Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Mike how lightweight a tripod do you mean? I have a tripod from Gorilla which is quite nice for tiny little thing. Actually a smooth pan! But I do have others.

GorillaPod Video - Video tripod system for personal handheld cameras

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Hi

If you are viewing on a computer monitor you will not get completely smooth video because typically your monitor is running at 60Hz and not 50Hz, so there are extra frames added/duplicated and this gives rise to some judder depending on the scene. On a HDMI TV this wouldn't be an issue as it would run at 50Hz to match the source. Also you computer may not be able to decode 1080/50p without some problems giving rise to even more stutters and judder.

Changing interlace settings is probably invoking the de-interlacer and more field-interpolation so smoothing things out better for 60Hz.

Regards

Phil

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Just did some experimenting - the lightstands I wanted to use for support are out. They are too wobbly.
It looks like microphone stands will be used instead.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Why not just two inexpensive tripods?

I bought my materials yesterday and will hopefully put it together in the next week or so. I'm going with a laminated shelf with 1 x 2" on the edges to create an I-Beam of sorts, and inlaying 1/4 x 20 inserts on each end for mounting on two tripods. I may add adjustable feet on the corners for floor use. All in all, about $20 total.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

I just happen to have a couple of mic stands, that's all. At the beginning I was concerned with the total weight of the device that's why aluminum light stands came to mind. Mic stands are heavier but that will add to the stability of the device.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Thanks for the reply, Al. that looks like something as porable as you can get. Would be nice to have that in the bag. However, I was looking for something I could use for fast deployment for use at eye level. My set up will have a seperate micicrophone and video light when needed.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Mike, have you consider a monopod? They have some limitations comparing to tripods but in some situations a monopod can do a good job.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Thanks for the suggestion, Adrian. I have used monopods for regular camera work. I would like to incorporate shooting stills from a point and shoot while running the video camera on the tripod for different points of view. .

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Here is my super light "travel" tripod:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/members/...fluid-head.jpg

I put it together some time ago for the specific purpose of travelling light. It consists of legs from Manfrotto 718SHB tripod and 701RC2 head. Also the center post was replaced with a longer one from one of Manfrotto's monopods. This tripod is 18" long or 54" fully extended.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Thanks Adrian. Nice looking setup, but a tad over my budget.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Dolly on rails cont.

Here are a couple of pictures of work in progress.

Rails on the floor:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/members/...-diy-rails.jpg

Close-up:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/members/...-diy-rails.jpg

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Looks nice. I hope it works and you'll share the outcome with us. I'm going a little more "blue collar" on mine - the Jethro effect!

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Thanks Roger, it will take few more days to get rid of rough edges and spray paint black the whole thing.

Some details: the overll length is 46.5" so it fits in the bag with the stands and some other stuff (the bag is 48"). The hole in the middle is for mounting the camera sideways.

In general this contraption can be used in 4 configurations:

1. directly on the ground, where the dolly by itself can't move, ie. sand
2. supported on table mic stands for low angles
3. supported on floor mic stands
4. as "the plank cam" as seen in this video at 0:30sec

Zero Budget Filmmaking: The Plank Cam - YouTube
I hope to post some results in coming weeks.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Cont. > Table dolly on rails - first trials.


It is quite difficult to keep this dolly moving at a steady speed. Especially at slower speeds. Hopefully with practice my technique will improve.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Here's a change of speed with the TM900: a sports video. Specifically, American baseball. This was a game that went from bright sunlight past sundown. Shows the OIS at work (all handheld), the great colors and smooth zoom.

108060p, 1/60th shutter. Manual iris and sometimes manual focus.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Alright guys, I just uploaded my first edited work with the TM900. Here it is:


Would really appreciate any feedback, since I am a beginner at this and have a lot to improve.

I have noticed a few things regarding the TM900 while filming for this.

