Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder

• HD formats: 1080/60i 1080/30p 1080/24p (Native); 720/60p 720/30p 720/24p (Native)


• Three newly designed 1/4.1" Progressive 3MOS Imagers for full HD resolution


• 12x Leica Dicomar lens (13 elements in 10 groups) 43mm filter zoom range of 40.8 - 490mm (35mm equivalent.)


• Extremely slow smooth zoom for the precise control needed for dramatic sequences


• Time Date Stamp enables shooting Legal Depositions or Surveillance

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HI-DEF CAMCORDER/120G HDD/GUNMETAL GREY

• 35mm Wide Lens


• Full HD 1080p


• 20X Intelligent Zoom

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Advanced Optical 78X Zoom with OIS Your image is stabilized even at the longest zoom 33mm Wide-angle Lens New wider angle lens let you fit even more of your subjects into the video Intelligent Auto with AE/AF Tracking Confidently record as the camera automatically adjusts settings such as exposure and focus Black

• Uses SD/SDHC and SDXC memory cards (not included)


• 2-11/16" widescreen LCD


• 78X optical zoom lens (digital zoom to 3500X)


• Optical image stabilization


• High-speed USB interface

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35.7mm Wide Lens & 35X Intelligent Zoom Enjoy the benefits of a wide angle lens without giving up the performance of a long zoom Power OIS Keep Your Images Still with an Advanced Optical Image Stabilizer Intelligent Auto with Face Recognition Confidently record as the camera automatically adjusts settings that recognize familiar faces Black

• 1920 x 1080i HD Recording: The HS60K captures MPEG4 AVC/H.264 1920 x 1080i high definition video with stunning clarity


• 120GB Hard Disk Drive: Record hours of video and still images to the 120GB HDD and to optional SD/SDHC SDXC memory cards


• 1/4.1" MOS Sensor: The Panasonic 1/4.1" MOS sensor is a CMOS sensor that captures 1920 x 1080i HD video and 5MP digital still images


• The 35.7mm wide-angle lens on the HDC-HS60 Series fits more people and more of the background into the frame than a conventional 44.1mm lens.


• 25x Optical Zoom: Use the 25x optical zoom to get close to your subjects without losing image quality

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Advanced Optical 78X Zoom with OIS Your image is stabilized even at the longest zoom 33mm Wide-angle Lens New wider angle lens let you fit even more of your subjects into the video Intelligent Auto with AE/AF Tracking Confidently record as the camera automatically adjusts settings such as exposure and focus Black

• Advanced optical 78X zoom with OIS: Your image is stabilized even at the longest zoom


• 33mm Wide-angle lens: New wider angle lens let you fit even more of your subjects into the video


• Intelligent auto with AE/AF tracking: Confidently record as the camera automatically adjusts settings such as exposure and focus

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35.7mm Wide Lens & 35X Intelligent Zoom Enjoy the benefits of a wide angle lens without giving up the performance of a long zoom Power OIS Keep Your Images Still with an Advanced Optical Image Stabilizer Intelligent Auto with Face Recognition Confidently record as the camera automatically adjusts settings that recognize familiar faces Black

• Accessories - AC Adaptor USB Cable Stylus Pen Software Rechargeable Battery Pack 1790 mAh Lithium-Ion


• This is especially handy when you want to take a group photo in a small room.


• The corrective ability of POWER O.I.S. has been increased by five times compared to previous models


• It continues to track the subject as he or she moves anywhere within the LCD frame making it ideal for video shooting.


• Specifications

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A nice camcorder!

This is a replacement for my 10 year old Panasonic camcorder so the first thing I noticed is this thing is SMALL but they are all pretty small compared to my old camcorder. Without going into too much detail I'll just note the things I found much better than I expected and the couple things I am a little disappointed in. I don't have experience with any other new camcorders so I can't say this one is better or worse than any of the other new models.



Pleasantly surprised:

- The image stabilization feature is very very good.

- The video picture quality is impressive.

- The battery lasts longer than it is suppose to (manual says 50 minutes but I get double that).

- The software that comes with it is certainly good enough for me and is easy to use. It allows you to arrange your clips into a video and write it to a standard DVD in standard definition to a standard DVD in high definition or to a blu-ray disc. You can delete portions of clips add transitions between clips add text to a clip (first clip only) and build a menu screen.



Things that are a bit of a disappointment:

- The automatic white balance isn't the greatest. Within a single lighting environment and a single shot the auto white balance will vary from a little too yellow to a little too blue to just right. I've given up on auto white balance and now use manual white balance. Manual mode is a bit of a hassle but worth it to avoid the white balance swings the automatic setting produces.

- The wind cut filter can't be turned off in auto mode. This isn't a big deal to me now that I use manual mode (because of my white balance complaint) but if I did want to use auto mode there are times you need to have the wind cut filter off or the sound will get totally messed up (like when an audience is clapping along to a song).

- Low light recording is fairly noisy. It isn't horrible. I decided it is acceptable for my use but my 10 year old camcorder did better in low light.



Everything else about the camcorder is about what I expected. It's easy to use nice zoom range still camera mode can't compete with a real still camera but that shouldn't come as a big surprise. Overall a very nice camcorder for the money. Is it the best camcorder for the money? I have no idea but I can say I'm happy with it and it is capable of producing very nice video with just a little effort as long a there is sufficient light.





UPDATE - one month later: I've had the camcorder for over a month and have shot 10+ hours of video with it. I'm still impressed with this little camcorder. It can produce some beautiful video. I'd give it 5 stars if the white balance worked a little better. I still stand by my original comments.



One software feature I discovered and like a lot is the ability to capture a still photo from the video. I'm sure all video software has this feature but it is new to me. With the still capture feature you can get a 3.6 inch x 6.4 inch 300dpi jpg from the video. The software allows you to look at the video frame by frame so you can capture a still picture at just the right moment. This is very nice for making small snapshot photos particularly of fast action subjects. One maddening thing about most still cameras is shutter lag (the delay from the time you push the button to the time the picture is taken). Many times great shots are missed because of that delay but by capturing still images from the video you can always get the shot at just the right moment! It's a fun feature.





UPDATE #2 - 2 months later: I've shot over 20 hours of video with this camcorder now and I'm still very happy with it. I purchased a sandisk 16GB card (holds about 2 hours of video) and I'm keeping an eye out for a Vw-VBK360 extra battery for use on vacations. The Vw-VBK180 battery that comes with the camera lasts at least 100 minutes of actual use yet is only suppose to last 50 minutes. I don't know why I'm getting so much time out of it! I do shut off the camera between shots (by closing the viewing door) but doesn't everybody? Seems like a natural thing to do.



I still use manual mode for white balance. I'm much happier with the results using manual white balance rather than automatic white balance. The auto white balance in my old camcorder as well as the white balance in my daughter's little Flip camcorder works fine but not in this new camcorder. It's my only real complaint.



I did a little test to compare my old camcorder with the new camcorder in low light conditions. The new camcorder produces a fairly noisy video in relatively low light but my old camcorder produces a pretty nice video under the same low light conditions. I'm not talking very dark - living room in the evening lit with 2 floor lamps. But I found a flaw in my test! What I discovered is both camcorders produce fairly good video in STANDARD DEFINITION. It is only in HIGH DEFINITION that the video from the new camcorder is noisy. Since my old camcorder only records in standard definition it wasn't fair for me to compare my old camcorder standard definition video with my new camcorder high definition video. So for what it's worth my new and old camcorders produce about the same quality standard definition video in low light conditions. Maybe you have to step up to a more expensive camcorder to get low noise high definition video.



I've got to say even though low light standard definition video looks better than low light high definition video once you've viewed high definition video in normal lighting conditions you'll never want to go back to standard definition ever again. The difference is remarkable!



I hope you found this information useful. I'd like to thank the people who took the time to write camcorder reviews when I was researching them. It's very helpful to get insights from end-users. I'm glad I bought the camcorder that I did and I'm even happier that I decided to upgrade from my standard definition camcorder to an eye-popping high definition camcorder!More detail ...

Excellent Camcorder with one really MAJOR flaw

Panasonic finally released a 1920x1080p60 camcorder to the market (Sony still refuse to add Progressive and canon max out at 1920x1080p30 or p24)



With the TM700 Panasonic did combine the smooth motion of 1080i60 with the crisp image of a progressive motion

I can not praise the footage quality from this camcorder it's basically the best camcorder i have ever used it beats my HF100 and HF S100 when it comes to sharpness and motion by far (I still prefer Canon colors though however Panasonic colors looks exactly as we see them in real life Canon colors are unrealistic but looks more fun to me)



The wide angle 35mm~ is much better than my previous canons (Canon 43mm~ a little bit zoomed in) but still not as wide as Sony latest camcorders 29mm~ The stabilization From TM700 is really groundbreaking All low hand shake are completely gone! as if you are using a tripod almost as good as Sony stabilization (Sony stabilization is the best in the market Canon got the worst stabilization from the major companies)



Now about the Major flaw with TM700... something i didn't see coming and would have properly canceled my order if i knew about it before i bought it the Audio is really noisy ! TM700 got a built in Fan on the side (Sony/Canon does not have a fan like tm700) the fan is noisy and the microphone will pick up the noise now if you think closing the LCD and using the viewfinder will eliminate the fan noise you couldn't be any wrong! close the LCD and the fan noise will be even higher ! problem is I'm afraid that it will collect dust over the months and it will properly be even louder by then or might even break.



Other than the Fan noise (It sound like older tape camcorders noise through the entire video if you are familiar with tape noise) it's an excellent camcorder you can capture low light indoors without any problem (Much better than my canon camcorders when it comes to low light) you can't hear the fan noise if you capture outdoors or in a noisy environment but for indoors or a quite environment you will hear it.



Finally about the 1920x1080p60 you really need a quad core to even playback the footage! my Dual Core 2 Duo 2.5GHZ laptop can not play the footage at all (Trust me i tried everything it's not a codec problem but you need power to play the footage) even PS3 can not play the footage smoothly the PS3 will struggle to playback the video (Will freeze about half a second for every 4 seconds of playback)



There is no 1920x1080p30 option in this camcorder it's either 1920x1080p60 28Mbps or 1920x1080i 17Mbps

The camcorder playback the footage just fine though



Some people are having trouble to edit the videos well i use Sony Vegas Pro 9 and had no problems editing the 1080p60 footage.



If you use an external microphone that only pick sound from the front you properly wont care about this flaw but for my use (Traveling etc) i need my camcorder to be as portable as possible so using an external microphone is not an option



This camcorder would have gotten 5 Stars from me if it were not for the Fan issue.



Update : Fan issue Test done by someone else [...] "Just search in VIMEO" "Panasonic TM700 indoor audio test"



Update 2 : Returned the camcorder.... the noise issue is really ruining my videos the noise is not stable it does change when you pan or change the position of the camcorder read my 6th comment in comments below for video sample since amazon wont let me post linksMore detail ...

great video camera

I was torn between Sony and Panasonic (the Canons seemed to have many recurring complaints especially with the decks) and after reading several reviews became gradually partial to the Panasonic before ever having used one based on customer loyalty and consistently glowing testimonials.



Well I've never used the comparable Sony's JVC's or the Canon XL2 (some limited experience with the GL2) but as best I can tell without personal comparison this camera does in fact deserve all the great reviews.



