Panasonic today provided the first soliddetails for the first Micro Four Thirds camcorder. Called the AF105 in Japan, the previously revealed as the AF100 is due to reach its home country in December for the equivalent of $9,974 for the body only version. The choice of Micro Four Thirds for the camera mount keeps extra costs low for videographers, who can use off-the-shelf lenses from Panasonic, Olympus and third parties.
The use of a mirrorless pro design gives it a large sensor like other pro cameras but the flexibility for shots such as very shallow depth of field. It shoots H.264/AVCHD at up to 1080p30 (or 1080i60). It wil also support HD-SDI output, XLR audio input with Dolby Digital support and timecode layers. Storage is still the consumer friendly SD car (up to SDXC) and uses two slots to extend the recording time.
Panasonic has yet to say when the AF100 variant will reach the US and its similar AF101 version will reach Europe, but it would be a shock to see hit outside of Japan before 2011.