1. Notice how in the blue labyrinth scene the camera is shaking while I was adjusting focus - this happens all the time when I want to adjust focus on a tripod. Maybe I'm using too cheap of a tripod? No idea. The slightest touch and the camera produces a shaky image (stabilizer off when on tripod).

2. The time lapses don't look clean if you look closely. Seems like compression problems to me.

3. The sun isn't the clear-rounded sphere I was hoping it to be - I'm guessing I need a polarizer filter for that?

Roger, I followed your advice and exported from Premiere as 1920x1080 @ 25 fps (original footage was 50p) at 10 mbps. For some reason, Vimeo sees it as 720p footage, because when "Scaling is off", the video in fullscreen mode occupies half my monitor. Your canyon video fills the entire screen, so does Mark Rosenzweig's baseball video (good work with that, Mark :-) ). Any ideas why this happens? This video will be shown to potential customers, so I need it to be at its absolute best.

Thanks guys.

EDIT: Think I found out why Vimeo refuses to show it as 1080p: I need to be a Plus user.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Luc,

Nice footage. An inexpensive tripod does show its flaws when adjusting the camera, as I know all too well!

Are you a Vimeo Pro/Plus member? There are some limits to non-members and 1080 and/or file size may impact your ability to upload certain files. 720-30P @ 5Mbps is a good setting for Vimeo and I'm not sure the 1080 is better for most users when streaming. 1080 is nice when allowing others to download the source file for local playback.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Yes, apparently that's the problem, me not being a Plus user. Well at least we know it's not a technical problem. I uploaded the same vid to youtube and the quality is better. I can choose the 1080p option there too.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Answers as I see them Luc.

1) Undoubtedly a tripod that's not up to the job. You're at full tele on the TM900 right? That's the equivalent of 420 mm telephoto. Could be you had the 20x zoom option engaged - in which case you're talking of a 700mm lens. Those sort of focal lengths need tripods made of concrete if you're going to fiddle with the lens.

Try the same shot with the OIS turned on and see what you think. You're only told to turn off OIS when on a tripod because they expect you to pan or tilt. You're doing neither in this shot.

2) Don't look clean? You mean they have video noise? What gain settings were you using for the night time-lapse? And look at the crude iris blade flare from point light sources. A known problem with this camera.

3) A polariser will only help because of it's ND filtration properties - looking directly into the sun like that has grossly over-exposed the chips, and the resulting flare has spread much further than the sun's circumference. Take the same shot with very high shutter speeds (use the still camera facility if you like) so that zebras are not covering the sun and note that it is indeed (allowing for atmospheric haze) a true circle.

tom.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

I appreciate the feedback Tom.

1. Yes, I think I was using the iZoom function. Will use the OIS next time then, see if that helps. You know what disappoints me though? The fact that it has a remote control, but you can't adjust the focus with it. It would have made a great difference...

2. Not video noise (was careful not to exceed 6dB gain), more like compression artifacts. Garbled video here and there, then it clears up, then it garbles some more. It's just not nearly as constant in clarity as the 50p mode, or even regular AVCHD.

3. Doesn't very high shutter speeds mean underexposure? Yes, the sun will be a clean circle but I fear everything else will be just... black. Hm, have to try this evening.

Thank you again sir!

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Oh yes, exposing for the sun will mean massive under-exposure of the rest of the scene - I thought you were just checking out the sun's roundness. We all have to accept the sun as a grossly over-exposed blob if it's going to be in frame.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Hm, think I was a bit too late today, the sun was not as bright. So yes, now it looks much better :)

sunset snapshot from movie

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Pop Video using SD900
This is my first post but I have been following the information on this site about using the Panasonic HDC 900 series for some time. This persuaded me to buy an SD900 just before Xmas. I must say I have not been disappointed. I have uploaded a pop video made entirely on this camera to YouTube and would welcome any constructive comments.

Its Not Over.mp4 - YouTube

I used the camera in the manual mode, leaving it in auto focus and auto shutter speed. As the camera was on a jib-arm, I was unable to monitor the aperture 'zebras' so I used Adobe On Location to monitor the luma waveform.

