Panasonic HDC-Z10000: look at both!

Just a month ago, at the Berlin IFA, Panasonic announced a truly unique 3D video camera. If you ever had to hold professional filming equipment in your hands, it would be easy to imagine the thrill of working with the Z10000. If not, here is a simple example: it differs from an amateur camcorder in much the same way as a budget compact car from a limousine.

What is what?

The main feature of the Z10000 is that it is the world's first 3D video camera with integrated optics that can shoot videos in the most advanced 1080 / 50p format today. The new standard differs from the generally accepted Full HD-mode 1080 / 25i in that here every second not 25 halves of the image containing even or odd lines are recorded in the memory, but fifty honest full frames. By the way, this is precisely the kind of cinema technology upgrade that James Cameron had in mind when he urged the studio to switch to a more advanced video filming and distribution system.



Jumping from an interlaced picture to a progressive one and doubling the frame rate, you can get a noticeable increase in the clarity and smoothness of motion transmission, which is especially important for owners of large TVs.

However, the Z10000 is not designed to shoot a big movie: after all, this is not a monster from the shooting pavilion, but, as they say, a prosumer camera addressed to journalists, videographers, that is, independent creative personalities, and of course, especially stubborn lovers - everyone, Who needs a high-quality 3D or ordinary picture for relatively little money.

How it works?

Those who are close to the camera theme remember that at last year’s IFA, Panasonic introduced the first amateur-class 3D camcorder - the HDC-SDT750 - in fact, an ordinary camera with one lens and one image sensor (more precisely, one 3MOS optical unit, each matrix of which captures one of the RGB color components). Two pictures on the same matrix arose thanks to a special stereoscopic nozzle screwed directly onto the lens.



So, despite the external resemblance to the above system, the dual optics of the HDC-Z10000 works on a completely different principle. Here we are dealing with two full-fledged lenses, each of which has a separate three-matrix module, so in total six matrices are installed in the camera! Moreover, Panasonic developers equipped each lens with a very good optical stabilization system.



Even with a fully extended zoom (i.e., with a focal length of 320 mm in 35 mm equivalent), operators with strong hands can actually shoot on the Z10000 without a tripod.

The meaning of using two independent optical paths is obvious: in this case, the frames for the left and right eyes do not have to share either the resolution of the optics or the area of ​​the MOS sensors with each other, however, the designers had such a difficult split. The fact is that in order to create a truly high-quality surround effect, both optoelectronic paths must be identical and work completely synchronously. And if the color rendering of the matrices can still be adjusted electronically, the lens mechanics should function with the accuracy of a Swiss watch: when zooming or focusing one lens should shift a little more than the neighboring one, and a three-dimensional picture will simply crumble in front of amazed viewers.

How do they work with it?

If you take the “ten thousandth” into your hands, you understand why the camera developers deprived ordinary lovers of home-made cinema in the struggle for miniature, simplicity (not to say primitive) settings and affordable cost.

The device is healthy, heavy, and therefore to remove it is a pleasure. The right palm rests comfortably on a huge servo lens. Responsible for zooming is not the slider, which is impossible to hit with a finger, but massive "swings" that allow you to smoothly and accurately control the lens. An optically encircled manual focus ring surrounds optics, another typical attribute of a professional system.



On the 3.5-inch screen, you can view the scene in full detail, and if shooting is in 3D, then in volume. True, the three-dimensional image on the monitor is not visible at any angle - it has to be caught, as it were. When shooting on a sunny day, you can use the viewfinder - the monitor in this case is hidden in a special niche inside the handle.

The sound path deserves special mention. If desired, any microphone with a professional XLR connector can be mounted on the handle, and a mixer with the ability to manually adjust the signal level turns the camera into a high-quality field recorder.



Image adjustments and auxiliary functions provided for mass. Having completely configured the camera for yourself, the state of the “regulators” can be saved in one of three memory cells, so that later you can call up all the settings with the click of a button.

Summary

Watching the footage was difficult in the sense that attention was constantly focused not on the technical characteristics of the picture, but on the imperfection of their own camera workmanship.

The high frame rate of the recording, combined with the excellent characteristics of the optics and proprietary three-matrix modules, makes a strong impression. Another thing is that you need to be aware that the equipment of this class requires a serious approach to the skills of the operator.

The regime of intelligent automation here, of course, is also provided, but is it worth laying out five thousand dollars to drive yourself into the framework of standard story programs? The mass and serious sizes, striving for two kilograms, also leave their mark on the shooting style, and the attribute for such a camera is almost an obligatory attribute.

In short, the Z10000 is "not a movie for everyone." However, for those whose capabilities and operator ambitions extend even a little further than plots such as “how I sunbathed on the beach”, I advise you to take a closer look at this device. With its capabilities and picture quality, the price is 150,000 rubles. certainly not overpriced.