Panasonic has announced pricing and additional specs details for its new AU-EVA1 5.7K handheld cinema camera.
The camera was previewed this spring at Cine Gear Expo, the EVA1 will ship this autumn with a list price of €7,290 (£6,586).
Technical specifications now include a pixel count of 5720 H x 3016 V (17.25 million), confirmed dual native ISO ratings of 800 and 2,500, and 14-stops of dynamic range.
“The EVA1’s 5.7K Super-35 sensor has almost twice as many photosites as 4K,” said Luc Bara, Technical Product Manager for Panasonic. “That means the 4K videos recorded in the camera will be crystal clear with rich colour information. The EVA1 also inherits the unique dual native ISO sensor technology from our cinema VariCam line, allowing it to shoot in bright sunlight or night exteriors without compromising the image quality. And the 14 stops of dynamic range capture a huge scope of exposure detail.”
The newly-designed EVA1 sensor is Super-35 sized (24.60mm x 12.97mm) with 5.7K resolution. With an active resolution of 5720 x 3016, the EVA1 delivers more than 17.25 million photosites, nearly double the 8.8 million for 4K DCI (4096 x 2160). By starting at a higher native resolution, the 5.7K sensor yields a higher resolving image when down-sampled to 4K, UHD, 2K, or even 720p. Panasonic says the increased colour information results in a finer, more accurate finished image.
The EVA1 delivers 14-stops of dynamic range. It features full V-Log/V-Gamut capture for high dynamic range and broad colours. V- Log has log curve characteristics that is HDR ready and V-Gamut delivers a colour space that will cover BT.2020.
It weighs in at 1.2Kg (body-only) and has a “compact” form factor (17cm H x 13.5cm W x 13.3cm D) and a removable handgrip so as well as handheld shooting it can be mounted on a drone, gimbal rig or jib arm. Panasonic is also promising numerous mounting points and is working with accessory makers to allow further customisation.
The included adjustable handgrip offers several controls, including Menu, REC start/stop, Iris and Two User Buttons. The LCD screen is a 3.5” touch panel for menu selections, expand (image zoom) positioning and playback controls. The LCD has an adjustable backlight control, including a Power LCD mode for bright viewing conditions.
For lensing, the camera uses a native EF-mount. Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS) within the camera will counterbalance camera shake and blurring. There will also be full Iris Control, One- Push Auto Focus, and Lens Data.
Behind the lens mount, an integrated ND filter wheel in 2, 4, and 6 stops allows for precise exposure control. The EVA1 also allows the IR Cut to be swung out of the path to the sensor at the push of a button.
The ND filter and IR Cut filter operate electronically, allowing wireless remote control from smartphones and tablets. EVA1 will have a remote control app for a tablet (iOS, Android) that enables users to control an EVA1 when the camera is on a camera crane, or remote location.
The EVA1 records to SD cards. With two SD card slots, shooters can capture footage either with simul rec (simultaneous dual record) or relay rec (continuous record). There’s also one shot record, which enables single frame video for stop motion capture.
The camera can record in several formats and compression rates, and offers up to 10-bit 4:2:2 even in 4K. For in camera recording, you can capture in 4K (4096 x 2160), UHD (3840 x 2160), 2K (2048 x 1080), Full HD (1920 x 1080), and HD (1280 x 720). In a future firmware upgrade, EVA1 will offer ALL Intra compression for in camera recording and 5.7K RAW output to third party recorders.
For high-speed capture, the EVA1 offers up to 59.94fps/50fps for 4K/UHD, up to 120fps/100fps for 2K/Full HD, or 240fps/200fps (cropped area).
On first release, available bit rates will range from 8Mbps up to 150Mbps, depending on frame rate, resolution, and codec. In a future firmware update, 400Mbps recording will be added.
EVA1 contains several professional imaging tools, including peaking, expand (Image Zoom), waveform, zebras, and spotmeter (Y-Get). EVA1 also uses focus squares, an array of green squares that grow in size when their local area appears to be sharp, to enable shooters to achieve critical focus.
EVA1 offers dual balanced XLR audio inputs with Dolby AudioTM encoding. The HDMI and SDI video outputs are both 4K-capable and each can be adjusted separately, allowing HD to be fed to a viewfinder or other third party monitor while 4K is sent to an outboard recorder or monitor. The camera is also equipped with standard TimeCode functionality.
Jon Creamer
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