Thanks, I am glad you found it useful

Thank you.

Thanks for the feedback, the Libec seems good, I think the lens motors on the camera don't really give a smooth enough zoom to my liking when going from slow to faster and back. The VZ Rocks also seems to get some good feedback but I haven't tried that one.

@@apntv I am happy Dave found a solution - but the VZ-Rock is less than ideal for me. It is still jumpy with this camera. I went to my vendor and we used literally every remote they had and all of them performed poorly. I am fairly certain this is a software issue (if I understand correctly, the 350s use a new protocol?) and after the most recent firmware upgrade, remotes worked a bit better, but still not well enough for a production. Majorly disappointing bug with these cameras.

TVBoi I do agree, I'm not sure if it is firmware that could be improved in time or just the lens servos. This is a Panasonic made lens rather than the usual Leica I believe.

Glad it was useful.

Thank you for the feedback, I’m glad it was of use. :-)

Great, let me know how you get on with one. They are really light and I love that. Barring a few quirks they are pretty fast to use. I’m really happy and just bought another one :-)

@@apntv Thanks for your reply. So the HC-X1 I'm using at the moment has about a half second delay (maybe a bit less) when you look into the view finder, have you noticed that with your CX350? Spoke to Saj at CVP today and he said the EVA did it too. Bit of a dealbreaker on the CX350 for me if there's delay cause when I shoot fast moving subjects I can't track them, what's your observations here?

@@TheClassicMotorcycleChannel I have not noticed a delay in the viewfinder.

Thank you, I’m glad it was useful.

@@apntv Absolutely. I am currently considering purchasing the new HC-X2, but I am not sure whether the AG Cx350 is more capabable in terms of video quality in the end. HLG would be great to have, and the Cx350 does have it - so, no need for V-Log. Right?

@@joyoffilming9500 check the specs, as I haven’t used one, but the main differences I see are a slightly improved LCD panel and the camera doesn’t contain the high end All-I codecs used mainly for TV broadcast work. Apart from that it is basically the same camera from what I can see, for a bit less money. So it just depends what features are important to you and your work.

@@apntv Thanks for your great answer. Probably, the AF has become better in the new model. Interestingly, one big German dealer has dropped the price for the HC-X2 just over the past few days by 10%. I will wait until February, after X-mas, to see more discounts happen.

I haven’t noticed a massive difference with the zoom speed. We touch on that on the new video.

I personally wouldn't trust auto-focus for anything critical myself. The new LANC control system uses the same as Sony and Canon LANC. There are a number of units on the market from Libec, Varizoom etc. I don't like how smoothly you can feather the zoom in/out however I think this may be down to the lens. For general framing etc. these work OK.

Well, the face detect AF isn’t too bad with the latest firmware update. It works very well for conference type events. I haven’t tried other cameras like Sony or Canon XF cameras but you are probably looking at twice the cost for those by comparison.

Great, did you spot there are a whole series of videos about the CX350 on the channel, right up to the latest firmware update?

@@apntv Oh! Thanks. I' m watching them now!

Glad you enjoyed it

Hi Tom, You know I have no idea why they didn’t include MP4 on this camera, it is even available on the cheaper CX10 model. That said, it really hasn’t ever been a problem. I just use the .MOV wrapper instead of the MP4 wrapper. On Windows I find that some thumbnails don’t display but only on certain bit rates and variants of the file, some do, some don’t. I have setup up VLC as my default player and that plays everything without a problem and it may be possible, with the right drivers, that you might even be able to get all the thumbnails working. For the majority of work I do, the standard bit rates that I tend to use for web, corporate or broadcast work are fine, so as I say although it bugged me it has never really been a big problem just a minor irritation. I can’t speak for how it shows up on a Mac though I’m afraid, being Apple .MOV It probably just shows all the thumbnails anyway but I can’t confirm that.

