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-   -   accessories for Ac-90? (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/panasonic-avccam-camcorders/513945-accessories-ac-90-a.html)

Phil Gadd February 1st, 2013 01:15 AM

accessories for Ac-90?
 
Hi Guys

I am just about to order the panasonic ac-90 and the supplier offers accessories but they seem a little expensive.

https://slrhut.co.uk/product/ID461C6...ld-Camcorder-/

I am thinking the memory cards and battery charger can be bought from amazon etc. But how about the case?

Mike Beckett February 1st, 2013 01:35 AM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Phil,

First off, why not CVP or one of the other more recognisable video retailers? That site worries me for some reason. It's no cheaper either. And a 2 year extended warranty? The camera has 2 or 3 years already, via Panasonic PASS.

It already comes with a battery charger too, I think. Why buy another?

Mike Beckett February 1st, 2013 02:37 AM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
And I like the way they show Sony Infolithium batteries as accessories!

"The Extended Life Battery (4 hour) high-capacity Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery is compatible with the digital cameras. "

It also lists AC adapters as accessories. You should get one with the camera.

The £150 filter kit seems way overpriced for something not showing any brand names. You could get 3 B+W filters for that money and still have change.

And they end with a £45 HDMI cable. Blimey.

I would actually ignore almost every single accessory they list, it's way too vague.

See: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-nex...ml#post1775282
And: http://blog.photo3.co.uk/2011/12/is-...k-reviews.html

Might be better using...

Creative Video - broadcast & professional solutions
ProAV - The Professional Broadcast Equipment Supplier - New & Used Broadcasting Equipment
www.hpreston.co.uk
www.amazon.co.uk

Chris Harding February 1st, 2013 08:32 AM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Hi Phil

For batteries stick with Panasonic genuine ones..the AC-90 uses the same non-coded battery as the HPX and even the DVX100 batteries work fine in it. The HMC cameras used batteries with a decoder which sorta forced you to buy genuine ones but you will find the genuine ones last way longer abd are far more reliable anyway... I certainly wouldn't shoot a wedding on generic batteries!! Stick to the proper charger too!!

Even after 2 years my Panny batteries still perform well and some generics I bought at the same time are already in the bin!!

Chris

Phil Gadd February 1st, 2013 12:00 PM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Hi guys, thankfully i have not had the chance to order yet so i am about to take your advice and also look at your links :-)

Phil Gadd February 1st, 2013 12:31 PM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Quite like the look of creative video

Panasonic AG-AC90 (AGAC90) Full HD AVCCAM 1/4 3MOS Camcorder

Im trying to find out about the panasonic batteries (is it called CGA-D54 and how long are they)

also any ideas about a case?

Finally can you recommend any filters, this is really a new area for me.

Thank you so much for your help Guys

Chris Harding February 2nd, 2013 09:37 AM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Hi Phil

Get the camera, forget about batteries, cases and filters for now and physically go and use it for a bit. That way you will see what you need and what the camera can do. Even my HMC batteries which are only 2450 mah last me a good two hours so go shoot some stuff..then you will see what extras you need.

I personally don't stuff cameras in a bag or case ..to carry them around is fine but I leave them in a nice dry airflow in my office...leaving it in a case and tossed in a damp cupboard is a sure way to attract both mould and condensation so you really only need a travelling case not a storage case!!

For now, if you guys get any bright sun at all you might want something like an ND2 or ND4 filter in very bright conditions but for now the filters built into the camera should suffice!!

Unless you have a huge gig coming up any day then stick to batteries that the manual offer as extras but for now use the camera and then decide what you need

Chris

Phil Gadd February 2nd, 2013 12:02 PM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Thanks Chris

I have a couple of jobs coming up where I need to interview people indoors ( maybe I could leave the camera power in from a socket?)

I placed the order this morning but didn't order any battles, cards or case. I am working from home at present and converted a room into my positing room an to rage etc.

Note to self : research what a ND2 and ND4 filter is :-)

Chris Harding February 2nd, 2013 09:29 PM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Hi Phil

You will actually be quite amazed how long the batteries run for nowdays since there is no tape motors to pull tape thru the transport system! Unless you are planning a marathon session of more than 3 hours then your battery will hold out fine. In fact the only time I have used the AC adaptor is when we did a dual dance concert which ran for 2 hours (then an hour break) then a 2nd two hours ...My cam batteries seldom need to be changed at an all day wedding and each camera probably records 1.5 to 2 hours of footage and the cams also run in standby a lot.

Buy decent cards!!! NOT cheap ones!! I have always used Transcend simply because they gave me excellent performance..I changed last year to the fancy Sandisk Ultimate cards (45mbps) and I had to ditch them as I started getting glitches on the footage...Just don't be tempted by eBay cheapies!!

Think of ND filters as sunglasses for your camera if you have to shoot in bright sunlight! Small sensor cameras give you the best image at around F5.6 iris and the camera's internal filters will attempt to keep the iris from going any smaller than F8 ...If the scene is very bright however the 90 can run out of internal ND filter so the iris will simply get smaller so the image can degrade a bit in very bright light....In the UK at present I doubt whether that's a problem but maybe in Summer ??? To be honest I shoot my HMC cameras without any ND filters at all and they do just fine.