The image quality is excellent and in many cases looks about as good as broadcast TV video (nonHD) and the camera allows a tremendous amount of image control--manual focus ring aperture (iris) gain adjustment shutter speed zebra control for overexposure white AND black balance adjusting daylight filters etc. The electronic viewfinder can even be focused via simple diopter. There are six preprogrammed but customizable settings for image control so the user can simply dial in whatever setting they need based on the shooting/lighting conditions. So for example you shoot occasionally under weak flourescents lights--you adjust the white balance and the gain and the detail level accordingly save it as a particular "scene file"; whenever you return to that same location or a similar shooting environment you can click over to the saved settings in an instant and start recording. The first four are factory set for video 60 frames; the last two are 24 fps for a more film-like quality which this camera handles beautifully.



What actually sold me on the camera in terms of hardware were the two XLR jacks--comparably priced models didn't seem to offer this. The XLR jacks allow the user to attach professional shotgun mics and bypass the mediocre factory one taking fuller advantage of 16bit 48khz stereo recording. I use a fairly inexpensive AZDEN mic and the improvement in sound quality is tremendous. If you were willing to invest in finer mics the audio quality would be better still. Having two XLR inputs means that in addition to recording live audio (like a mic) you can also mix in input from another pre-recorded source--all in the camera!



The lens by Leica is also impressive--it is a bit wide and is not interchangeable (although I believe there is an adaptive telephoto for $$$). I prefer shooting wide but if you have need a wide selection of lenses or don't enjoy the look of wide angle look to Canon.



The drawbacks are minor--the camera is rather cumbersome--and would certainly be tiresome for handheld use as it isn't designed for shoulder-mounted use. I shoot almost exclusively indoors with a tripod and so neither of these issues are relevant for me. Also irrelevant for me are reviews I've read which have indicated lackluster battery performance--again shooting indoors I always have it plugged in and thus haven't noticed any battery problems. The little menu joystick control button used to toggle the menu screens as well as the VCR playback options can be frustrating when you're tired but that is an extremely trivial concern really.



This camera is expensive even in the $1500+ prosumer class it tends more to professional range but I feel it is a great value considering what a fine piece of equipment it is and the wealth of features it offers. It is much much more than enough camera for the consumer and probably a little more than I need actually--I've used mine for a few months and I'm still learning how to wring better and better shooting from it. Once you've used it for a while it becomes clear why this particular model maintains a devoted following. If I have to replace this camera--provided I can afford to--the next camera would definitely be a Panasonic and probably be its big HD brother the HVX.More detail ...

Mixed bag: know what you're using it for

First the two versions of this camera are identical other than the fact that one has built in memory the other does not. BUT consider how much you're paying for that memory? Could you just buy a larger card with the price difference? Probably. Considering that for the sake of convenience you will probably be recording to cards most of the time (so you can just plug them into the computer) I would probably go for the internal memory-less version.



I ran several tests on the camera for a few days to try out its features. I am not a name-brand fanboy nor am I a dedicated videophile. I'm just going to give you an unbiased impression based upon what my eyes saw:



PROS:



1.)Pretty good daylight recording. Considering what I paid for it I was surprised by the quality. It's not a Canon S10 by any means but I was pleased.

2.)It is unbelievably small and light. Shockingly so. If you are looking for the smallest possible 1080p capable camera to take on a daylight hike I'm thinking this is near the top of the list.

3.)Has a few of the bells and whistles of a larger camera including the ability to swap out memory cards a decent touch-screen menu interface where you can play with the settings (as opposed to some of these cheap-o cameras) a genuine optical zoom and an HDMI output right on the camera. Unlike most I had no problem with the touchscreen.

4.)Quick power-on/off feature works really well battery life was not a problem.





CONS:



1.)You'll notice I mentioned how surprised I was by the camera's performance in daylight? I was equally surprised by the nighttime/indoor performance. As in it was atrocious. Absolutely atrocious. We're talking awful pixelation terrible graininess significant artifacting and block-iness and a general inability to see anything. The onboard light provided little help. I'm not talking about near pitch black rooms I'm talking about normally lit indoor areas. The camera is basically useless for indoor or nighttime recording unless you're using multiple floodlights. I would walk through the house and even our well lit dining room had significant problems.



I chalk this up to the tiny sensor (less than 2 megapixels) and tiny lens. Sure it keeps the weight/size factor miniscule but it really hurts performance. I am not understating this problem at all. I tried to use the manual shuttings (such as they are) to correct the problem but playing with frame rates settings and modes made little to no difference.



2.)No built-in lens protector. Having a dangling lenscap to annoy you defeats some of the purpose of having such a compact easy to whip out camera.



3.)Screen tearing/rolling shudder is a problem on quick pans even more so than other CMOS cameras I've tried. I'm not sure what the issue is but be forewarned.



4.)The cameras awful low light capabilities make most of the individualized settings useless.



5.)If you want to make that final jump from 1080i to 1080p you're limited to the "digital cinema" mode that disables the vast majority of the manual settings. A small nitpick but somewhat annoying.





SUMMARY



Know precisely what you're going to be using this camera for before you buy it. The video quality in daylight for the price is pretty decent the form factor/size is phenomenal and the indoor/low light video quality and options are horrendous. Basically if you're only going to be using it outdoors and size is of paramount important it's worthy of consideration.More detail ...

HDC-SD60K

I just tested this camcorder for a full day and was pleasantly surprised. I bought a Canon HFS100 last year and liked the video quality but was disappointed with its stabilization wind noise and limited optical zoom. Even though the HDC-SD60K was half the price of the Canon I really could not tell the difference in video quality between the two cameras on my HD TV. In some respects such as color accuracy I think the Panasonic was better. I really liked the 25X optical zoom and the excellent stabilization even at full zoom. The wind noise cancel feature seemed to work well too. For the price I am amazed by the video quality.More detail ...