Ah yes, well the CX350 has a different LANC system, the same as Sony and Canon now, so it uses a different type of controller but actually I think the issue was with the lens or firmware and hopefully is better with the latest firmware update.

Robert Shaver your wish is my command, 1 year update released today :-). The latest update helped a few things, a bit. I can’t say I’ve noticed a lot of difference with the zoom speed but we talk about that a bit in the new video.

@@apntv What can I say? Timing is everything.

Sadly no, unlike some older cameras, like the PX270 which would do that, this lens is servo only. The servo control has got much better with later firmware and you do get used to it but a manual/servo lens would have been great but then the price point on this camera has allowed me to buy three of them now.

I have yet to get the chance to do anything meaningful with HLG but I'll certainly report back once I do.

@@apntv I record HGL profile to an Atomos Ninja V in 10 bit 4:2:2 using Prores 422 codec on the Atomos, editing and grading in Resolve. I find it to work pretty well, but have to be careful not to overexpose it. These two were shot in HLG, minimal grading in Resolve, kzfaq.info/get/bejne/sMuXpriYz9yvnXk.html, kzfaq.info/get/bejne/idl6YKuWz8rOeaM.html

Hi, when i wrote my comment, i had firmware 1.003.. this one worked ok for push auto. then i saw your video wrote my note and upgraded to 1.11 the latest one you made us aware of, and yes the push Auto hunts back again with that upgrade. i will try and downgrade to 1.003 and see if it push auto is working.. i do wildlife films and push auto is what i use most of the time. so a nit of an essential obsession.. . Will let you know if that improves with 1.003.

It pays the bills :-)

What does sick gears mean I hope it's polite this is a thorough in-depth review done well

Yes, I use Blackmagic ATEM and it syncs the inputs OK, at the expense of one frame, however in this case we were trying to minimise any latency by using a sync generator and that is when I first noticed that you couldn't sync the 350. Not a major issue for me but I just wanted to point it out for others in case it was important for them.

I can’t remember for sure but I would think I shot it on my GH5 as I was holding the 350.

Thank you for the feedback, it’s always useful getting other peoples observations and I think it proves how difficult it must be to build the perfect camera as everybody has slightly different requirements and ways of working. It irritated me initially that it did not record MP4 in camera, why? I could see no reason why not and yet over the years I got used to it and it’s not really bothered me much. The SD card lights is a good example, when I bought a Panasonic G80 camera it had a flashing red icon on screen to show you when recording and the flash rate was quite slow, so I would often look at the screen and think it wasn’t recording and in extreme cases hit the record button turning it off, I made my comments known and eventually that was changed in a firmware update. Just yesterday, for the first time in many, many years I had an SD card issue while recording, I always record onto two cards and I immediately spotted card 2 had a problem. The camera kept on recording and card 1 was fine, after the take, I was able to repair the card ok. I agree the colours can be confusing, like every battery charger on earth seems to have a different colour scheme for charging and charged, it’s a shame there is no standard. The HDMI socket can be a problem with large HDMI plugs, although those often come with thick and heavy HDMI cable which is not ideal anyway, the recess does help prevent strain on the socket but I tend to use thin cables with smaller plugs anyway, which are easier to fit, cause less strain, but you are absolutely right. You tend to have to pull the cable to remove them. Having come from a Panasonic PX 270 previously I find this menu an absolute joy and much easier to navigate, also much easier than my experience with Sony cameras, I guess it takes a while to get used to any menu. As always, there are a few irritations, not being able to switch audio from manual to auto while recording because you can only access it from the menu, as the layout does not allow for an extra physical switch, which again for me is a minor irritation and price point often dictates such compromises. I still haven’t done a great deal with VLOG, getting correct exposure is very important to avoid noise so that might be something you would get better results from as you get used to it and experiment a little. Genlock would be lovely I agree. I am often using multiple cameras in a live set up, again I’m sure it’s all down to cost. Over five years on and this is still my favourite camcorder, I’ve got used to its quirks and haven’t found anything I want to replace it with so far. I’ve used the XF350s but never had the opportunity to try 650, I hear good things from some people though as you say it is more expensive, less now than when it first came out when it was double the price. I’m not a huge fan of Canon products generally, but I know a lot of people like this one and at the end of the day it’s all about what fits your budget and works best for you. again it’s good to get other peoples take on using it. :)

The CX10 does seem to have better AF, probably because it has a smaller sensor. It does record mp4files. Streaming is pretty much the same as the CX350 but I believe there are more updates to come from PAnasonic on streaming options.

