http://www.weva.com/cgi-bin/newsreader.pl?op=render&type=i&storyid=1810

Anybody know anything about this cam, beyond this little blurb? Is it a dvc30 in a shoulder cam's body? If all bodes well, this may be my intro. to Panasonic camcorders. Very nice.

I beleive this is the link you meant to post. The other one goes to the DVC30 page.

http://www.weva.com/cgi-bin/newsreader.pl?op=render&type=i&storyid=1810

Indeed, yes, thanks. I changed my original post so it's immediately clear to others what I'm talking about.

"The AG-DVC60’s movie-like mode teams a cine-style gamma curve and 30-fps frame mode, which electronically interpolates interlaced images to create frames, producing images that are remarkably cinema-like. Its slow shutter function uses image accumulation to allow four shutter speeds with frame rates down to ¼ normal rate for higher sensitivity in color recording. The slow shutter can also be used to capture artistic motion effects. "

WTF does that mean? That it does not shoot true progessive 30p like the dvx? Does this thing have the gs400 chips in it?

Can I get a witness? *L*

Apparently the DVC60, which as I understand it, is a DVC30 in a different housing, does not shoot 30 progressive. It shoots in frame mode which is an interpolated 30P, the same as the DV953, GS100 and some Canon cams. It also has slow shutter speeds which will give better brightness but at the cost of motion blur.

:-)

Basically, it's saying two things, I think.

It does a simulated progressive scan 30p, which is NOT actual 30p, as on the DVX. I'm pretty sure it's the same thing as on the DVC30, a poor man's PS, with a slight loss in res, but still attractive on tv.

Then it points out that this cam has a range of shutterspeeds, 1/4-X, whatever X is.

I don't think it's got the GS400's chips, I think it has the DVC30's chips (hence the reference to it as the "counterpart" to the DVC30), but I don't know for sure.

I sure hope that's a FUNCTIONAL shouldermount body, and not baby's first ENG cam, like the xl1s. If it's not at all modular, I at least hope the VF is fairly high res, at least as high as the VFs on my Sonys (PD170, PDX10). And lastly, I hope that the lens handle on the side is where the zoom rocker is, for speedy, shouldermounted, handheld shooting. IF those three things are true, THEN I shall be ecstatic, or very nearly. My kind of cam, for that price, perhaps.

If impatience wins the day, I'll just have to call Panasonic, won't I?

Hee.

Methinks this is a gs400 in a better housing. Now, since the 30p is bogus, can we shoot the 16x9 in 60i or do we have to use "cinema mode" ? At least you could play with 60i in post.

Then lens looks nice.

"Like its popular mini-DV counterpart, the hand-held AG-DVC30..."

It's a DVC30 in a shouldermount body, more or less.

The specs indicate DVC30-like, not GS400.

Michael, it looks like this is just a spin-off of the DVC30 as others have mentioned. That means that the 16:9 mode will not be as impressive as the DV953, GS100, or GS400 with the low 410k pixel count per CCD.