Panasonic Ships DVCPRO50 Camcorder

Panasonic is shipping its new dual-mode camcorder.

The 15-pound AJ-SDC905 is designed for NTSC-newsgathering and high-performance video production, offering IEEE -1394 input and output for 50 Mbps NLE. The camcorder features 4:2:2 sampled at native 16:9 wide-screen or 4:3 aspect ratios.

Its 12-bit A/D DSP circuits provide improved picture quality, color reproduction and a 65 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Other features include a pre-recording function that helps users catch spur-of-the-moment scenes and also a retake mode, which can be useful for shooting news events.

Its super gain function of 48 dB and digital super gain mode can be used when acquiring footage during night shoots. The DVCPRO50 has a maximum recording time of 33 minutes and the DVCPRO offers 66 minutes.