Further wildlife and nature test clips. The following clips were shot in 720 60p, and each shot was made with the Panasonic Ag-Ac 160, utilizing it's 22x optical telephoto lens in combination with it's 2x digital telephoto, for a 44x effective zoom. The clarity of the above combination astonished me.

There was no sharpening or correction in post.

A Few Hours in Paradise on Vimeo

David, Wow - looks beautiful... Oddly, it looks better in this forum's window (on my iMac) than Vimeo directly. First impressions die quickly when pulled out to full screen. (my rez?)

One thing my non-professional eye missed was a base reference. If it was all shot at 44X, who knows if it was actually better before, or this camera is sooooo good - 'there is no before'. Cheers.

Jim

... I'm going to go look up the camera.

Jim,

For me, the 2x digital zoom works best between the 1-20x range. Like most long lens, even on the A1, shooting the 160 at full extended zoom beyond 20x on the 22x lens, shows some loss. That's the case with or without the 2x digital assist. The 2x works great for close-ups too.

Anyway, with the quality or the 2x digital zoom on the 160, I see no reason for anyone to invest in a expensive tele-converter lens.

I would like to see some footage from the HD-SDI output. I haven't located any yet.

The downside of the Panasonic AG-AC 160? You will become very frustrated with the front lens cap. Cheap poorly designed plastic that is impossible to determine weather the cap is securely on or not. I don't know what they were thinking when designing it.

Over all, the 160 is a great replacement for the Canon A1, and it has much better low light performance.
Most of the year I am shooting in 35-50 degree temperatures which drains batteries fast, and a added benefit is that the 160 batteries last longer in cold temperature than the A1's did.