Great Camcorder still needs some improvement

I got this camcorder for about two weeks already. It's very easy to start operating it even without reading the manual. The touch screen feature is great! You can basically play on the touch screen and see the difference of the picture quality right on the screen. Here's some of the Pro & Con that I think after playing with this camcorder.



Pro:

-Easy to use

-Great video quality (I hook on my Sony 48 inches 1080p LCD screen the picture looks great!)

-Picture quality is great too if you got enough light when using indoor (outdoor no problem)

-Indoor video recording is pretty good using backlight function if indoor light is not enough.

-Outdoor video quality is excellent

-Digital zooming is great (I can basically zoom in and get so detail that I can see the pore of the person's face right across of the street with 3 traffic lane in between it.)

-LCD touch screen is great (you can flip the screen too! You can also use fingernail to touch the screen if your fingertip is too big the screen don't have any problem recognizing your command.)



Con:

-Not enough battery life (got around 90minutes of recording good thing is that you can see how much time you got left on the LCD screen for recording so you'll know when you need to charge the battery or switch to power cord or new battery.)

-You cannot charge the battery while using power cord!

-The power cord plug on the camcorder is hidden underneath where you put the battery at so you cannot use both battery and power cord at the same time (very bad when you try to record using power cord once you accidentally pull the power cord plug all of the recording stops and it takes long time for camcorder to get back to recording and it also causes temporary hard drive malfunction while the camcorder trying to recover what you just record.)

-You cannot turn on the light that came with the camcorder to do the recording (it's use mostly as flash function when taking picture)



So far that's what I thought playing for two weeks (without reading the manual.)

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Tops for the prosumer

We used this camera to shoot our short film and it proved to be awesome. The P2 cards were a little tricky to work with but certainly less difficult and more portable than film; without the added expense of telecine.



For the cost we could not have gotten this level of quality otherwise. I believe its got the depth of 16mm plus it shoots in 24p. When we saw our final projection we were just amazed.



Great cam for the money.More detail ...

WOW :-)

I received my 150 a little over a week ago. Bought it because I wanted to move up to HD and get out of the tape business. It did not come with an SDHC card. Bought an 8 GB to carry me over until my 16 GB cards arrive via Amazon. I am still on the learning curve on it. Especially liked the large comfortable color view eye piece. I was also amazed by the clarity of the video play back on my 48" LCD screen. Used the three cable output first that came with the camera( Video Lt. Rt. Audio )



Very clear video much clearer than my trusty old Canon GL-2 It does not come with an HDMI cable. Bought one locally and tried it. Plugged one end into the HDMI out port on the camera and the other end into the HDMI port of my TV. I was blown away by how clear it was !! The video was clearer than some of the stations I view in HD.



On playback you are given a thumbnail of the first frame of each scene you shot when you turned the camera on. On playback you can skip around the scenes you want to view or delete if needed. The focus assist is another nice feature. When you use it it momentarily zooms in on the middle of your next shot so that you can fine focus if needed.



It has many other features that I have not tried yet. On editing bought the Pinnacle 12 Ultimate because it is set up to handle the AVHCD format and a PC with the AMD quad Phenom processor with 3 GB of RAM. Waiting for a more powerful graphics card to arrive before trying to edit in this new format. The battery that came with it is small. Would recommend buying the larger battery as soon as you can to balance it out. Right now it feels a little out of balance because of the smaller battery. Also liked the solid magnesium body. No plastic anywhere ! Overall I am impressed with this camera.



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Best camera for the price!!

It was a long wait but finally got it last week and then took it for a trip right away its performance it's outstanding I got this camera for a TV show we are producing after seeing a few options we decided to get this one because of several reasons:



- Size the camera is very compact for a camera that provides broadcast quality image the size is amazingly small.

- Construction this camera has most of its body made out with metal panels that makes it very solid and also makes it reliable also the set up of the buttons are easy to access.

- Price there are other models in the market that could deliver a similar quality or probably a little better but the cost is at least $1k more if you think like I do "creativity is the main ingredient for a good production" spending the extra cash doesn't really make a difference as long as you are aware of the camera's capabilities and limitations but there is always ways to improve performance in some conditions that could affect the correct functionality of your equipment.

- Tapeless technology we bought another AVCHD camera a little less than a year ago we use it mostly for action shots and underwater recording the transition was effortless the advantages and capturing time are reduced to minimal and the quality is amazing with this model we found that its quality is even better than older models and editing is a lot quicker also recording cost are cut to almost nothing with new SDHC cards that can be used over and over without loosing quality... Just this fact makes it a must buy!!!



After using it for this little time I have managed to work around its many controls and get exactly what I want from it the response to low light is not the best but it's decent you can always add a good light for little money and resolve that problem also the sound quality is excellent I didn't get the optional xlr adapter piece for it but I am using a 8mm wireless mic system that combined with this little fellow deliver great results!!



In short words: "the new Panasonic AG-HCM40 is not the best camera money can buy but to my opinion it's the best camera money can buy for this price!!"More detail ...

The picture quality of a '90s cell phone

I bought the Panasonic SDR-H80 digital video camera from Best Buy yesterday (May 23 2009). It cost $399 + extra for a backup battery and a warranty.



The Good Stuff:



The optical image stabilization feature is quite adept at stabilizing a shaky image.



The 70x zoom is kinda cool though you really need a tripod for anything over about 30x.



The camera looks attractive is light weight and has a relatively easy to use interface. The buttons are mostly positioned well except the zoom lever which I couldn't easily reach without jostling the camera.



The Bad Stuff:



The image quality of this camera is utter trash. Pure garbage. My picture phone literally takes better quality video at a higher resolution. I was absolutely stunned at how bad the image quality is. It looks like some kind of highly compressed late 90's webcam or something.



