Taking the HD Plunge

I love shooting video. I’ve been doing it semi-professionally since I bought my first camera in the 9th grade. My first camera was a Canon GL-1, which was a great starter camera. Three years ago I sold my GL-1 and upgraded to the rock-solid Panasonic DVX100B which I have enjoyed immensely, and I still use it today. At the time, going HD was too expensive and I didn’t have the hardware (or the knowledge) to even think about using HD as a standard format for my video projects. It’s funny how much things change in three year’s time. Meet my new camera:

Panasonic’s AG-HMC150 AVCHD Camcorder

Ordered it today. The new Panasonic AG-HMC150. While I was home last weekend I picked up the latest issue of Videomaker magazine and I was stunned to see this camera on the cover. I hadn’t been following any of the new camera releases at NAB this year, so I was unaware that Panasonic had unleashed this beast.

Breaking down barriers…

One of the main obstacles that kept me from going High Definition in the past was the cost of entry. And this camera blows that barrier to kingdom come. The HMC150 is priced just right at $3,495 an absolute steal for what it can do. Panasonic’s premier HD camera, the AG-HVX200, costs $5,600 for the camera body alone, then tack on the subsequent amounts of $800 or more for the much loathed proprietary P2 cards that the HVX shoots on. These P2 cards are basically big flash drives that are available in increments of 8GB, 16GB, etc. that mount onto the back of the camera and allow you to shoot in an all-digital tapeless format.

I knew P2 cards would be a pain, but then comes along the HMC150. The HMC150 doesn’t use tapes or P2 cards. It shoots directly onto readily available and highly affordable High Capacity SD cards. Yes, those SD cards. You probably have a few lying around already.

Making HD accessible…

The AVCHD format can hold up to 3 hours of full quality 1080p video on a 32GB card. If I buy just a handful of 16GB or 32GB SD cards, I’ll have hours and hours of available space to work with and I won’t have juggle around dozens of tapes. Backing up the footage is easy, and when all is said and done you format the cards and move on to the next project.

This camera is a game changer for sure. When mine comes in at the end of the week I plan to do lots of test shoots and I’ll post them here.