Panasonic AU-EVA1 5.7K Super 35 Handheld Cinema Camera
Following a mysterious teaser announcement at NAB earlier this spring, Panasonic took the stage at the Cinegear Expo in early June to officially announce the broad strokes of their new AU-EVA1 Compact Cinema Camera. Over the past few years Panasonic has made a serious comeback into the digital cinema space with the introduction of the Varicam line of cameras, which have been widely embraced in the documentary, commercial and television worlds.
See our review of the Panasonic Varicam LT Digital Cinema Camera here.
While Panasonic isn’t utilizing the Varicam branding on this camera, it’s not difficult to imagine the EVA1 as a smaller, more portable version of the Varicam LT. On paper this camera is a monster. Boasting a Super 35mm sensor that captures at a 5.7K resolution, the camera oversamples that footage down to 4K at up to 60fps or HD up to 240fps. Panasonic promises that the entire 5.7K image will be recordable to third-party external recorders moving into 2018. The EVA1 features a robust 10-bit 4:2:2 sampling rate a 400Mbps bit depth for high quality imagery that retains flexibility in post.
Another feature on the EVA1 that users of the Varicam will be familiar with is the camera’s Dual Native ISO technology. Briefly stated, with Dual Native ISO Panasonic has found a way to engineer a sensor with two distinct settings for capturing the cleanest footage possible in both bright and darkly lit environments. The results on the Varicam are extremely impressive, and if the technology is as well implemented on the EVA1 it should be a major selling point for the camera.
The camera includes built in -2, -4 and -6 ND filters, dual XLR audio inputs, and V-Log and V-Gamma profiles for HDR workflows. The design team behind the EVA1 has also chosen to utilize an EF lens mount, which telegraphs the type of end user Panasonic is aiming for with this this camera.
EVA1 Initial Reaction
Again, when you look at the specs announced so far it’s difficult to not see the EVA1 as a mini version of the Varicam LT. The idea of that kind of power inside of a run-and-gun form factor is more than a little enticing. Also, based on the information available, we also love the signal flow of a custom 5.7K sensor oversampling into 4K, captured at some very decent bit rates, recorded into high frame rates. We hope to know more when we get a review sample later this year.
Remembering that there’s still a lot left to learn about the EVA1 before it’s release later this fall, there are some questions we’d love to know more about between now and then. One area we’d need to know more about is what sort of AF system this camera will be implementing. The fact that Panasonic is going with an EF mount may set the stage for something new and exciting on that front. We’d also love to know how the dynamic range of the sensor, which will matter if the camera is designed to record to V-Log and V-Gamut.
On the surface, our only real disappointment with the EVA1 is the exclusion of an incorporated viewfinder. While Panasonic may be aiming to include some type of lens hood solution similar to what Sony’s done with the FS7, it’s still an inferior arrangement to a built in OLED viewfinder that can be engaged at a moments notice. Certainly not a deal breaker, but it’s still something of an oversight.
In Conclusion
Of course, there’s a lot more to any camera than just the spec list. As always, this is just a First Impression article, and while we’ll be excited to hopefully provide a full review of the Panasonic AU-EVA1 5.7K Super 35 Handheld Cinema Camera in the future, it’s important to actually get your hands on a camera and your eyes on the actual footage it captures before making any purchasing decisions.
For now, it’s hard not to get excited about the creative possibilities the camera could create for church film teams needing near-future-proof solutions for creating media that brings the Kingdom and changes the world.
