[Stephen Crye]

Thanks;

I appreciate the tips, but not sure if they would work for me. I’ve been burned using “peaking” before. (I’m simplifying here but you know what I mean). And the problem with “zoom in to focus and back off” won’t work while you are rolling, only before you start, and then ONLY if the lens is parfocal or close – any back-focus problems will bite you.

That reminds me – every notice any back-focus problems with the AC160?

Last night, as I was on UPS watching the slow ground progress of my AC160, I had another worry. One thing many people complained about with the AC160 is the lack of magnification on the viewfinder eyepiece. What if the new AC160A has fixed that? In that case, I will be burned by buying the AC160 and paying the $300.00 for the TurboFocus upgrade.

Also fretting about the possibility that the AC160A might someday be eligible for some kind of an upgrade that just won’t work on the original AC160, even after the $300 TurboFocus hardware upgrade.

If Only I Had a Crystal Ball and could predict the B&H discount on the AC160 once it is available!

Oh, well.

Here’s a link to the new Brochure for the AC160A:
https://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/sales_o/broch_pdf/ag-ac160a.pdf

Steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e (and 11) x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V

[Stephen Crye]

Panny Pro support just replied, the answer was a little terse:

“This upgrade will be available end of may. Keep watching our website.
https://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/index.html ”

Seems like a long, long way away! I might have to return my AC160 before then and re-buy one later (perhaps an AC160A), end of May will be outside the B&H return window for this purchase. Can’t risk any problems, if the upgrade has side effects, etc.

Nervous,

Steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e (and 11) x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V

[Stephen Crye]

I ordered an AC160 yesterday from B&H – they had a good price.

I too do a lot of stage videography. I have feeling I will need the $300.00 focus upgrade. Also worried about noise in low light; I’m spoiled by my little Sony CX550V which is very clean all the way up to 18dB of gain. Will let everyone know my test results. Cam won’t be here until next week.

Steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e (and 11) x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V

[Stephen Crye]

I ordered an AC160 (not the 160A) yesterday. B&H had a lower price that 2 weeks ago and I decided to go for it.

I’m leaning toward getting the $300.00 upgrade, but I’ll have to see how the focus is. I really, really hate not having expanded focus.

So … what is your focus secret?

BTW I called Panny pro support and they saw the press release but still have no idea when the AVCHD 2.0 firmware will be out! Kind of disturbing. The engineer promised to send me an email, will post an update here when I know more. This upgrade is critical for me, I won’t buy any AVCHD 1.0 cam for any reason.

Steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e (and 11) x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V

[Stephen Crye]

HI;

Yesterday Panny announced some very interesting new features for the AC160:
https://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=673003&modelNo=Content04022012052757482&surfModel=Content04022012052757482

From the above press release:

LAS VEGAS, NV (April 15, 2012) — Panasonic has announced the AG-AC160A and AG-AC130A, upgraded versions of its newest professional AVCCAM HD camcorders. Improved functionality in both camcorders includes expanded focus assist and “turbo speed” one-push auto focus function; the AC160A also incorporates acquisition in the 1080/60p and 1080/50p HD recording formats (in new PS mode).

In addition to conventional focus-in-red assist, the expanded focus assist enables the AC160A and AC130A to zoom in on the picture to check focus. The turbo-speed one-push auto focus capability ensures that the camcorders quickly attain focus. The addition of 1080/60p and 50p recording (maximum 28Mbps in PS mode) to the AC160A is of especial value to worldwide customers in broadcasting, sports and scientific analysis, where this mastering-quality format is rapidly proliferating.

The AG-AC160A and AG-AC130A will be available in May at suggested list prices of $5,095.00 and $4,195.00, respectively. Current AC160 and AC130 owners can purchase this suite of upgrades for $300.

The 60p/50p upgrade is free and can be performed by the customer. The turbo-speed one-push auto focus and expanded focus assist upgrades require a hardware change and this need to be done at a Panasonic Authorized Service Center.

The AC160A and AC130A incorporate high-sensitivity 1/3”, full-HD 2.2 megapixel 3-MOS imagers to capture native 1920 x 1080 resolution images, with a new, wider 22X HD zoom lens, the longest in its category. Key features include two SD Memory Card slots for relay or simultaneous recording, compatibility with Panasonic’s new SDHC full Class 10 UHS-1 (Ultra High Speed) Memory Cards, an enhanced viewfinder and LCD display, and DV recording. The higher-end AC160A also includes such top production features as variable frame rate recording in 1080p, Linear PCM audio, HD-SDI output, and switchability between 59.94Hz/50Hz.

