Why I love the new HPX-170
If you’ve already seen it, you probably know the story. The HPX-170 is one of Panasonic’s new P2 offerings, shedding it’s MiniDV baggage while checking off wish list features HVX users have been compiling.
The 170 is a solid state system. This is huge for me. I’m so sick of tape it’s not even funny. The idea of stock piling hard drives is much more appealing than hoarding boxes of tapes. It’s also much more eco-friendly, right? Embracing a completely tapeless workflow feels like the best move to make right now. It’s really exciting to see Panasonic biting the bullet with a camera aimed at DVX and HVX users.
The camera is said to feature all kinds of neat bells and whistles including an LCD flip mode for people using 35mm adapters, several persistent focus assist modes, including a waveform monitor and vector-scope. The focus ring will also be swapable with the iris dial at the flip of a switch. So many great improvements. I can’t wait.
FreshDV has a great video interview with Jan Livingston of Panasonic about the HPX-170 and the HVX-200a. The rest of their NAB 2008 coverage is fantastic as well. Definitely check it out.
Panasonic’s own coverage of NAB is surprisingly good too. Their NAB page features short videos from vendors they’ve partnered with. Companies like RedRockMicro, VariZoom, Steadicam, Avid and so many more.
There’s an ongoing discussion over at DVX user.
Here are some more pictures of the camera.
Fresh DV has even more pictures and the official press release.