Panasonic announces entry-level palm camcorder

Panasonic has announced a new palm camcorder to replace the popular AG-AC90. The AG-AC30 is a 1-chip, full-HD camcorder, designed and built in Japan, which brings in a number of useful tools and features to help deliver professional-looking pictures in different environments.

The camcorder offers a newly-designed lens capable of a wide focal range (20x zoom and 29.5mm wide angle), three manual rings for focus, iris, and zoom and two-channel XLR audio inputs. The camera is one of the lightest in its class, weighing 1.5kg, and includes an integrated LED video light, capable of 300lx at one metre, that supports shooting in dim light, such as night time wedding parties and run-and-gun interviews.

The camera has a new 1/3.1-type backside illumination (BSI) sensor, which is larger than the sensor on the current model. It is equipped with an illuminating LED ‘tally’ ring, to clearly show when the camcorder is recording, whilst a five-axis hybrid optical image stabiliser (OIS) corrects blurring in virtually all types of shooting, greatly improving stability whilst shooting on the move.

A new Level Shot feature automatically detects and corrects the tilting of captured images and complements the OIS for professional looking pictures. A dual recording functionality can ensure safe, secure, simultaneous recording so the user has instant failsafe back-up.