Thanks Nigel.

@@apntv it was lovely to share all the best for 2021 , its amazing andy brackets bits and bobs that you get from amazon or ebay comes handy thanks , keep up your good work on u tube

Hi, thanks for the message. I would say that although Panasonic have never been known to be fantastic with AutoFocus, it has got much better with the Face Detect AF and for much of the work I do, such as interviews or conferences I find it now works well enough for me to use it. Other use cases may not be so great however in our Facebook group for the CX350 we do have users who film aircraft in flight and car racing and seem to get on OK with AF too. There is still no MP4 recording on this model however .MOV is fine, I'd like MP4 as it find Windows can work better with the thumbnails however that may also be dependant on the actual codec being used and it really hasn't been a huge problem to work with .MOV files instead. It is just what you are used to I suppose. Overall I still think this is a great camera for the price and I now own and use 4 of them for multi camera work. I find the screen fine but I often add a bigger monitor on anyway and I have never had any issues with the headphone volume even in loud events. I tend to use Sony Pro MDR7506 headphones and they have always been good to listen to. I hope that helps. Andy

DMM Tech The new LANC control uses the same signals as Canon/Sony. I only use zoom and record myself with a Libec controller but I have seen others using Varizoom controllers with some iris/focus functionality. I have not had a lot of luck finding a smooth controller but I do think the problem is more with the lens than the controllers. I find step jump between speeds gives an unprofessional looking zoom in my opinion. It's okay for reframing though.

DMM Tech so yes, your old controllers will not work and yes I believe you have all the standard LANC functions.

@@apntv Thanks, I was wondering about that. I like the camera, but I have some customized control systems built around the original Panasonic control inputs. I can adapt them to use LANC, but at this time I would loose Iris and Focus control. While keeping Zoom. Not quite a deal breaker, but I guess I wouldn't this camera on a PTZ rig right now. It would have to be a locally operated camera.

Yes, it is a shame about those, neither is a show stopper for me but it would be nice but then I suppose you always have to consider the price point. Overall I would say the camera offers great value for money but we each have to weigh up the functions we absolutely need and decide based on that. I glad it helps you see the cons as well as the pros. Personally I am still glad I bought one.

Great, and thanks for the reminder, I'll do the update this afternoon.

Pls let us know if the update resolves push auto hunting on your camera too..

I have tried it out a few times now, it still seemed to hunt around quite a bit. Maybe your post made me pay a bit more attention to it but I'd almost go as far to say it seemed to hunt around even more than before now :-) It did get focus though.

I can't really give you concrete examples between the two but the low light is OK for me on the 350, not too noisy in High Sense and with 6Db of gain in. Certainly not the best camera for low light but it meets my needs in dark auditoriums OK.

@@apntv maybe the CX350 has "only" 15 million pixels and the dvx200 when shooting 4K or UHD on the DVX200, there is a crop of the sensor area. The amount of crop is modest when shooting UHDp30 (about 12.9 MP or 83% of the 15.49 MP effective 16:9 sensor area), but fairly significant when shooting UHDp60 (8.7 MP or 56% of the effective sensor area) So this could be the reason that the CX350 has less noise. I have the DVX200.

I have no direct comparison for that style of camcorder, maybe one of the larger sensor cameras perhaps.

@@apntv Thanks anyway.

