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Panasonic HC-X1000 review: Superlative for HD downscaled from 4K

1 minute read

Philip JohnsonPhilip Johnson with HC-X1000

The Panasonic HC-X1000 is a great 4K camera but the shooting in 4K and downsampling to HD leads to stunning results!

By Philip Johnson

My first taste of 3840 x 2160 (16:9) 4K was with my Panasonic GH4, but limited to 25p. For me, the interesting side to the HC-X1000 was its ability to shoot 4K at 50p and onto SDXC cards.

 

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Speaking to Holdan, the UK distributor for Panasonic, I discovered that the HC-X1000 was 8bit 4:2:0: not a figure that set the heather alight; in fact at 8bits I was not expecting much from this camera.

But magic begins with 4K 50p at 150MB/s and when you downscale to HD. You can record 52 mins onto SDXC class 10 speed 3 cards. Only at this setting does the camera start to produce stunning picture: pictures  the like of which I have not seen before on my HD timeline unless I have spent £10K upwards.

 

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There have been gripes on the internet about the X1000's low light capability, so I decided to test this for myself with one major difference: I would film in 4K 50p, as I had a hunch about the 4K to HD conversion. And I was right…

 

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 You can take this camera up to 10dB’s in 4K and by the time the 4K footage is downscaled to HD the grain has also been compressed. This is genius!

 

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As you will see from the video review mainly filmed in 4K this semi pro camera is outshining HD cameras 2-3x its price and with a 20x optical zoom, XLR audio, simultaneous recording onto SDCX cards and a bunch of professional features under the hood it's fantastic value for money as long as you stick to the magic formula: film in 4K 50p and edit on a 422 10bit timeline.

 

 

Thanks to Philip Johnson of HD Warrior for writing this piece for us

Tags: Production

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