shooters have been waiting for since the beginning of the large sensor, interchangeable lens camera revolution - an affordable Super 35 camera with the ergonomics and features of a traditional camcorder - plus image quality that beats (or at least matches) the best of the still/video hybrids.

There will be a lot of DSLR/DSLM upgraders who will want ditch their unwieldy "rigs" and buy this camera - if only to get away from the hassle of screw-on ND filters and XLR adapters,

This is very good news for JVC - and potentially bad news for Canon, Sony, Blackmagic and Panasonic - whose $4000 offerings are either less capable (Canon, Sony and Panasonic) or less ergonomically friendly (Blackmagic).

Panasonic is especially weak in this price class, with the AF100 long overdue for a refresh.

If Panasonic wants to compete with JVC in this market segment, any new "AG-AF200" will have come in below $4000 - especially if they stick with a micro 4/3 sized sensor.  It's going to be an interesting NAB.

As always, if anything here has helped you to make a purchase decision, please shop using the links above or the displays below and in the margins. And even if you're not in the market for a new camera, please comment and make suggestions below. It won't cost you anything extra, and it will help to keep these posts coming.

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4K Canon EOS One - the Panasonic FZ1000 killer?

Looks like Canon is finally about to enter the consumer 4K video market.  Chinese tech site Evolife is reporting that "surprise guest" Jackie Chan joined Canon China Chairman Hideki Ozawa onstage at the Canon Spring Conference in Shanghai yesterday to introduce a new 4K concept camera - the Canon EOS One.




Canon hasn't released the specs yet, but you can see from the photos above that the camera has an external LCD viewfinder and a  fixed 10x 8.9-89mm f2.8-5.6 zoom lens - which means it probably has a 1" sensor.   This puts it squarely in competition with Panasonic's hot-selling 4K FZ1000, which has had the 4K superzoom market all to itself - until now.

This is very good news for Canon shooters, who have been waiting since the introduction of sub-$1000 4K cameras from Panasonic, Sony and Samsung last year for Canon to introduce an affordable 4K video camera.

If Canon includes a decent codec, a headphone jack and more than 30 minutes of recording time, the EOS One becomes a very interesting video camera and serious competition for the FZ1000 (depending on price, of course).

Hopefully, we'll get more details at NAB - but if this is a sign of things to come from Canon, it could mean a great show for them in Vegas this year.

As always, if anything here has helped you to make a purchase decision, please shop using the links above or the displays below and in the margins. And even if you're not in the market for a new camera, please comment and make suggestions below. It won't cost you anything extra, and it will help to keep these posts coming.

And for the latest deals, news, tips and techniques, please follow HCR on Blogger, Twitter and YouTube  - and circle us on Google+.

(all photos above courtesy Evolife.cn and Weibo user Conga)

Pro large sensor, interchangeable lens Sony NEX-EA50 shoulder mount camcorder now costs less than a Handycam!

You can now pick up a sale-priced Sony NEX-EA50UH professional APS-C interchangeable lens camcorder with a shoulder mount, a 18-200mm power zoom lens and XLR mic inputs for $2299 - less than the cost of the NEX-VG30 Handycam with the same lens and a 3.5mm consumer mic input.

These cameras may be limited to 1080p 4:2:0 recording in a 4K 4:2:2 world - but NEX-EA50 shooters such as Henry D.C. Williams nevertheless continue to produce some very good work:






If you're an NEX shooter who wants to upgrade to a professional large sensor camcorder, but who doesn't need 4K, this deal may be for you.

As always, if anything here has helped you to make a purchase decision, please shop using the links above or the displays below and in the margins. And even if you're not in the market for a new camera, please comment and make suggestions below. It won't cost you anything extra, and it will help to keep these posts coming.

And for the latest deals, news, tips and techniques, please follow HCR on Blogger, Twitter and YouTube  - and circle us on Google+.

4K JVC GY-LS300 Super 35 camcorder in stock now!

Although it is still on pre-order for $3995 at Adorama, if you need a 4K Super 35 live streaming camcorder right now, you can get the JVC GY-LS300 from Electronics Basket via Amazon.

The camera is in stock and ready to ship. Here are a couple of examples of the images it can produce:







This is the least expensive interchangeable lens Super 35mm camcorder you can buy with a camcorder style body, power zoom compatibility and XLR inputs - plus built-in 1080p live streaming. Please keep checking back here  - I will rent one of these as soon as I can and shoot a side-by-side with the GH4 for you to take a look at.

As always, if anything here has helped you to make a purchase decision, please shop using the links above or the displays below and in the margins. And even if you're not in the market for a new camera, please comment and make suggestions below. It won't cost you anything extra, and it will help to keep these posts coming.

And for the latest deals, news, tips and techniques, please follow HCR on Blogger, Twitter and YouTube  - and circle us on Google+.

4K JVC GY-HM200 live streaming camcorder available now!

If you don't want to wait for your pre-ordered JVC GY-HM200 to arrive, you can get one right now for $2899.99 from Electronics Basket via Amazon.

There is a UHD video sample from this camera at 13:48 into this Videoaktiv review (in German). Please watch at 2160p and your monitor's highest resolution:






The UHD images are certainly crisp and clear - even on YouTube - but for me, the most exciting thing about this camera (and its big brother, the Super 35mm GY-LS300) is the built-in live streaming capability.

Both new JVC 4K cameras have a live streaming encoder built-in and can transmit 1080p via wi-fi or Ethernet to your internet connected phone/tablet/laptop via an inexpensive adapter (such as the $36 ASUS USB-N53 dual band wireless-N USB adapter).

With these cameras, there is no need to buy a more expensive (and less mobile) external encoder such as the Blackmagic Intensity to get to the web.

Alternatively, you can connect a 4G LTE dongle (such as the AT&T AirCard 3131U or the Verizon UML290) to the camera and go straight to the web from the camera's IP address. Here's a video that walks us through the process:




I'm pretty sure I'm going to ditch my camcorder, GH1, GH2 and GH3 and buy the LS300 for this feature alone.

As always, if anything here has helped you to make a purchase decision, please shop using the links above or the displays below and in the margins. And even if you're not in the market for a new camera, please comment and make suggestions below. It won't cost you anything extra, and it will help to keep these posts coming.

And for the latest deals, news, tips and techniques, please follow HCR on Blogger, Twitter and YouTube  - and circle us on Google+.