The new Panasonic Varicam LT was announced earlier yesterday at two events one in LA and one in Barcelona, Spain and our friends from Polish outfit FilmCyfrowy who were at the Barcelona launch event were kind enough to share some cool footage from the even with us. For those who are not caught up yet with the biggest news this week – the new Varicam LT is a single-piece, lightweight and more compact digital cinema camera, aimed at single shooters and handheld operation. The Varicam LT shares the same 4K Super 35 CMOS sensor as its bigger brother the Varicam 35 and many of the key functionality that sets the Varicam apart from the competition – namely the impressive dynamic range, organic feel with pleasing highlight rolloff, and insane low-light performance thanks to the unique Dual-Native ISO.
Panasonic Varicam LT from Film Cyfrowy on Vimeo.
Panasonic Varicam LT Features
- 4K Super35 CMOS Sensor (same as Varicam 35)
- Native Canon EF mount (PL mount option – user swappable)
- Built-in ND filters: 0.6/1.2/1.8
- User Removable IR Cut filter
- Single ExpressP2 card Slot for Main 4K/2K/HD recording
- SDXC Card slot for Proxy Long GOP recording
- Dual Native ISO – 800/5000
- Full HD 240fps Slow-Motion (Sensor crop)
- 4K/60p and Full HD ProRes 4444 & 422HQ
- Optional OLED viewfinder
- 3 x SDI Out (one for Viewfinder)
- Support for 3rd Party Viewfinders like Zacuto Gratical and BMD URSA Viewfinder
- 2 x XLR inputs
- 4 x Channel Audio 24bit/48kHz LPCM
- PreRec / Interval rec / One Shot Rec
- V-Gammut – exceeds BT.2020 HDR colour space
- V-Log
- V-Look and BC-Look Presets – similar to WideDR on Canon C300 (mix between V-Log and Rec.709 for faster turnaround)
- Weight: 2.7 kg / under 6 lbs.
RECORDING FORMATS and FRAME RATES
- 4K DCI (4096 x 2160) and UHD (3840 x 2160)
- AVC-Intra 4K422: up to 30p
- AVC-Intra 4K-LT: 30p to 60p
- 2K
- AVC-Intra 2K444: up to 30p
- AVC-Intra 2K422: up to 60p, up to 120p (cropped)
- AVC-Intra 2K-LT: 120p to 240p (cropped)
- Full HD
- AVC-Intra444: up to 30p
- AVC-Intra422: up to 60p, up to 120p (cropped)
- AVC-Intra100: 50i/59.94i
- AVC-IntraLT: 120p to 240p (cropped)
- ProRes 4444 up to 30p
- ProRes 422HQ up to 60p
Optional accessories include:
- Shoulder Mount (AU-VSHL2) $1,499 / £1,100 + VAT UK
- OLED Viewfinder (AU-VCVF10) $5,999 / £4,369 + VAT UK
- Side Hand Grip (AU-VGRP1) $1,249 / £910 + VAT UK
- PL Mount (AU-VMPL1) $1299 / £947 + VAT UK
Body and EVF Package pricing:
- Varicam LT Body – $18,000 USD / £13,110 + VAT UK
- Varicam LT EVF Pack – $24,000 USD / £17,570 + VAT UK
Looking at the pics above with the hand grip, The Side Grip setup is strikingly similar to the Sony FS7 and obviously targeting solo shooters and run and gun type scenarios, which coupled with that awesome sensor and insane low-light performance should yield some striking imagery.
The Varicam LT is scheduled to land sometime in March.
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