I really don’t want to wait until May, now debating if I ought to just get the AC160 now and pay for the Turbo Focus upgrade.

Steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e (and 11) x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V

[Stephen Crye]

Here is the link to the live stream for the Panny press conference later today at NAB:
https://www.ustream.tv/panasonic

Steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e (and 11) x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V

[Stephen Crye]

Thanks, Guy.

I hope you don’t mind some follow-up. Trust me, I want to believe you! I’m itching to place the order.

Let’s accept your sodium-vapor hypothesis. Can you explain why the reddish bloom is only on the top of the overexposed lights? Also, I see the same pattern of “red on top” even with overexposed items that are not lights, and the same “red on top” in out-of-focus images, such as in this video at about the 10 second mark. (Also notice the yellow on the bottom of the bokeh).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwZZoxaOFCU

And, in this vid, I see the red-on-top in the out-of-focus overexposed shots of the full moon – reflected sunlight from the moon is pretty much the definition of pure white light:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm2tWm6_x6I

I’ve also seen the same re-on-top problem in shots of leaf gap bokeh with sky behind the leaves, but I can’t find that video right now.

But, on other videos, the bokeh looks perfectly color-symmetric, as in this vid at ~ 35 seconds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke09P_Hrzo4

And in this post, “iSi” includes a screen shot of the same reddish CA on top of the little ornamental architectural object. Now, please understand that this example shows a very minor amount of fringe; what worries me is that it is the same color as what I am seeing in the night lights shots:
https://www.isi-asia.net/download/A-resort-in-Pattaya-ca.jpg

I have read (and want to believe) that the AC160 has Chromatic Aberration Compensation (CAC) built in. Adam Wilt of ProvideoCoalition claims that it only works on lateral CA.

While I have your attention, any other observations you have about the AC160 would be great – things you like, things that bug you. I’ve heard complaints about the auto-focus, the lack of expanded focus and being forced to rely on Peaking, and the lack of magnification in the EVF eyepiece.

Thanks!

Steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e (and 11) x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V

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[Stephen Crye]

Thanks Dave! (sorry it took me so long to reply).

It is good to know that this will work. BUT … very very annoying that no other manufactureres but Sony take the time to write apps like Sony PMB that do this for us! It is also very annoying that we have to resort to going to forums and benefiting from experts to figure this out. Without your tips, if I were to buy the AC260, I’m sure I would have tried to just drop the multiple clips right into Vegas, and would have suffered the glitches from the files not being split at GoP boundaries!

I’ve tried to get Sony PMB to read files created from non-Sony cams, but it balks. If Panny won’t help us and write a utility, I wonder if anyone could hack PMB?

Oh well,

Steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e (and 11) x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V

[Stephen Crye]

Hi;

Several sources including Adam Wilt at Provideocoalition say that the 1.11 update is not the AVCHD 2.0 update that will enable full 1080 50/60p at ~ 28 Mbps. (check out the comments on his Jan 2012 review of the AC160 and HPX250)

Look for an announcement from Panasonic rep Jan Crittenden at NAB 2012 on Sunday, April 15. Hopefully she will be announcing the actual availability of the update, not just another Tease!

I’m speculating that the unit you demo’d was a brand-new one that had the firmware installed.

Steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e (and 11) x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V

[Stephen Crye]

@ Dave who wrote: “This is what my Panasonic AVC cameras do, as previously mentioned here. So I physically merge the files into one large >4GB file, which will work when the camera’s breaking the stream, but not if it’s fully closing one stream and opening another at the break. ”

Thanks for this insight, it will probably be very valuable as I am now seriously considering an AG-AC160. I did NOT know that Panny is splitting the GoP boundaries – that kind of bugs me.

When you say “merge”, do you mean use XCOPY or something else to concatenate the files? With Win7 x64 NTFS, will I be able to concatenate (for example) 10 raw 2GB files into a single 20GB file? More details, please!

Thanks again,

Steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e (and 11) x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V