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With a basic camera weighing just under 2 pounds or 3 pounds with top handle and battery, the Panasonic AG-CX10 is the epitome of a 4K 60p compact powerhouse for ENG, documentary, streaming, blogging and just generally on the run video. It has potential as a significant tool for TV news with its miniP2 1080 10 bit recording to MXF files or for documentary with up to 4K 60P in either AVC or H.265 compression at up to 4:2:2 10 bit.

Built-in WiFi makes it a streaming camera. It is controllable via an external app and it can fit into an NDI|HX ecosystem with an optional $299 license.

Add to that 24x optical or 48x digital zoom starting from a 25mm equivalent wide angle. And then there’s face detection auto focus/auto exposure, a built in adjustable video light, and manual focus and zoom rings in addition to a servo zoom.

Panasonic AG-CX10 additional features

Those looking for a cinema style camera should look elsewhere. There is no V-Log and certainly no RAW options. That’s not why you buy the AG-CX10. It does have the typical Panasonic picture profile options with cine-like gammas, fluorescent, etc. But I wouldn’t bother with them unless under very specialized shooting requirements. This is just a camera that you point and shoot, and can feel confident in pointing and shooting.

For one thing, the autofocus is fast and accurate and I didn’t find the camera hunting for focus. Turning on facial autofocus, it really does find people’s faces easily. The touch screen allows the selection of one face among multiples.

In UHD and HD modes, the AG-CX10 has a 5-axis hybrid Optical Image Stabilisation system, which delivers stable images. I fear that far too many less-experienced shooters see OIS in a camera and believe that it will produce gimbal-like stabilisation. That is certainly not the case here, but a steady hand can get a decent hand-held shot from it. As lightweight as this camera is, it is highly useable with small gimbals or even, with the top handle and screen removed, mountable on a drone with a 2-3 pound payload capacity.

Of course as a dedicated video camera as opposed to a mirrorless or DSLR camera, it has 3 levels of ND filtration plus Clear.

Product Overview

The lens delivers high optical performance and comfortable operability for professional video shooting. Along with MKX18-55mmT2.9, MKX50-135mmT2.9 is the first full manual cinema lens to be compatible with the X Series interchangeable camera. In the 35mm format equivalent, MKX50-135mmT2.9 covers a focal distance from 76mm to 206mm and achieves a constant T2.9^* aperture across the entire zoom range, enabling a shallow depth of field as well as a beautiful bokeh effect. The lens design is optimized for shooting videos as it minimizes focus shift and optical axis shift while zooming, and reduces lens breathing (the change of angle of view during focusing). The lens also features three rings to enable manual and independent operation of focus, zoom and iris (aperture), all with the gear pitch^** of 0.8M (module). The focus rings can rotate fully up to 200 degrees to facilitate precise focusing. These features make the lens very comfortable and convenient to operate.