And it gets even worse in low light. And here by "low light" I mean anything less than direct sunlight. My first attempts with this camera last night turned out so bad that I couldn't see anything.



I did have the camera set to the highest quality and I followed the instructions for the different lighting types (fluorescent mercury etc) with no luck.



The camera claims to have an intelligent auto (iA) feature but I didn't notice it doing much but fiddling with the white balance at odd intervals.



There is also a special low-light feature called "magic ..." something or other. I forget. But it reduced the frame rate to 1 or 2 fps which makes it completely unacceptable as a video recording device.



I am surprised at how good the reviews are for this piece of equipment. Really people set your bar just a little bit higher.



I returned this product this morning to Best Buy. I brought my laptop and while I was there I tried out other cameras of this model to make sure that mine was not simply defective. They were all trash.



I ate the $60 Best Buy restocking fee but that's okay because I'd rather be out $60 than $400 for a camera that won't do anything but sit in my closet.More detail ...

Powerhouse Camcorder for Power Users

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3P5NINJ0LEBSL The Panasonic HDC-TM700 is a rare camcorder in that it breaks new ground. The key upside of this camcorder is its 28 Mbps 60P mode -- the camera is capable of recording at 1920x1080 resolution in 60 PROGRESSIVE frames per second. This captures TWICE the image information of the interlaced method resulting in smoother motion. The TM700 also capture more vertical resolution than other consumer camcorders when used in 60P mode.



There are many features of this camera that blur the line between "consumer" and "prosumer."



Whether you dub the 35mm lens "wide" or not it's a hell of a lot more wide than any other consumer cam lens I've tried. My $6500 Sony EX1 has a 31.4mm equivalent lens so the TM700 is in the same ballpark. For me this make a big difference in the practical use of the camera. No longer do I need to carry and constantly attach/detach a wide angle adapter. This also makes me more likely to use the 18X zoom (since there's no wide angle adapter on the cam).



One nice TM700 feature I haven't seen discussed elsewhere is peaking. Quite simply "peaking" means that the camera outlines objects in focus with a color so as to help the camera operator achieve correct focus. The camera does include a peaking function when switched to manual focus. Panasonic calls it "manual focus assist." This really helps achieve critical focus with the 260k pixel LCD screen. The peaking color is blue; I prefer yellow but will gladly settle for blue.



Another upside to the TM700 vis-a-vis other consumer cams is the manual control ring. Panasonic has done a nice job implementing this feature and it's easy to quickly adjust zoom focus shutter speed & iris using the ring. This is a slam dunk win for the TM700 because the competition doesn't even offer a control ring (the control wheel is a far less satisfying alternative).



Some have expressed concern over the cooling fan. The fan does generate some noise when it activates although it's not always on. The fan has really not been an issue for me so far. I usually use an external mic when I'm serious about capturing quality audio.



I'm a picky camera buyer who usually finds flaws with consumer equipment. But I haven't found many with the TM700. It has a number of nice features like facial recognition (automatically exposing for certain faces) outstanding low-light performance with minimal noise and strong color reproduction an almost "instant on" technology (you can power on the camera simply by opening the LCD screen or extending the viewfinder) stellar image stabilization plenty of menu customization options all the benefits of tapeless workflow...and I could go on.



If you are shopping for a "flagship" consumer camcorder when considering the TM700 you must ask yourself whether you really care about 60P. After all it's the 60P mode (and resulting high image quality) that sets this camera apart from its Sony & Canon competitors. I believe that the TM700 in 60P mode produces arguably the best image quality you can find in a consumer camcorder. But you need a fast PC with the right software to edit this material. If you intend to edit your footage do some homework on this point before making a purchase decision.



If you want 60P...and you can handle 60P... then you will love this camcorder.



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Uh people...this is a sub-$200 camcorder NOT a commercial grade HD unit!

I have read all the reviews I could find here and elsewhere about this camcorder and I came away with the impression that the more critical opinions stemmed from unrealistic expectations or poor reading comprehension from the reviewers themselves.

As it turns out I was right.

This is an inexpensive and very compact and lightweight standard definition camcorder designed for the casual user who does not want to sink a whole month's pay into just to record some personal events.

First the good and bad:

Pros:

1) Unusually small and lightweight this is easily carried in a jacket pocket.

2) The startup time even when not set in Quickstart mode is five seconds. Nice way to capture surprises on the go.

3) The iA mode which automatically sets the iris shutter white balance and other major aspects of recording works pretty well even though resorting to the manual settings is still required for some unusual applications.

4) The incredible 70x optical zoom is unparalleled in a camera at this price point.

5) The Optical Image Stabilization is considerably more effective than the more common digital stabilization found in all other cameras in this price range. Just don't expect to get away with using the full 70x zoom while hand holding it though!

6) The MPEG2 format used for recording is easily handled under my admittedly eccentric choice of operating system Linux.

7) The SDHC storage medium allows random access to recordings easy deletion no moving parts and a storage medium that is handled under even Linux with a cardreader. Also the camcorder itself is recognized under Linux so the files can be manipulated through the integral USB port if desired.

8) The manual settings allow the user to adjust for unusual conditions such as low light just as long as you READ THE MANUAL FIRST then experiment a bit on your own.

9) The camcorder is almost noiseless in operation so there is no clicking from a DVD whirring of a hard drive humming of a DVC drive motor or motor from the lens being zoomed in and out.

10) The integral lens cover which is built into the front of the camera surrounding the lens cannot be lost.

11) The barrel surrounding the lens area is threaded allowing accessories such as wide angle and zoom lenses and filters to be screwed in for special applications. Those accessories are easily found right here on Amazon.

12) Hey! It even comes with a proper printed manual a rarity in this day of PDF manuals available only on CD-ROM or via websites.



