Panasonic HC-X920 review

[Adrian Lepki]

Is there a webpage with TM900, X900 and X920 specs for quick comparison of those cameras?

[Paulo Teixeira]

Perhaps I must have somehow skipped this particular info while reading the specs but can anyone show me where it talks about the 24p mode? I just want to know if it's still within a 60i stream or is it finally native 24p from the very beginning?


With the way Panasonic is mentioning the specs for the X920, it makes it a bit confusing to people. "1/2.3" BSI MOS Sensor x 3" "38.28 megapixels (12.76 megapixels x 3 )" I mean for your average person, that means each chip is 1/2.3" when I really don't think that's accurate. Panasonic needs to be more clear with the specs.

[Tom Roper]

I think it is probably a single 1/2.3 inch chip, 12.76 mp, oriented vertically, divided into thirds top to bottom by the prism, and an effective 16:9 aspect ratio. If so, the math works out for 2 micron spacing of the photo sites. (Or the information is just flat out wrong.) The AC90 with (3) 1/4.7 inch chips and the same lens focal length works out to 2.2 micron spacing of the photo sites.

[Walt Stagner]

So, this means that the ac90 and x900 will provide similar pic quality but the ac90 has a lot more features?

[Phil Lee]

Hi

It is odd as Panasonic haven't produced their own BSI sensors yet, they prefer another technology.

The V700 has a single 2.33" sensor so perhaps moving to 1/2.3" on the top models shouldn't be a surprise., I'm not sure how Panasonic could use a single 1/2.3" sensor and split the image into 3 across that same sensor and claim 3 MOS. I know their marketing spin is prone to over exaggeration but surely claiming 3 MOS when you just have a single MOS with an image split into 3 across the same sensor is too much of an untruth for even the most enthusiastic marketing department? Also this would barely be an improvement over typical single sensor camcorders.

Hopefully reviews will show this camcorder to be much better in the sensitivity and picture quality than their last two models which have really not been much different from each other in the picture quality/noise area.

Still it would have been nice to have the better images captured with less compression, however for that would have needed some serious R&D into improving the rather hot LSI I'm guessing. I doubt this LSI will change now in Panasonic HD camcorders as R&D will be going into 4K.

Regards

Phil

[Glen Vandermolen]

The B&H listing says the X920 has three 1/2" 3MOS sensors with BSI.

[Paulo Teixeira]

Here's more info on the chips:
3MOS System Pro | HD Camcorder | Panasonic Global

[NEW] Panasonic Camcorder HC-X920 Introduction & Shooting Sample Video - YouTube

Still sounds like 3 individual chips.

[Tom Roper]

I agree, pretty clear it is 3 individual chips. Nice video too.

[Paulo Teixeira]

"If" it really is that size than a much smaller portion of the chips are being used for video. That post that I linked to a while back mentioned that Panasonic could have been doing the same thing to the AC90 by saying 1/2.3" but was only revealing the size of the video portion in their description while for the X920, they are revealing the total size of the chip. That can be misleading to people just looking at the total size. Basically the size of the video portion of the chips that are in the X900, AC90 and the X9200 are probably all about the same because of the lens specs.

The post was last month and it's starting to sound more credible now that Panasonic is using the 1/2.3 specs for the X920.

[Tom Roper]

Yes I mentioned the chip could be underutilized but there is another possibility. It's been assumed the lens is the same as the ac90 because they share the same focal length, diameter and f/stop, but they could differ in the magnification at the (rear) element, in order to paint the entire 1/2.3" chip area with light. If so, the expected advantage of more surface area being covered by light is negated by the stretching of the exit pupil image, yet the expected disadvantage to small photo sites is offset by the fact that there are more of them being painted with light. In the end, it's the lens diameter that is responsible for collecting light and has the most impact on sensitivity.

Also fair to speculate Panasonic have used a 4k sensor, and the x920 is a transitional camera. Panasonic makes reference to 4k2k technology which could be construed to be the 1/2 pixel shift of the green sensor, or the inclusion of the 4k sensor.

[Paulo Teixeira]

Here's a 4K version of the AC90.

CES 2013: Panasonic Shows 4K Prosumer Camcoder Camera Prototype with Largest 4K OLED Display - YouTube

It could be using the same kind of chips as the AC90 and X920.


Here's another piece of info that you might be able to crack.

This is also in the X920 specs.
Motion Image 8.49 megapixels (2.83 megapixels x 3) [16:9]


I wonder if someone from Panasonic will ever be willing to comment.

[Tom Roper]

Paul, I think you found the smoking gun, 3 x 2.83 mp effective pixels. Then together with the Crystal Pro II engine processing 4k through pixel shift, can only mean that a small portion of the 1/2.3" chip is used, approx equal to the area of the ac90 chips, 2.0 micron spacing for the X920, 2.2 micron spacing for the AC90.

[Pat Reddy]

The sample video does look very nice. I wonder if there is an improvement in dynamic range over the TM700 and TM900.

[Glen Vandermolen]

Whoa, a 4K consumer prototype from Panasonic? That makes Panny, Sony and JVC.

Who still thinks 4K won't be the norm in the near future? I'll bet it's coming a lot faster than most think.

[Tom Roper]

Post deleted by author.