Panasonic Makes the HPX300 a Studio Camera
Following up on a promise made when it announced the $10,700 AG-HPX300 P2 camcorder in February of this year, Panasonic last week revealed details of its new Camcorder Studio System, which is slated to ship in October in several configurations that make the HPX300 and other P2 HD and DVCPRO HD camcorders studio-ready, starting at $9,900. The basic configuration, the 300Studio package, includes the AG-CA300G camera adapter, the AG-BS300 base station, and the AG-EC4G remote control. The upgraded 300StudioPlus package ($12,080) includes a better remote control, the AJ-RC10. The P2 Studio package ($10,898) includes a viewfinder interface box to display return video in the viewfinder. The P2 Studio Plus upgraded to the advanced AJ-RC10 remote is $13,078.
The base station connects to the camera adapter via BNC cables and power cable (supplying up to 70w of power), and has two HD-SDI/SDI and one composite video output. Cables are available in lengths of 164 feet and 328 feet. The lightweight camera adapter mounts directly on the back of the camera and is compatible with an optional battery plate for users who need on-board power. The AG-EC4G control unit comes with a 32-foot control cable (and will work with a longer, 164-foot cable). Panasonic says its functions include: gain up/down, output camera/bar selection (linked to auto knee), white balance A/B/Preset selection, AWB/ABB execution, shutter SS/Fix/Off selection and speed setting, iris auto/manual selection and adjustment, master pedestal, painting, camera menu operation, recorder operation (Rec/Play/FF/Rew/Rec check) and three programmable user buttons. Camera settings can be saved to SD cards and loaded on other cameras. Source
