Simon McGuire

The Panasonic AG-AF101 – the first professional micro 4/3” video camcorder optimised for high-definition video recording was revealed at the Wildscreen Festival 2010. Available in December, the AG-AF101 will set a new benchmark for digital cinematography.

Targeted at the video and film production communities, the AF101 delivers the shallow depth of field and wider field of view of a large imager, with the flexibility and cost advantages of use with a growing line of professional quality, industry standard micro 4/3-inch lenses, filters, and adapters. The full 1080 and 720 production camera offers superior video handling, native 1080/24p recording, variable frame rates, professional audio capabilities, and compatibility with SDHC and SDXC media.

The design of the AF101’s micro 4/3-inch sensor affords depth of field and field of view similar to that of 35mm movie cameras in a less expensive, ergonomically built camera body. The AG-AF101 offers a mobile, field solution for industry professionals to capture entrancing, crisp foreground images in front of a soft blur background. Equipped with an interchangeable lens mount, the AG-AF101 is also free to use an array of cost-diverse, widely-available still camera lenses as well as film-style lenses with fixed focal lengths and primes.

The AF101 incorporates a 4/3-inch, 16:9 MOS imager. The camcorder records 1080/60i, 50i, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) and 720/60p, 50p, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) in AVCHD’s highest-quality PH mode (maximum 24Mbps). Ready for global production standards, the camcorder is 60Hz and 50Hz switchable.

The AF101 maximises the potential of its high-resolution imager with built-in ND filtering and dramatically reduced video aliasing. Standard professional interfaces include HD-SDI out, HDMI, time code recording, built-in stereo microphone and USB 2.0. The AF101 features two XLR inputs with +48V Phantom Power capability, 48-kHz/16-bit two-channel digital audio recording and supports LPCM/Dolby-AC3.

This newest Panasonic AVCCAM camcorder is the first to enjoy the benefits of advanced SDXC media card compatibility in addition to existing SDHC card support. (SDXC is the newest SD memory card specification that supports memory capacities above 32GB up to 2TB). With two SD slots, the AF101 can record up to 12 hours on two 64GB SDXC cards in PH mode.

The AG-AF101 is now available with a three-year limited warranty (one year with an additional two extra years upon registration).