How well will this camera be suited for this professional shooting? I looked at some raw native footage and it looked pretty good to my eyes. I put it into Premiere Pro CS5 and it played back without problems. However, I would like to see how the codec holds when it is really put to the test (and in Low Light).

I currently own a Canon XL-H1 with an Audio Technica wireless system, videolight and Rode NTG-2 / NT3 microphones. However, I notice that the size of the whole kit is large and bulky, so there are a lot of things I cannot shoot. I also have a Panasonic traveller cam with AVCHD lite movie mode and it beats my Canon XL-H1 in low-light. It simply sees where my Canon XL-H1 cannot see anymore.

So I have been thinking lately and I am considering smaller and cheaper cams because technology simply moves to fast and I don't want to invest $7,000 and upwards in a new cam all the time. I shoot documentaries about people's lives that end up on DVD and the web, not in the cinema. I do a lot of interviews, and I like the idea to have two or more camera's setup so I have more editing options and can focus more on the interview. And to be honest, the quality of these consumer cams is really impressive nowadays. And I like these small cams more and more because you can get into small spaces, mount them on your bike etcetera... all things you can't do easily with a Canon XL-H1 size camera.

My main questions are:
- How well do the manual controls work
- Is it easy to convert 1080p50 footage to 1080p25 (because the customer can't view 1080p50 and I have read that the vertical resolution and motion is superior in the p50 mode.
(I currently use a non HD & can't imagine using anything but a firewire & this does not have that vconnection)
- How good is the cinema mode; do you lose manual controls in this mode?
- How good is the LCD for focussing? What options assist focus?
- Is the footage easy to grade and mix with the footage of other cams?
- How good is the sensivity in low-light?
- Rolling Shutter?
- Can you create in camera custom presets / profiles with settings like sharpening/color/saturation etc.)?

I am also looking at DSLR camera's but there are some things I dislike about them (4GB file size limit, focussing, artifacts, rolling shutter).

All feedback is greatly appreciated.
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I am looking for a small but high quality HD videocam for a 10 week vacation & this one looks good.
However I have some questions that maybe the experts here can answer (my first post).
- How do you get footage onto your computer for editing without a firewire?
(I current use a non HD cam with firewire & can't imagine using anything else & this does not have a firewire port)
- 1080p50? Can I shoot in this & edit & watch on any TV, esp if I burn the vid onto a dvd?
- What is the minimum I will need in a computer to edit?
- What editing software works well with this, or I guess any HD cam? (Currently using non HD with Pinnacle)

Finally, are there any other cameras I should consider?
I am looking for the highest quality vid possible in a small HD cam.

Hi Paul and welcome to DVinfo.

You can use a USB lead to download clips from the TM700s internal memory (or if the clips are selected to be saved on a SDHC card in the TM - which stands for Twin Memory I'm told) then just put that SD card into a USB card reader, for example.

Firewire/IE1394 is not really seen anymore in the post HDV camera world - and some would say just as well. Many cameras got their Firewire ports expensively "fried" by incorrect connection to a PC when the camera was "live" (never happened to me when I used HDV but I was ultra careful).

28Mbps 1080p50 (or 1080p60 for those in some parts of the world) is going to need a pretty fast PC, no two ways about it - BUT - until you get there the cam will shoot in a more regular AVCHD format (1080p at 17Mbps) - which whilst not earth shattering in stunning visual clarity from this cam is more widely supported by most recent NLE programs. AVCHD is still a bit of a pig to edit through if you try and do it on anything but a pretty reasonable, recent PC. A lot depends on how complex your edits might be. I'm editing 1080p50 with a similar but newer TM900 on a 2010 Windows 7 64 Bit Intel i7 box with a good amount of RAM and a 2 TB internal RAID 0 for media and it's certainly a LOT more taxing than HDV ever was on a lesser PC - just as well I'm only doing pretty simple edits (in Vegas 9E) with this cam at the moment (as I've yet to incorporate it into my commercial workflow in a serious way, which is 90% Mac Pro/FCP based anyway).

Other cams to consider are the newer Panasonic TM900, SD900 etc. or the new Sony CX700 and the new Canon HFG10, the latter two a lot more expensive - each have their strengths and weaknesses, depending on your needs. Lots of info on all these cams in various forum sections on DVinfo. Time to start reading and searching around on here and let us know if you have any more questions!

Thanks for the quick reply.

I have no interest in 3D or 3D Compatability but still want the highest quality available in a small camera.
Is the 3D thing the main advantage of the Panasonics you mentioned over others?

A quick search showed I can access these prices;
- HDC-TM700,,,,$799
- Panasonic HDC-HS250....$599 (Reg $1199)....older version? dis/advantages from TM-700
- Canon VIXIA High Definition 32GB Hard Drive Camcorder (HFS20)...$699 (Reg $949)

Couldn't quickly find prices on the others you mentioned but wondering about the ones I did find & the discounts being offered.
Are they older models & do they offer anything less or more than the few you listed?

I think for $800, the TM-700 is best in class. 3-chips, 60p at 28MBS. Manual ring. 32GB internal memory with rollover to SDHC....peaking....histogram

You can actually get the SDT750 for $750 at Amazon. It has an updated stabilizer over the TM700 and also comes with the 3D lens. If you can sell that lens on EBAY for at least $150, you're essentially getting the SDT750 for only $600 or even less if you can sell the 3D lens for more than $150.

This deal will not last long.

I am in Canada & amazon.ca doesn't show this.

Would the computer below run a full HD editing software package with the Panasonic 32GB High Definition Flash Camcorder (HDCTM700K) ($799 at Future Shop)
If so, I can get both of this for $1200 & then would need only a good editing package. I am currently using SD & an old Pinnacle package. Any suggestions for an HD upgrade for an editing software package if this would work?
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The Compaq CQ5726F desktop PC delivers outstanding Quad Core performance thanks to an AMD Athlon II 640 processor and 4GB DDR3 system memory. A large 750GB hard drive provides ample room for storage, while the Dual Layer DVD drive with LightScribe lets you back up your data to DVD, burn videos, and even create your own customized disc labels.

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Hi, Just found this thread and have a simple(ish) question.
Is it better to shoot in 1080/50p (28 MBS) and convert to 25p or simply shoot in 1080/25p (17 MBS).
Does the 50fps quoted higher bit rate generate a better quality image than the 25fps lower bit rate?

Given my current output is bluray i am not sure whether I need to shoot in 1080/50p other than to archive for a time when it is more useful.

Any help in de-misting this issue for me will be greatly appreciated.

Ian

Ian, I held off answering this, because I have wondered the same thing ... however since no-one else has replied yet, let me take a stab at it.

You ask about "better" in the context of datarate, so I assume you are primarily wondering about the quality of the footage. My guess would be that 50P at 28Mbps might on average be marginally better than 25P at 17Mbps, but that may well depend on the particular subject matter (level of detail, motion, etc).

There are some other considerations though ... and here is why I usually shoot 60P (I'm in the States):

1) future-proofing (as you mentioned).

2) option to produce 1080i: playable on all current devices with better motion rendition than 25P for sports etc. (Have said that, I NEVER use 1080i myself).

3) option to resize down to 720P60, which is within the BluRay spec, and which I can match with the 720P60 produced by my GH2 and HMC40. (I do use this, all the time).

3a) option to recompose the image, if needed, during the process of down-rezzing to 720P. For example, I did this recently to improve some poorly-composed footage of high-speed skiing.

Just my $0.02. Interested in what other might have to say....