Panasonic Launches New 4K Camcorder

NEWARK, N.J.—Panasonic today announced the AG-CX350 4K handheld camcorder designed for use at sporting and other live events as well as in newsgathering and IP production.

The camcorder, optimized for 4K/HD production, leverages an integrated lens and supports 4K 10-bit 60p capture, HDR recording and supports RTMP/RTSP/RTP protocol for live streaming as well as NDI|HX-ready IP connections (license required) for live switching with a production switcher, including the Panasonic AV-HL100 Stream Studio.

Weighing 4.2 pounds (body only), the CX350 uses a 1.0-type MOS sensor with about 15.03 megapixels in UHD/FHD. The camera can capture UHD (384x2160), Full HD (1920x1080) and SD (720x480).

The CX350 supports 10-bit 4:2:2 color sampling with ALL-Intra (400Mb/s) and LongGOP (150Mb/s) recording formats, which can be recorded in UHD at up to 29.98/25p and Full HD up to 59.97/50p. The camera also offers a 10-bit HEVC codec supporting UHD up to 59.97/50p with bit rates of 220Mb/s. The 10-bit HEV can be natively decoded and played by computers with 7th Generation or later Intel Core i7 CPUs. All formats and compression rates can be recorded to SD cards.

The camera’s integrated lens offers a wide angle of 24.5mm at the wide-angle setting with minimal distortion. It comes with a 20x optical zoom lens (24.5mm to 490mm). Panasonic’s Intelligent Zoom function supporting 35x for HD and 24x for 4K is available. Five-axis hand-shake correction is employed for both HD and 4K shooting.

Supported gamma modes including HD, SD, Filmlike, 1/2/3 Film-Rec, Video-Rec and HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) for HDR capture. Variable Frame Rate recording ranging from 1fps to 60fps is available for spots shooters. Super Slow motion can be achieved at 120fps/100fps (59.94/50Hz).

The AG-CX350 will be available in late February with a suggested list price of $3,995.

More information is available on the Panasonic website.

Phil Kurz

Phil Kurz is a contributing editor to TV Tech. He has written about TV and video technology for more than 30 years and served as editor of three leading industry magazines. He earned a Bachelor of Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism.