Nano Flash or Panasonic AG-HMR10

[Scott Jason Gill]

I'm looking for an on-board HD recorder for review and reel purposes. I'm curious if anyone has experience with either the Covergent Designs Nano-Flash or the Panasonic AG-HMR10. Both input and output HD-SDI. The Nano-Flash has lots of formats available but the AVCAM format of the Panasonic would probably work fine for my purposes and $1500 cheaper with rebate through end of September. But maybe the Nano-Flash has other purposes in my kit. I'd love to hear any real-world info.

 

Panasonic AG-HMR10 1399 (with $700 rebate)

 

Nano-Flash $2895

[Aaron Medick SOC]

I have no experience with the Panasonic, But the Nano Flash is a great product. If you work as a DP you can take advantage of being able to record at better quality than many cameras with it. It's on my list of must haves.

[Andrew Stone]

I have a nanoFlash. It's great but I use it for redundant recording, capturing at a higher bitrate, doing SD capture on an HD camera, slomo while the camera's internal recorder is doing standard capture, etc.

 

If it is for strictly reel capture, not sure if it is worth blowing $4,000 (when the smoke clears) but if you have other production uses for higher bitrate capture or alternative format capture from what the camera's internals are doing then it would be worth while.

 

And of course wait till IBC is over. There may be some new product announcements in the external recorder market. My hunch is there will be more external recorders on the market in both the lower end of the market and the other tiers... now that the genie is out of the bottle on this.

 

I will say though, a huge benefit of the nanoFlash to Steadicam Ops is the weight and size. It is less than a pound and the footprint is small. A little industrial velcro, a couple of cables and you are set.

[Steve Fracol SOC]

I have had the nanoFlash since January. It is overall very good. The down side issues to it are no NTSC record (for film and SD jobs) and a very weak fast forward and no rewind capability. THat is the bad part. You pretty much have to watch a take all the way through to the end. Fast forwarding to a particular part is not easy. It jumps every 4 seconds and has a delay when you push play again. Aggravating! But for amazing quality and a pretty simple device overall this is the ticket. I love that it has EE loop through so no delay and has a mic input so you can add a small camcorder mic to get some nat-sound as a basis. Sometimes I make voice notes during a rehearsal to remind me of something so when I watch playback of a rehearsal I don't forget, etc.

 

It is the best device I have found for HD so far. I am sure more stuff will be coming out by next NAB that will be as good, better, and/or cheaper however overall I am happy with the nanoFlash. They as a company have responded well to advice and requests and consistently do firmware updates on line. They have made owning one very easy.

 

My complements to Convergent-Designs and Dan Keaton.

 

My .02

 

Steve Fracol

[Joshua Gitersonke]

There is a new aja ki pro mini that will be available soon. Under 2000 dollars. Looks amazing for the price. It records in ProreS 422. Has 2 full size xlrs. It's a little bigger and probably not as light as the nano flash. Loose some here and gain some there.