Pro Moviemaker October 2022 - Web

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USED FOCUS – PANASONIC EVA1

The Panasonic EVA1 doesn’t house the latest technology, record Raw internally or feature continuous autofocus. But it’s great at what matters most: quality footage. That Super 35 sensor and 10-bit 4:2:2 codec may not provide the ultimate control of shooting Raw, but it does offer clean, bright, sharp and colourful footage, with loads of headroom to make it easy to grade. There is very little rolling shutter – certainly nothing extreme enough to worry about. And it records internally to affordable SD cards. There’s a lot to love about the EVA1. Dual-native ISO works well, but it’s not the prince of darkness many hoped it would be. Keep ISO to under 5000 and it’s very usable. The LCD screen is not great and build quality is only acceptable for a camera of this price. There are lots of threaded holes for you to fasten on rigs and accessories, though. With no dedicated lenses of its own, there are no zoom rocker switches or super-advanced image stabilisation features that match lens with body technology. But any stabilisation on a cinema camera, especially one that works with all lenses, is a bonus. But autofocus is very disappointing, and not especially workable. Think of the EVA1 as a manual focus camera, with a really nice focus confirmation system. Controls are reasonably easy to work out, but you may need to dig into menus more often than you would like. No fast- and slow- motion switches, or dedicated shutter speed button, and mildly confusing custom white-balance settings mean you will get to know these menus all too well. Against similarly priced rivals, the Canon Cinema EOS Super 35 series aces it in terms of autofocus – and the Canon C200 and Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro G2 outgun it with internal Raw recording. The Sony FX6 is full-frame with no sensor crop and features incredible AF, but is more expensive and virtually impossible to get, new or used. The Panasonic EVA1 has robust codecs and great image quality, as well as a compact body and Canon EF mount. It could be a fine choice. SHOULD YOU BUY AN EVA1?

Gory details The EVA1 has a 24.6x12.97mm sensor with 5.7K resolution. At 1.2kg/2.65lb body only, it’s also lighter than rival models. It’s HDR- ready with Rec. 2020 colour space, has 14 stops of dynamic range, full V-Log/V-Gamut capture and dual- native ISO. A dual-circuit system means a low native ISO of 800 for bright conditions – and second native ISO of 2500 for low light. Up to 10-bit 4:2:2 in 4K is recorded to twin SD cards. And a firmware update added 4:2:2 10-bit All-Intra for in-camera recording and 5.7K Raw output to third- party recorders, plus a leap from a maximum bit rate of 150Mbps to 400Mbps. If you wish to use the latter, you’ll also need to upgrade to V60-class SDXC cards. So, there’s no internal Raw like on Red, Canon and Blackmagic cameras, but that’s not usually a huge issue. The camera can record slow motion up to 59.94/50fps for 4K/ UHD, 120/100fps for 2K/Full HD, or 240/200fps from a cropped area of the sensor. Its body has a detachable, rotatable handgrip with menu, rec start/stop, iris and two user- programmable buttons. The iris wheel is tricky to feel at first, but you will soon get used to it. Overall, build quality is decent – similar to Canon and Sony cinema cameras. But there are no zoom rocker switches at all, or extra rec start/ stop buttons on the handle. Unlike the rival Sony FS5 or some Canons, there is no viewfinder.

The only option is to use the 3.5in LCD touch panel for viewing and navigating menus. A supplied hood does a good job of cutting down glare from this reflective screen, but that makes it fiddly to get your hands to the touchscreen. You can always use the selector wheel on the left side of the body. Its display doesn’t include touch- to-focus and the readings are small, too. Push the info button to bring up all the major parameters and check settings. It offers peaking, expand image zoom, waveforms, zebras and a spot meter. An external monitor or recorder/ monitor is a handy addition, as the EVA1 has 4K HDMI and SDI outputs. These can be adjusted separately, so you can feed one signal to a monitor and a second to a recorder. A lack of viewfinder and EVF position means the camera isn’t suitable for on-the-shoulder use, unless you invest in a rig. Something like a Zacuto Gratical EVF turns it into a decent ENG camera. You will also need some way of relocating the handgrip, which employs Panasonic’s own rosette system, rather than the more common Arri standard.

SCREEN TIME With no EVF, using the EVA1 on the shoulder is not the best experience. It’s better to rig up with an aftermarket viewfinder

IN THE SHADE The LCD monitor does come with fold-out sun hood, which works great for reducing glare (right)

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