Panasonic AF100 Micro Four Thirds video camera ships today, right on schedule

As you probably know, we're big fans of DSLR video around here at Engadget. From shooting product demos, to producing the Engadget Show, if we shot the video, it was likely done with one of these single-lens cameras: they're convenient and capable of beautiful moving images but often leave much to be desired by way of form factor when it comes to video. While Canon and Nikon are slapping on articulating LCDs and calling it a day, Panasonic has upped the ante with its new AG-AF100 camera. Teased way back in April, Panny just dropped a press release announcing that its newest piece of video hardware is now being delivered, making a nice late holiday gift for any wannabe filmmakers that you really, really like.

Basically, the AF100 is what happens when you stuff the innards of a DLSR into the body of a video camera and slap some interchangeable lenses in front of it. Listing at $4,995, the AF100 rocks a Micro Four Thirds sensor that records to dual SD cards in AVCHD and outputs 8-bit uncompressed 4:2:2 video to an external recorder via an HD-SDI connection. It also attempts to solve the audio issues plaguing DSLR video shooting (namely, the difficulty of getting pro-level audio to play nice with a camera designed only for imaging) with its two phantom-powered XLR audio inputs and built-in stereo microphone. Panasonic is also claiming to have lessened aliasing and the dreaded "jellycam" found in DSLR video with an optical low pass filter and faster scanning, while still boasting the wide viewing angle and shallow depth of field that movie-makers (and Vimeo users) know and love to death.

We'll be doing a full review of the AF100 as soon as we can get our hands on it; in the meantime, head on past the break for the full PR.

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Panasonic AF100 Micro Four Thirds video camera ships today, right on schedule originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 19:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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