First official footage from the new Panasonic DVX200!

Here are some very nice 4K V-LOG images from Panasonic's first official DVX200 footage (please watch at 2160p and your monitor's highest resolution:



Behind-the-scenes:



And the "First Look" from Zacuto:



I agree with Jens and Steve - at $4195 (pre-order here), this camera is going to be very popular with wedding shooters, documentarians and run and gunners.

That said, the DVX's 8-bit color space and h.264 compression are still a problem. After recording 10-bit 4:2:2 and losslessly compressed RAW to an SD card on a $1000 Pocket Cinema Camera, I don't understand why Panasonic, Canon and Sony still have such a hard time with this in $4000+ cameras.

For me, and other shooters who want less compression and more gradable images, something like the $4995 URSA Mini 4.6K EF is probably a better option - but for shooters who want the convenience of a built-in power zoom lens and don't want or need a lot of flexibility in post, this is going to be a terrific camera.

First footage from new URSA Mini 4K!

Looks like the shooters who make up "The Dreamers", a wedding video production house in the Netherlands, are the first customers to take delivery of a couple of $2995 4K Blackmagic URSA Minis (plus accompanying $1495 Blackmagic viewfinders) - and they've been good enough to take the camera out on a couple of wedding shoots and share the results.

They shot the first wedding in 10-bit 4:2:2 ProRes HQ at 1080/60p rather than 4K, but I have to say that it looks pretty good - except for the moire on the groom's jacket at 1:10.



The second wedding was shot in 3840x2160 Ultra High Definition, again in ProRes.

This video has been password protected as private, but you can still see it in the URSA group I moderate over on Vimeo:

A Styled Shoot with the Ursa Mini 4K (in UHD)

This one looks a lot cleaner. If you have a Vimeo Plus or Pro account, you can download it and see for yourself (if you don't, you can sign up for a Pro account here).

The best news, however, is ergonomic.  After a couple of generations of Blackmagic cameras that have either looked like toasters or cellphones or weighed too much to carry, the Dreamers say "[The Mini] is incredibly well designed -- everything is exactly where you expect it to be..." (hat tip to nofilmschool.com for the quote).

At $2995 body-only, this camera is a pretty amazing value for the money.  For those who can't afford the extra $2000 for the 4.6K version, this is going to be a great, 10-bit entry-level cinema camera.

Blackmagic is clearly going to have to drop the price of the vanilla $2995 Production Camera 4K when URSA Mini 4K starts shipping in volume.

Sony PXW-X70 getting its 4K upgrade in June - priced at 485€

Click on the image above to order the Sony PXW-X70 from Amazon

A few days ago, Sony Europe announced several new firmware upgrades for its PXW cameras, to include a free 4096x2160 4K upgrade for its shoulder mounted $7999 Super 35mm camcorder, the PXW-FS7.

Seemingly lost in the hoopla around the FS7 news, another important upgrade was part of that announcement - a paid 3840x2160 UHD upgrade for Sony's $2299 1" sensor camcorder, the PXW-X70.

Sadly, at a rumored price of 485€ (about $550USD) for the upgrade, the X70 would become a $2850 UHD "4K" camera - a little more expensive than I had hoped - but also a possible opportunity for JVC.

Click on the image above to pre-order the JVC GY-HM200 from Adorama

With its built-in XLR jacks, ND filters and Wi-fi streaming, JVC's new 1/2.3" sensor camcorder, the $2695 UHD GY-HM200 (scheduled to ship in late March) now becomes the lowest cost pro UHD camcorder on the horizon.

When it ships, the HM200 will become the only game in town for shooters who need a pro UHD or 4K camcorder below the price of the $2799 Panasonic HC-X1000 between March and June (the start of wedding season).

It will be interesting to see whether Sony ends up reducing the price of the X70 UHD upgrade in the face of lower priced UHD/4K competition from JVC and Panasonic.  Let's hope so.

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