Cons:

1) It would have been nice if Panasonic had added a microphone jack to allow a separate microphone to be used. However the integral microphone works rather well on its own.

2) In certain applications especially indoors the image can take on a reddish cast when using the default iA setting. This is easily overcome by adjusting the white balance for incandescent lighting though so no real problem.

3) The battery life of ~1 hour is rather short and requires opening a cover on the bottom to replace when discharged. I already ordered two spares and a standalone charger.

4) This may be looked at as good or bad depending on your opinion but the battery does not charge with the cable plugged in while the camera is in use. I actually look at this as a good thing since it does not wear out the battery by discharging it while it is charging which can cause premature failure of lithium-ion batteries. It simply runs directly from the power cord when plugged in which is no real problem as far as I am concerned.

5) Even at the MagicPix setting designed for extreme low light this camcorder will not work in a completely dark room. I don't really even worry about that. If I really wanted to record in such extreme conditions I would spring for a considerably more expensive night shot camcorder. It still does pretty well in low light as long as there is at least 2 lumens of light present.



My opinions on this are that this is unusually good for a camcorder in its price range especially for its two main selling points of its fantastic 70x optical zoom and optical image stabilization.

It is so simple to operate that even a young child could understand it using the nicely automated settings.

Yes there are some circumstances that call for manual intervention but the people griping about this especially those attempting (apparently) to take footage inside a cave would be well advised to READ THE MANUAL and not expect the impossible from such an inexpensive camcorder.

I was able to take some nighttime footage with this with only sodium and mercury vapor light illumination and it did pretty well.

And while it is true that my naked eyes are good in light far lower than this can handle I have a more realistic expectation of it than some of the more critical people out there.

I intend to have a family member use this next year for my wedding and I am confident that it will work just fine for that too.

Nice work Panasonic!More detail ...

Fun camera. More of a toy though.

I took this white water rafting and it held up like a champ. It doesn't shoot very crisp video and considering the bright sun conditions were pretty ideal but the results were far from. The thing is though that doesn't really matter. If you want to shoot decent video buy a decent video camera. This thing on the other hand is waterproof! And extremely so! I don't know if you've ever been white water rafting but it can get pretty brutal and after getting completely submerged more than once and bounced around a few times as well the unit still looks and performs as good as new. I'm very very impressed with its build quality. I give 4 stars because I'm not very impressed with its image quality.



If you need something you can abuse this is your camera; it'll take it. If you need something which will produce impressive video buy something else. And be careful with it.More detail ...

Don't Be Confused O.I.S. vs. E.I.S. and Camcorder Movement!

This Panasonic SDR-S26 camcorder is by far the best you can buy for the price and is rated best camcorder of 2009 CES!



I have owned a few others and none of them had true O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilization) and I assure you that this one does. My others had E.I.S. (Electronic Image Stabilization) and believe me there is a big difference. I have noticed a few other reviews on this camcorder and some say the image stabilization works great out to 20x and good to 40x 70x is still tripod territory. That's good advise as a tripod will assist in producing great videos with virtually no camcorder movement. Please don't be confused between the O.I.S and plain old camcorder movement with camcorder movement at 70x optical zoom the object that you are looking at may move somewhat due to arm and body movement BUT notice with O.I.S. the image remains clear and crisp with great detail even with some hand shakiness. With E.I.S camcorders which usually have less zoom capabilities approx. 40x optical zoom you'd notice while zoomed out not only is there camcorder movement BUT the image is also a bit blurry and has limited detail due in part to hand shakiness. So don't be confused or fooled by plain camcorder movement or the difference between O.I.S vs. E.I.S as Panasonic's SDR-S26 with O.I.S and 70x optical zoom will absolutely exceed your expectations as did mine and amaze you with a spectacular camcorder experience. I am an extremely satisfied owner of the Panasonic SDR-S26 Camcorder and I know you will be also.



You can also search the WEB for the Panasonic sdr-s26 and view some of the you-tube video zoom tests that were performed by camcorder owners and see the quality of the O.I.S. and the 70x optical zoom for yourself.



P.S. Don't forget to pick up a SD/SDHC flash memory card (preferably a 16GB priced around $40.00)and possibly an extra battery (part # B-9681 priced around $14.00) both at AMAZON.COM. More detail ...

Don't Be Confused O.I.S. vs. E.I.S. and Camcorder Movement!

This Panasonic SDR-S26 camcorder is by far the best you can buy for the price and is rated best camcorder of 2009 CES!



I have owned a few others and none of them had true O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilization) and I assure you that this one does. My others had E.I.S. (Electronic Image Stabilization) and believe me there is a big difference. I have noticed a few other reviews on this camcorder and some say the image stabilization works great out to 20x and good to 40x 70x is still tripod territory. That's good advise as a tripod will assist in producing great videos with virtually no camcorder movement. Please don't be confused between the O.I.S and plain old camcorder movement with camcorder movement at 70x optical zoom the object that you are looking at may move somewhat due to arm and body movement BUT notice with O.I.S. the image remains clear and crisp with great detail even with some hand shakiness. With E.I.S camcorders which usually have less zoom capabilities approx. 40x optical zoom you'd notice while zoomed out not only is there camcorder movement BUT the image is also a bit blurry and has limited detail due in part to hand shakiness. So don't be confused or fooled by plain camcorder movement or the difference between O.I.S vs. E.I.S as Panasonic's SDR-S26 with O.I.S and 70x optical zoom will absolutely exceed your expectations as did mine and amaze you with a spectacular camcorder experience. I am an extremely satisfied owner of the Panasonic SDR-S26 Camcorder and I know you will be also.



You can also search the WEB for the Panasonic sdr-s26 and view some of the you-tube video zoom tests that were performed by camcorder owners and see the quality of the O.I.S. and the 70x optical zoom for yourself.