Hi, yes there is peaking which works well and also if you see my later video on the most recent firmware update, they now have Face Detect AF as an option and so far I gave found that to work pretty well for my use cases. I suspect it would work with animal faces too.

@@apntv Thank you so much for quick response. :-) I can't wait to watch your next video. I think it would be also very helpful. And thank you for your wonderful British English. It's a huge pleasure to hear that instead of American babble. I wish I had such language skill one day....Greetings from Poland :-)

Yes, I have checked with another user who is doing so and using the SDI for a monitor.

I don’t think I have filmed fast moving objects, other than people and I use manual focus for that. Some users say they find auto focus ok, it will depend on various factors of course, like aperture, zoom, etc. but that’s the same on any camera. I know of users quite happily using the camera to film stock car racing, air shows and football games so you would probably find it is fine, do let me know :-)

It seems better but I have a couple of jobs coming up over the next few weeks where I will really get to give it a good test.

SamoScopom just posed a one year update today.

@@apntv great, I will check it out

orvil smuel I believe it is for PC only.

Yes, V30 is too slow for 400Mbps, V90 is ideal but a V60 will work ok, 400Mbps is 50MB and V60 means it will work at 60MB per second. I have just started using ProGrade V60 cards and they record 400Mbps fine. Panasonic recommends V60 or above. V30 are good for up to 200Mbps and I use Sandisk Extreme Pro V30 cards all the time for 150Mbps.

I bought the Panasonic AG-MC200 Mic as it was small but it only has a foam windshield so I added a Rode slip on dead cat. It can get in shot as the lens is so wide but if I seat the mic fully back in the mic holder and lift it I can largely keep it out of shot however when it has been in the bag it tends to get squashed down a bit, so I have to be careful. It's not ideal and you do just have to keep an watch out for it. Of course it often gets lost under the on-screen icons :-)

As always these things depend totally on your use case, workflow and how you like to work and the kit you feel comfortable with. If you feel more comfortable with a G9 then it would also be good. A quick Google bought up a piece from The Slanted Lens on using it for wildlife which you might also find interesting. I haven’t used the 350 for wildlife work myself but I would say the following, it has a great zoom range without having to swap lenses, it can prerecord so you don’t miss the action when you press record, it has IR mode, but I think you would need some IR lighting to make good use of that. The 350 form factor works well for me without having to have lots of addons hanging off the smaller DSLM body but it’s a matter of choice I guess. We run a Facebook group if you wish to join, I think we have users in there doing similar work. At the end of the day they are both fine cameras.

@@apntv thank you, good to know.

Hi, I am not quite sure what you mean, where are you seeing the playout lagging and what do you mean exactly? Do you mean in camera or on your computer?

Galen Yeo I never actually got to use the 180 or 90 myself so difficult to compare really.

@@apntv Thanks. I just compared it. It's lighter than the UX series.

Galen Yeo Do you mean lighter in weight or brighter pictures in low light?

@@apntv in weight. the UX90 had a strange white balance / skin tone but we have adjusted that. the lowlight is pretty good for a 1-inch camera, and the gain is clean.

I think the P2 Network Software is only for PC I'm afraid.

Tricky to say really, you get the benefits of a large sensor on the DVX but only 8 bit internal, The 350 has a 1" sensor but can shoot up to 400Mbps All I 10bit Internal. In terms of picture quality I was happy with both.

OK, thanks a lot. I guess the lens it´s better on dvx 200 right??

Again very different lenses, both servo driven but the 200 has a Leica lens and the 350 is made by Panasonic. 13X zoom on the 200, 20 on the 350. Both ramp but both give decent pictures.

That’s what I need to know, I’m A beginner and will be doing sit down interviews and recording seminars just need to know which camera is the better buy.

Sorry to hear that, I wonder why, do you have any examples online to look at? I use many different cameras, including an iPhone 12 Pro Max, and various DSLMs but I still like the ease of use and results I get from the CX350. So much that I bought 4 of them. For the type of work I do it is excellent, other use cases will of course vary. It is always important to do what you did and try a camera and go with a model that suits your expectations the best. I'm still curious as to what made the footage look so poor though.

