Earlier in February, Panasonic unveiled their latest addition to the Varicam family – the more compact, “one-piece”, and lightweight Varicam LT 4K Super35 camera. The new Varicam LT shares the same 4K Super 35 CMOS sensor as the bigger, two-piece Varicam 35 and many of the key functionality that sets the Varicam 35 apart from the competition – namely the impressive dynamic range, organic feel with pleasing highlight rolloff, and insane low-light performance thanks to the unique Dual-Native ISO feature that is also incorporated into the Varicam LT. The price of the Varicam LT body only was projected at around $18K, however authorised resellers such as B&H in the US have already started listing the camera’s pricing starting at $16,500, which is great news for anyone considering the camera for a future purchase.
Panasonic have also announced that a total of four packages will be available upon release of the new Varicam LT later in March/early April, plus a price drop on Express P2 media cards. Many of us were hoping to see CFast 2.0 as the recording media in the Varicam LT, but as we know that Panasonic, much like Sony, prefers to use its proprietary media into their higher end cameras, this came as no surprise.
Express P2 cards are very fast, solid and super reliable, but this all comes at a price. Express P2 cards, up until just a few days ago, would sell for about $2K a pop, but now you could get a 256GB card for $1,150 at B&H. This is a significant price drop and Panasonic are expected to match this price drop in other parts of the world such as the UK and EU shortly.
Here are the 4 Packages available for the Varicam LT:
- Varicam LT Basic Kit – $16,500
- Camera Body
- Control Panel
- Top handle
- Canon EF Mount
- Varicam LT-VF Package – $21,600
- includes all of the above + OLED Viewfinder
- Varicam LT-PRO Package – $25,100
- Camera Body
- Control Panel
- Top handle
- Canon EF Mount
- OLED EVF
- Shoulder Mount
- Side Hand Grip
- User-Swappable PL mount
- Varicam LT-PROEX Package – $27,600
- CameraBody
- Control Panel
- Top handle
- PL and Canon EF Mount
- OLED EVF
- Shoulder Mount
- Side Hand Grip
- 2 x 256GB ExpressP2 cards + reader
Panasonic Varicam LT Features
- 4K Super35 CMOS Sensor (same as Varicam 35)
- Native Canon EF mount (PL mount extra option – user swappable)
- Full HD 240fps Slow-Motion (Sensor crop)
- 4K/60p and Full HD ProRes 4444 & 422HQ
- Built-in ND filters: 0.6/1.2/1.8
- User Removable IR Cut filter
- Single ExpressP2 card Slot for Main 4K/2K/HD recording
- SDXC Card slot for Proxy Long GOP recording
- Dual Native ISO – 800/5000
- Optional OLED viewfinder ($5,400 at B&H)
- 3 x SDI Out (dedicated one for Viewfinder)
- Support for 3rd Party Viewfinders like Zacuto Gratical and BMD URSA Viewfinder
- 2 x XLR inputs – 4 x Channel Audio 24bit/48kHz LPCM
- PreRec / Interval rec / One Shot Rec
- V-Gammut – exceeds BT.2020 HDR colour space
- 14+ Stops Dynamic Range with V-Log
- V-Look and BC-Look Presets – similar to WideDR on Canon C300 (mix between V-Log and Rec.709 for faster turnaround)
- Weight: 2.7 kg / under 6 lbs.
Be sure to check out this awesome official 4K footage from the Varicam LT below:
Shot on VariCam LT at NY and NJ. All the dark scenes are shot with ISO 5000. Dejan Georgevich, ASC Cinematographer.
The Varicam LT is expected to be available late March/early April.
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate partner and participant in B&H and Adorama Affiliate programmes, we earn a small comission from each purchase made through the affiliate links listed above at no additional cost to you.
Claim your copy of DAVINCI RESOLVE - SIMPLIFIED COURSE with 50% off! Get Instant Access!
Well, it seems Panasonic is dead set on not selling this camera to anyone other than current Varicam owners. You’d think they’d be in this to make a profit?
The LT looks exactly like a Sony F5, but with the same or fewer features, a “BV-Log” profile few have experience with, and compared to Sony’s current offers on the F5, priced more than $10,000 higher with the same level of gear and add-ons (without a single competitive option to justify it that price– unless the dual ISO option isn’t a gimmick). And you’re stuck buying their incredibly overpriced media. Even Sony, makers of the Memory Stick that won’t go away, finally caved on their memory demands for the F5 and F55. You can officially use lower priced XQD cards in place of their SxS cards– making 4K (DCI) recordings at 60 FPS (600Mb/s) no problem at all, while being reliable and fully compatible.
If this was priced competitively, I’d give it a hard look. I like the underdog. But at more than 10 grand above a proven, reliable option with as-good-or-better features and mature firmware– it’s hard to fathom.