P.S. Don't forget to pick up a SD/SDHC flash memory card (preferably a 16GB priced around $40.00)and possibly an extra battery (part # B-9681 priced around $14.00) both at AMAZON.COM. More detail ...

Excellent Camera! Perfect for the beach.

I have read all the complaints about video quality but unless you are shooting at night or in very dim lighting you have nothing to worry about. Besides there should be no surprises related to quality if you read the spec's before you bought the camera.



That said I have been using this camera in fairly heavy surf here in Southern California and I'm extremely pleased with it's durability so far. The tiny rubber gaskets worried me at first look but after having the camera thrashed a bit in heavy white water and just general rough play I'm not worried anymore. The video quality underwater is amazing. Definitely the most fun feature of the camera. And the main reason I bought it! Any clips you watch on youtube or any other site do NO justice to how clear the quality is. Those websites use compression software that kills video quality. When you watch the videos on your T.V or computer they look perfect.



The reason I gave it 4 stars and not 5 is because I find getting the videos to play on my computer is not as easy as they made it sound. I also noticed the "squished" effect that the above reviewer mentioned and I intend to download the SDCOPY software they recommend. I also have noticed that randomly the sound becomes muffled and a buzzing can be heard. Again the above reviewer mentioned that this could be due to water contacting the mic.



Other then those 2 problems (which are by no means major) I highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a durable water proof camera to use swimming surfing or any other adventurous outdoor activity. For the money I think it's a great bargain. More detail ...

The picture quality of a '90s cell phone

I bought the Panasonic SDR-H80 digital video camera from Best Buy yesterday (May 23 2009). It cost $399 + extra for a backup battery and a warranty.



The Good Stuff:



The optical image stabilization feature is quite adept at stabilizing a shaky image.



The 70x zoom is kinda cool though you really need a tripod for anything over about 30x.



The camera looks attractive is light weight and has a relatively easy to use interface. The buttons are mostly positioned well except the zoom lever which I couldn't easily reach without jostling the camera.



The Bad Stuff:



The image quality of this camera is utter trash. Pure garbage. My picture phone literally takes better quality video at a higher resolution. I was absolutely stunned at how bad the image quality is. It looks like some kind of highly compressed late 90's webcam or something.



And it gets even worse in low light. And here by "low light" I mean anything less than direct sunlight. My first attempts with this camera last night turned out so bad that I couldn't see anything.



I did have the camera set to the highest quality and I followed the instructions for the different lighting types (fluorescent mercury etc) with no luck.



The camera claims to have an intelligent auto (iA) feature but I didn't notice it doing much but fiddling with the white balance at odd intervals.



There is also a special low-light feature called "magic ..." something or other. I forget. But it reduced the frame rate to 1 or 2 fps which makes it completely unacceptable as a video recording device.



I am surprised at how good the reviews are for this piece of equipment. Really people set your bar just a little bit higher.



I returned this product this morning to Best Buy. I brought my laptop and while I was there I tried out other cameras of this model to make sure that mine was not simply defective. They were all trash.



I ate the $60 Best Buy restocking fee but that's okay because I'd rather be out $60 than $400 for a camera that won't do anything but sit in my closet.More detail ...

Fun camera. More of a toy though.

I took this white water rafting and it held up like a champ. It doesn't shoot very crisp video and considering the bright sun conditions were pretty ideal but the results were far from. The thing is though that doesn't really matter. If you want to shoot decent video buy a decent video camera. This thing on the other hand is waterproof! And extremely so! I don't know if you've ever been white water rafting but it can get pretty brutal and after getting completely submerged more than once and bounced around a few times as well the unit still looks and performs as good as new. I'm very very impressed with its build quality. I give 4 stars because I'm not very impressed with its image quality.



If you need something you can abuse this is your camera; it'll take it. If you need something which will produce impressive video buy something else. And be careful with it.More detail ...

Mixed bag: know what you're using it for

First the two versions of this camera are identical other than the fact that one has built in memory the other does not. BUT consider how much you're paying for that memory? Could you just buy a larger card with the price difference? Probably. Considering that for the sake of convenience you will probably be recording to cards most of the time (so you can just plug them into the computer) I would probably go for the internal memory-less version.



I ran several tests on the camera for a few days to try out its features. I am not a name-brand fanboy nor am I a dedicated videophile. I'm just going to give you an unbiased impression based upon what my eyes saw:



PROS:



1.)Pretty good daylight recording. Considering what I paid for it I was surprised by the quality. It's not a Canon S10 by any means but I was pleased.

2.)It is unbelievably small and light. Shockingly so. If you are looking for the smallest possible 1080p capable camera to take on a daylight hike I'm thinking this is near the top of the list.

3.)Has a few of the bells and whistles of a larger camera including the ability to swap out memory cards a decent touch-screen menu interface where you can play with the settings (as opposed to some of these cheap-o cameras) a genuine optical zoom and an HDMI output right on the camera. Unlike most I had no problem with the touchscreen.

4.)Quick power-on/off feature works really well battery life was not a problem.





CONS:



1.)You'll notice I mentioned how surprised I was by the camera's performance in daylight? I was equally surprised by the nighttime/indoor performance. As in it was atrocious. Absolutely atrocious. We're talking awful pixelation terrible graininess significant artifacting and block-iness and a general inability to see anything. The onboard light provided little help. I'm not talking about near pitch black rooms I'm talking about normally lit indoor areas. The camera is basically useless for indoor or nighttime recording unless you're using multiple floodlights. I would walk through the house and even our well lit dining room had significant problems.



I chalk this up to the tiny sensor (less than 2 megapixels) and tiny lens. Sure it keeps the weight/size factor miniscule but it really hurts performance. I am not understating this problem at all. I tried to use the manual shuttings (such as they are) to correct the problem but playing with frame rates settings and modes made little to no difference.