The LANC is a little better, you can now get a smooth zoom but there is still a noticeable step speed change between slow/med/fast zoom which I find unprofessional. Today I installed Firmware 2.01 which now has P2 support and some additional codecs.

@@apntv avc-intra 100 and 200 ?

@@SportFlow From the release docs. New 4K codec and conventional P2HD format recording are supported. HEVC LongGOP 100M (MOV) P2HD AVC-ULTRA(P2 MXF) *Intra422, LongG

They are not as good for autofocus as some other makes for sure however that hasn’t really been an issue for how I work. The latest firmware will be adding face detection autofocus and that could be a game changer for those that need AF.

The recent QTube episode on my channel from the Cabaret tent is actually shot with the 350 in the pit, a roving GH5 and a GH5S at the back. I had to do a bit more colour correction with the GH5S as were weren't on comms and had to both tweak the white balance manually from whet we had preset them too. The GH5 and 350 were pretty close as we were both able to set WB to the same manually.

@@apntv Very good, thank you. What camera did you use for the interviews? I like how the 350 performed from the pit BTW.

JG Media LLC mainly the 350, the second angle was the GH5. Some of the shots are a bit hot but that's my fault rather than the camera :-)

I’ll ask Matt to comment as he recently started using NDI on his camera. My current view is to use an external decoder which can be moved from device to device.

Hey Adrian, what would you like to know?

I don't think so. You have to set the camera system setting to 4K or HD, so if you record in 4K you can only stream in 4K and likewise in HD, so setting the camera to stream in 720 will only allow you to record or output HD to an external recorder unfortunately. It would be great if you could stream in HD and record in 4K but sadly not, I'm guessing there isn't enough resource internally to do both at once.

@@apntv okay - so it is only the more expensive cam corders that have those features.

I still have to do the latest firmware update, watch this space :-)

Have you got the LANC issue resolved?

I have used the LANC quite a bit this week on several conferencing jobs. It is better and much easier to get a smooth zoom in/out at a fairly slow speed however it still suffers a bit from step jump between slow, med and fast zoom speeds. Something I find irritating and unprofessional but I am guessing it is considered acceptable for this price point of camera. It is nowhere near as smooth as on my older PX270 but it is more usable now once you know the limitations. Today I upgraded the firmware to the 2.01 but I don't believe that has any further improvements to the zoom functionality.

Yes, for Facebook I just added the s in the url and it connected and ran OK.

martin sinclair I don’t think I would buy a Canon, I don’t tend to get on with them as well. Like any camera this has its issues but I still quite like it.

martin sinclair just answered “Would we buy it again after 1year” in our latest update video.

Which one?

@@apntv any of them?

Very likely :-)

It does seem possible :-)

Yeah, I have that capability already, streaming from the camera is good and allows me to pitch a price point for the job without needing all the extra kit and limits the recording to 1080. If the client wants a 4K recording and other facilities then I can offer that too at a higher cost. That said, nobody has ever asked me for a 4K recording of a conference event or similar due to the length of the event and the data it would produce, I am sure it will come eventually though :-)

I think with the latest firmware it has really become a good camera and much less than the 705 so for the price point I am very pleased with what it can do now.

​@@apntv Do you know of any video reviews of the latest firmware. I really like this camera but its the AF issues that has me worried...Its a huge purchase...

Hmmm, just as well they have a three year warranty then. For what it’s worth, I have 4 and had no issues from new, just the first one got some dust on the sensor and they replaced the whole lens block with a new version within a week and it has been perfect since. In my opinion they are the best camera I have used for the price in years. I am tempted by some of the BMD cameras though but from my experience they certainly can have poor quality control issues and fail soon after new, equally in my case they have been replaced without hassle though.