Looking for new prosumer camcorder. Which to buy?

[cobo04]

Ron

Thanks, I'm happy to publish results of testing the outputs of my new Panasonic HDC-TM700 and it's modes of operation and quality really to see how X3 copes with it all.

I won't get technical, there is no point in this open forum.

I;m often asked to shoot a 'talk to camera' video of some CEO or whatever where the final footage is just formatted to 320x240 for insertion to Powerpoint!! so no point of HD in this case (I think I could do it with my iPhone if the mics were a lot better !!

Maxfrost01

Sorry for beng techy. Yes, in full HD 1080/50p mode, 1 Hour 27 Minutes of video will fill the total of 64GB installed (32GB on board and a 32GB SDHC card), bringing the video mode down to it's HE mode (the camera has five quality modes (Full, HA, HG, HX and HE) will offer 27 Hours of video, at this level it is only just above SD level of quality, still this will allow for good quality, standard DVD quality level, if this is what you want from the camera, then good, it'll do it.

Hope this helps and that the results assist others with these new breeds of Camera against what X3 is capable of.

Colin

[Ken Berry]

Do any of the lesser quality settings e.g. HA, allow filming in i rather than p mode?

[maxfrost01]

Colin - the quality of the images on that Panasonic of yours must be completely amazing!
I want one. But I want to be able to:
1. Shoot video at the highest quality
2. Have sufficient storage capacity on the camera
3. Have the ability to edit the footage I shoot and
4. Be able to play the edited files on my HDTV.

Clearly the Panasonic can do #1 but it's debatable on #2
X3 can't (yet) cope with #3
How about #4? Can you play back the 1080/50p files on your TV?

[cobo04]

Maxfrost01

1. Shoot video at the highest quality
>> This is the best quality on the camera as it is 1080/50p on PAL (or 60p NTSC).

2. Have sufficient storage capacity on the camera
The hard drive version of the Panasonic (HDC-HS700 with it's 240GB drive) offers about 20 Hours of video storage, only issue here is the issue with hard drives and limitations of environment where they are just not happy working (see earlier posting).

3. Have the ability to edit the footage I shoot.
This is the major point of X3 and full HD, I have edited about 10 minutes of full HD on X3 and it went as well as expected and right through to DVD (just), used DVD MovieFactory 7 Pro for this. Not tried longer than 10 minutes, there will be a limitation due to size of file HD produced. There again, you don't get something for nothing. The results of Full HD are finely balanced by the sheer size of the files needed to product the video.

4. Be able to play the edited files on my HDTV.
I have played back from both the camera itself (via HDMI) and via a DVD player (which accepted my HD disks) again via HDMI to the TV and the quality in both was stunning. Being direct feed (rather than broadcast). My cat poked it's nose at the camera which automatically went into macro mode so ended up with a screen sized cat face in focus and each hair could be counted, and no I didn't, just too many but the quality said it all.

Hope this helps

[cobo04]

Not for just prosumer cameras but really for all of us out there into photography/video and cameras.

I was on the look out for a level to place somewhere on my new panasonic HDC-TM700 camera or tripod but there is so little free space it proed a bit difficult to find a level that could be fixed.

After a lot of looking (okay google), I came across a UIK company with branches across Europe called Digital Toy Shop. Web only, as so many other are - http://www.digitaltoyshop.co.uk/

What they have, amoungst a lot of other goodies, is a cube with three levels in it, the cube is 25mmx25mmx28mm (the extra 3 mm is where the shoe is, the cube fits onto the hot shoe of the camera to offer levels in all three planes.

Also got a car battery charger with an adaptor which fits the panasonic camera batteries.

Take a look. I realise this isn't the right place for this but, well, every little bit helps.

Colin

[Ken Berry]

Useful, I guess, but I would have thought having it in the shoe would make things rather pointless once you had the camera up to your eye and filming... unless you are talking about having it on a tripod. In that case, my Velbon floating head tripod has a level built into it.

[cobo04]

Ken

I fully agree with you on this, the tripod on my other camera (Sony VX1000) has an inbuilt level and adjustable head. As I often need to use both, I used a spare tripod for my new Panasonic camera with hasn't any level, so this cube was really the only option in this case.

I put this on the forum really as this litle cube may be used on any camera with a hot shoe (still or video), which for me is great as I have a number of tripods and monopods that just don't have any levelling at all and little to no space to fit any or even when placed on a wall or bump cusion, as I'm sure others have as well.

[maxfrost01]

A year on and I still haven't bought my new prosumer camcorder but now it looks like I have to. My old Sony has finally given up the ghost and will cost so much to repair that I have to go for a new one.
Well, that's the story I'm telling my wife and she seems to be buying it

So I'm back at the investigative stage but can't stay at that stage for too long.

I'm looking at 2 possibilities (but open to more).

1. The Canon Legria HF G10. Has great reviews but is it worth the £1250 price tag? And does that one big CMOS really work or should I be sticking with 3 smaller ones?
2. The Panasonic X900. This is billed as the replacement for the highly regarded TM900 but is it as good? With the price at less than £850 there's a massive saving over the Canon but then I need to add a high capacity SDXC card (not cheap)

Any users/potential customers out there with a view on these cameras?

And two further points:

1. Can VideoStudio X5 handle the high definition AVCHD 50p output of these cameras? A year ago the view seemed to be that X3 could not.
2. Are SD cards the future? Or should I be looking at at camera that has SD and HDD?

Many thanks,