2.)No built-in lens protector. Having a dangling lenscap to annoy you defeats some of the purpose of having such a compact easy to whip out camera.



3.)Screen tearing/rolling shudder is a problem on quick pans even more so than other CMOS cameras I've tried. I'm not sure what the issue is but be forewarned.



4.)The cameras awful low light capabilities make most of the individualized settings useless.



5.)If you want to make that final jump from 1080i to 1080p you're limited to the "digital cinema" mode that disables the vast majority of the manual settings. A small nitpick but somewhat annoying.





SUMMARY



Know precisely what you're going to be using this camera for before you buy it. The video quality in daylight for the price is pretty decent the form factor/size is phenomenal and the indoor/low light video quality and options are horrendous. Basically if you're only going to be using it outdoors and size is of paramount important it's worthy of consideration. More detail ...

great video camera

I was torn between Sony and Panasonic (the Canons seemed to have many recurring complaints especially with the decks) and after reading several reviews became gradually partial to the Panasonic before ever having used one based on customer loyalty and consistently glowing testimonials.



Well I've never used the comparable Sony's JVC's or the Canon XL2 (some limited experience with the GL2) but as best I can tell without personal comparison this camera does in fact deserve all the great reviews.



The image quality is excellent and in many cases looks about as good as broadcast TV video (nonHD) and the camera allows a tremendous amount of image control--manual focus ring aperture (iris) gain adjustment shutter speed zebra control for overexposure white AND black balance adjusting daylight filters etc. The electronic viewfinder can even be focused via simple diopter. There are six preprogrammed but customizable settings for image control so the user can simply dial in whatever setting they need based on the shooting/lighting conditions. So for example you shoot occasionally under weak flourescents lights--you adjust the white balance and the gain and the detail level accordingly save it as a particular "scene file"; whenever you return to that same location or a similar shooting environment you can click over to the saved settings in an instant and start recording. The first four are factory set for video 60 frames; the last two are 24 fps for a more film-like quality which this camera handles beautifully.



What actually sold me on the camera in terms of hardware were the two XLR jacks--comparably priced models didn't seem to offer this. The XLR jacks allow the user to attach professional shotgun mics and bypass the mediocre factory one taking fuller advantage of 16bit 48khz stereo recording. I use a fairly inexpensive AZDEN mic and the improvement in sound quality is tremendous. If you were willing to invest in finer mics the audio quality would be better still. Having two XLR inputs means that in addition to recording live audio (like a mic) you can also mix in input from another pre-recorded source--all in the camera!



The lens by Leica is also impressive--it is a bit wide and is not interchangeable (although I believe there is an adaptive telephoto for $$$). I prefer shooting wide but if you have need a wide selection of lenses or don't enjoy the look of wide angle look to Canon.



The drawbacks are minor--the camera is rather cumbersome--and would certainly be tiresome for handheld use as it isn't designed for shoulder-mounted use. I shoot almost exclusively indoors with a tripod and so neither of these issues are relevant for me. Also irrelevant for me are reviews I've read which have indicated lackluster battery performance--again shooting indoors I always have it plugged in and thus haven't noticed any battery problems. The little menu joystick control button used to toggle the menu screens as well as the VCR playback options can be frustrating when you're tired but that is an extremely trivial concern really.



This camera is expensive even in the $1500+ prosumer class it tends more to professional range but I feel it is a great value considering what a fine piece of equipment it is and the wealth of features it offers. It is much much more than enough camera for the consumer and probably a little more than I need actually--I've used mine for a few months and I'm still learning how to wring better and better shooting from it. Once you've used it for a while it becomes clear why this particular model maintains a devoted following. If I have to replace this camera--provided I can afford to--the next camera would definitely be a Panasonic and probably be its big HD brother the HVX.More detail ...

Great Camcorder still needs some improvement

I got this camcorder for about two weeks already. It's very easy to start operating it even without reading the manual. The touch screen feature is great! You can basically play on the touch screen and see the difference of the picture quality right on the screen. Here's some of the Pro & Con that I think after playing with this camcorder.



Pro:

-Easy to use

-Great video quality (I hook on my Sony 48 inches 1080p LCD screen the picture looks great!)

-Picture quality is great too if you got enough light when using indoor (outdoor no problem)

-Indoor video recording is pretty good using backlight function if indoor light is not enough.

-Outdoor video quality is excellent

-Digital zooming is great (I can basically zoom in and get so detail that I can see the pore of the person's face right across of the street with 3 traffic lane in between it.)

-LCD touch screen is great (you can flip the screen too! You can also use fingernail to touch the screen if your fingertip is too big the screen don't have any problem recognizing your command.)



Con:

-Not enough battery life (got around 90minutes of recording good thing is that you can see how much time you got left on the LCD screen for recording so you'll know when you need to charge the battery or switch to power cord or new battery.)

-You cannot charge the battery while using power cord!

-The power cord plug on the camcorder is hidden underneath where you put the battery at so you cannot use both battery and power cord at the same time (very bad when you try to record using power cord once you accidentally pull the power cord plug all of the recording stops and it takes long time for camcorder to get back to recording and it also causes temporary hard drive malfunction while the camcorder trying to recover what you just record.)

-You cannot turn on the light that came with the camcorder to do the recording (it's use mostly as flash function when taking picture)



So far that's what I thought playing for two weeks (without reading the manual.)

More detail ...

Good for the price and the size

I bought this several weeks ago when it was on sale. I'm happy with it. The footage it produces is very good the low light performance while not great is acceptable. It's very small and very easy to use and the optical image stabilizer is fantastic. All in all it's a solid step up from a flip camcorder though certainly not as good as one of the more expensive canons. But for now this is an affordable high def camcorder that works well for family video shoots.More detail ...