We’ve been trying out the catchily-titled HX-A500E, Panasonic’s first 4k wearable camera.
We’ve used Panasonic’s HX-A500E several times already this year and we’ve plenty more planned for it yet.
The viewfinder attaches to the straps of a backpack
At the time of its launch in 2014 it was billed as the world’s first 4K/30p wearable camera. GoPro may dominate this market but by retaining a high frame rate, footage from the HX-A500E is likely to look sharper on a 4K screen than its closest competitor, GoPro’s HERO3 Black Edition.
It weighs in at just 31g so porting it around is a doddle. I’ve so far favoured the optional shoulder mount, which means the viewfinder can sit neatly out of the way on your shoulder, attached to the straps of your backpack, while the camera body can be stowed in a pocket.
The whole thing can be operated via the unit’s built-in wi-fi on a compatible smartphone or tablet. This gives the option of live control, playback and adjusting the settings (such as whether to shoot in a wide angle or not) on the fly. There’s also advanced options to help you shoot in low light, slow motion or to capture high quality stills, as you would get in most top action cameras these days.
The main part of the unit features a small viewing screen, two operating buttons (power and record) and a small low-profile joystick that enables navigation of the menus.
Storage on the device is through the MicroSD card, the housing for which is also home to the Micro USB slot for connection to an external computer source.
The door covering these uses a slide-and-lock approach that means the unit is dustproof and can be used in 3m of water for up to 30 minutes.
You can choose to adjust the picture quality down in order to save storage space and battery life. The 4K resolution runs at 72MB per second so you’ll soon chew up space on your memory card shooting at the highest resolution. We toned down the picture quality to 720p and squeezed more than three hours of footage out of the camera on at least two occasions. Colour and detail was still good, as was sound quality – especially since we had a very windy outing with it on Tryfan in North Wales.
It’s worth noting that the wide angle of vision does leave the image feeling distorted, and while it captures action at the horizontal periphery of the field of view, it doesn’t capture the same field vertically. As a result, you end up with quite a skewed, occasionally queasy feel to the footage.
A still taken from footage shot with the HX-A500E
The lack of a replaceable battery pack may be a cause for concern for some, since most of the GoPro range benefits from this option. However, you can always carry a spare portable power pack to charge the camera from, which was our solution to keep it topped up.
The optional mounts, as well as those included, were a little fiddly to get fitted, but held firm once we figured them out. We didn’t use the headset mount, as it felt uncomfortable to wear. Attaching and detaching the camera viewfinder from them is straightforward when you have the right technique.
Overall, it’s a great little camera, packed with features, and we’ve been seriously impressed with how much footage we’ve been able to record on it. The RRP is still the wrong side of £300 but shop around and there are some deals available that bring it closer to the GoPro’s pricing.
It may not have the snappiest model name, but the HX-A500E can certainly mix it with the leaders in this sector.
See our video interview with British mountaineer Alan Hinkes from Gordale Scar in Yorkshire featuring footage shot with the Panasonic HX-A500E.