Until you get to know the camera also do your initial footage in full auto ....once you are comfortable and can see what the camera can do you can venture into manual ...Panny cameras do a pretty good job in auto un-aided !!!

Chris

Phil Gadd February 3rd, 2013 03:45 AM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Thanks Chris

The only transcend I can find is this ar 25mbs (i thought you mentioned 40mbs in a previous comment though)



So would something like this be good? or are they cheapies?


OR should I look at the Transcend sdhc range?

Thanks again

PS just found this which was interesting

Chris Harding February 3rd, 2013 06:34 AM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Hey Phil

I'm purely working on actual experience and I found that my Sandisk cards (I have 8 x 16GB) started to give me weird pixellation over a one second of less period which isn't good at a wedding whereas the older Transcend 16GB (Also have 8) Never gave me an issue like that. I was edited footage and around 7 frames of a wedding speech has nasty breen blocks all over then they rectify themselves and all the rest is fine. I have only had it on the Sandisk cards after 6 months of use or over .

Bear in mind that cards are rated in bytes and camera data rate in bits so for the AC-90 working at max 28mbps you actually only need a card that is around Class 6 (Class 6 writes around 48mbps (6 x 8 bits)
You can almost get away with a Class 4 actually which can write at 32mbps.

I think cards (not non-genuine ones of course) are much like fuel for your car..it's really your choice!!!

I prefer using more smaller cards rather than 1 x64GB I like 4 x 16gb ..I'd hate to lose 64GB of data all in one shot..but that just me....If you are worried why not buy genuine Panasonic Cards????

Chris

Mike Beckett February 3rd, 2013 06:37 AM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Funny, my experience has been the opposite of Chris'. I've had no end of bother with Transcend Class 10 trying to record video on various cameras. Sandisk have never given me any bother at all on any of my cameras. I do suspect that there's bad examples of all brands of cards.

Of course, this isn't in a Panasonic AC-90. In fact, I've rethought my new camera purchase and am going for a Panasonic AG-AC130, just to annoy Chris. <grin>

The only advantage of SDXC I can think of is higher capacity (but I wouldn't put so much onto a single tiny card!) and faster transfer to the PC at the end of the day. I'm currently using Sandisk SDHC video SDHC cards ar around £24 a pop from Amazon UK:


Capacity is up to you I suppose, I think 32GB is enough to risk on a single card. According to the Panasonic manual, I can get abour 3 hours on a card. Relay recording would remove any problems for longer sessions, but that's not something I need to do. Be aware that the AC90 will lose a few frames worth of sound when it flips between cards.

I endorse Chris' advice fully - get the camera first, see how it goes, and decide what you need when you've handled it for a while. No point wasting money on either things you don't need, or on getting the wrong thing in the first place.

Re. the Youtube video. 95MB/s is wasted on the Sandisk card, your camera won't go that high! And I'm not sure I buy the "picture quality" thing... the problems I had with Transcend were actual camera write errors and lost footage.

Phil Gadd February 3rd, 2013 08:45 AM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Chris/Mike, thanks for such thorough replies and gives me some clear understanding of what I need.

Im going to forget the 64 and go for 2 x 32gb (I assume i can turn the switching facility off anyway between the cards).

Thank god those 95mbs cards are no good for me as they are expensive.

Do you guys thinks I should utilise the rode videomic pro and Zoom H4N or add a new xlr mic (AG-MC200G).
(when doing interviews I used the zoom and rode lavalier, but I did an outdoor quick interview with the rode videomic pro (and a deadbeat) in portugal and the flipping wind noise was terrible :-( (I do believe you can get special housings like the ryecote etc but am not made of money lol)

Mike Beckett February 3rd, 2013 11:20 AM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Phil,

That Panasonic mic is well over £300, I wouldn't pay that for a basic on-camera shotgun mic. Something like the Audio-Technical AT875R is a good on-camera mic, it can be had new on eBay UK for about £100, or £130 or so at selected dealers.

You need a windshield for it. I assume "deadbeat" was "deadcat" fixed by your tablet PC! Something like a Rycote Softie 033032. Cheaper windshields can be had, but I'm not keen on straggly hairs or poor performance.

With those two items, you have a great on-camera mic. That covers general and ambient sound.

Of course, you could just wait and see if you need an on-camera mic. For indoor interviews, the built-in camera mic, combined with the Rode lav and zoom H4, or just a direct connection to the camera's XLR, would suffice.

Again, don't spend unless you have to!

Phil Gadd February 3rd, 2013 11:56 AM

Re: accessories for Ac-90?
 
Thanks Mike (you are right btw, it was deadcat ha)

Yep, you are right, hen i got the footage back to the uk there was instances where I could see the the hairs on the image which was so frustrating as I couldnt see them when filming.

Again, I will take your advice here and wait for the camera arrive and test out the mics I have :-)


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