Trade-in Your Varicam for a Varicam!
by Jeff Regan
on
Jun 13, 2009 at 2:37:22 pm
Panasonic is offering a huge trade-in allowance towards the purchase of an HPX3700 Varicam. Just trade-in any working 2/3" camcorder and $30,000 will be applied to a $60,000 HPX3700!
This would lead me to believe that the margins are huge on these cameras(which I already knew) and that the HPX3700 isn't selling at all well. The lack of 60p must have something to do with it--besides the $60K price point, of course.
Still, picking up a Sony DXC-537/PVV-1 on eBay for a grand and getting an HPX3700 at half price is interesting. No discounts on the camera, no special financing, no P2 card cameras can be traded in, but they will take a RED ONE!
Re: Urban Legend? by Noah Kadner on Jun 14, 2009 at 7:31:34 pm
I'm going to have to cry BS on this one until an actual Panasonic site lists it with details. I've read this rumor on other forward and no one has ever come forward with proof.
Re: Urban Legend? by Jeff Regan on Jun 14, 2009 at 10:04:47 pm
Hi Noah,
This is not official from Panasonic yet, but I received the email from my Abel Cinetech salesperson and saw a post from a broker on this site, McCom Inc, as well as another rental facility who first told me about it. So, yes, while unofficial and details subject to change, when a high-end Panasonic dealer communicates directly in writing to me, it is not an "Urban Legend" in my estimation.
Re: Urban Legend? by Noah Kadner on Jun 14, 2009 at 11:09:40 pm
I don't doubt some sort of rebate may be in the works but I don't think it will be as expansive as you've been told. Seems a little crazy to just give away $30,000 for *any* 2/3 camcorder, especially one you could get for $1,000. I'll believe it when I see it on a website from Panasonic.
It's true... I bought one... by Gary Snyder on Jun 15, 2009 at 11:03:20 pm
The offer is true... For a very limited time...
unspecified at this time... could be weeks..
Panasonic is offering a 3700 for 29,900.00 with trade in..
I bought mine from MCCOM Inc. in NJ who is up on the
special deal... They may have a few left...
Re: It's true... I bought one... by John Cummings on Jun 29, 2009 at 5:19:03 pm
"but wonder what happens to a RED if they actually get one in trade?"
I'd like to hope the Panasonic engineers would look at that big old chip in the Red and finally devise a way to build the Varicam they should have built in the first place...
Re: Trade-in Your Varicam for a Varicam! by Steve Cooperman on Jun 18, 2009 at 11:59:09 am
From now until September 30, 2009, trade-in a professional, working 2/3” or Red camera, and purchase the VariCam 3700 for the astonishing price of $29,950.
We want to quickly gain more market share, especially after the recently concluded Producer’s Guild of America (PGA) / America Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Camera Assessment Series (CAS). Politically, we cannot say the VariCam 3700 won the ASC/PGA camera assessment, but, we think the images and the amazing camera price point have won.
Steve Cooperman
Product Line Business Manager – VariCam 3700 & Advanced P2 Systems
Panasonic
Re: Trade-in Your Varicam for a Varicam! by Chris Bell on Jun 18, 2009 at 3:06:01 pm
Steve,
I am sure the 3700 makes nice images, but my market is moving to larger sized imagers. I hope your R/D folks in Japan are seeing this transition and are hard at work on new camera. Also, the lack of any frame rates over 30fps is a deal killer. My RED goes to 60fps at 3K and 120fps at 2K.
I've been a big supporter of Panasonic over the years (over $350K invested), but the current line up of cameras appeals to neither me or my client base. The fact you are discounting your flagship camera 50% only shows that market for high end cameras is moving away from 2/3". (Look at the popularity of the Canon 5D MkII)
Panasonic has great engineering potential... I hope the next generation of Varicam will exceed the current offering. I'd like to continue supporting Panasonic with my investment dollars.
Re: Trade-in Your Varicam for a Varicam! by Steve Cooperman on Jun 19, 2009 at 8:52:26 pm
Panasonic's approach to Variable frame rate continues to be that the highest speed should have the same image quality as the 24 frame play-back speed. Most cameras compromise the image quality in some way to exceed 30fps. Red for example windows the 35mm imager to a smaller format at higher speeds, other systems must forego 4:4:4 recording or scale up 540 line fields into frames. Until we can achieve the full 1080p images seen in the testing at higher speeds at a reasonable power consumption, we prefer to leave the higher speed shots to the VariCam 2700 which possesses the same color and contrast capabilities as the VariCam 3700.
Steve Cooperman
Product Line Business Manager – VariCam 3700 & Advanced P2 Systems
Panasonic
Re: Trade-in Your Varicam for a Varicam! by Fermin Branger on Jun 20, 2009 at 12:22:17 pm
Do you have some hardware/firmware update plan to get the 3700 beyond the 30 fps in the future?
At least in 4:2:2?
I love this camera, I'm buying one right now, but I feel that I'll need more fps with her soon, instead of my HVX200 or some rented one.
Re: Trade-in Your Varicam for a Varicam! by Jeff Regan on Jun 20, 2009 at 2:23:59 pm
60p is unlikely to happen for the 3700. It would require new sensors--most likely CMOS. Just not practical in an ENG form factor camera on an existing camera model. I think Mr. Cooperman made it pretty clear about Panasonic's position on the camera.