I found only one slight problem with the camera: as you zoom in the camera appears to stop down. This effect is well known even on the cheaper professional cameras and easily fixed in post. The real problems are physically controlling the camera at the end of the jib - but that is another thread.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Nice video. The editing rhythm and pace of the whole are good, so are the choices of camera angles. (Noticed one shot repetition of a drummer). One thing I'd change though, is the second shot in this video. The video starts with a very dynamic and tight shot of a drummer and then it cuts to a static wide shot of a whole band. The dynamic beginning is thus lost in this second shot IMHO.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Tried it in the rough cut without the second shot but it needed the wide shot to give 'geography' to all the players. I guess I needed a a more dynamic geography shot to make it work better.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Guy, the camera can't be in manual if the shutter speed's allowed to roam. You must lock the iris (and the associated gain) as well as the shutter speed to lock the exposure.

And the camera doesn't stop down as you zoom - you can shoot at f/2.8 using max wide, then zoom all the way to 20x telephoto and it will continue shooting at f/2.8. What you've seen is lens ramping, and it's very common. You can shoot at f/1.5 if you stick to max wide, but f/2.8 is the max aperture at full tele.

tom.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Thanks Tom. Are you saying that if the camera is in manual mode and I set the iris, then the shutter is also locked at the speed that it was set at when I switched out of auto?

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

That is correct Guy. That's because they were too cheap to incorporate an aperture-priority function on these cameras, so that when you lock down the aperture, the shutter value isn't left floating but is also locked down.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

The 900's auto/manual exposure switching is not easy to grasp. In iA the camera controls the shutter speed, the iris and (by default) the gain. If you push the little chrome button iA disappears and MNL appears on screen.

The camera is still in auto exposure mode (I know, daft). If you now touch iris, it puts a yellow rectangle around the word and locks the exposure, if you touch it again to remove the yellow, it's still locked.

In iA the camera will choose any shutter speed from 1/25th up to 1/8000th, in MNL mode touching SHTR will lock in the reading iA had chosen as you suggest.

So, you're presented with a scene you want to manually expose, but have no idea as the the settings you should choose.

1) Ask the camera - call up iA, then press it again for MNL
2) Push SHTR to make sure it's 1/50th (the default - unless it's incredibly dark or light)
3) Push IRIS to lock in that iris/gain setting.

Strangely, if you go from iA to MNL and then push IRIS you'll lock the exposure ok, but then hitting SHTR makes the iris return to auto! Why, Panasonic? So make sure you follow the 1, 2, 3 sequence above to really lock that exposure down.

tom.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Guy. Thats a good clear explanation from Tom. One other thing to watch out for when switching between iA to manual. The white balance will reset to AWB, you need to change it to your desired preset. The manual white balance settings remain in memory, even though the set idicator will be flashing

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Teresa Wintermyr and Dan Sinbimuaythai Fight in Ranong on the Thai/Burma Border - YouTube
Heres a look inside of a country style Thai Boxing event that most people would never get to see... All shot using the tm900. Feedback would be appreciated!

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Many thanks Guys for the lucid explanations of the subtleties of the auto functions.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Hi David,

I'd like to give you some feedback but first I need to know what was your intended goal and audience for this piece.

Adrian

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Guys, anyone here know what Digital Cinema Colour is, exactly (under RECORD SETUP)? It says it records video with brilliant and wide range of colours, but that it requires a x.v.Colour-ready device.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

With that setting, the camera records in x.v. color; naturally to see the benefits you need a monitor/TV with x.v. color capability and set to x.v. color. (Wikipedia: "xvYCC or Extended-gamut YCC (also x.v.Color) is a color space that can be used in the video electronics of television sets to support a gamut 1.8 times as large as that of the sRGB color space.")

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Thank you Mark. Honestly sounds like something to avoid.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Yes, definitely avoid that setting!

Been busy with work so have not had much chance to get up to date with this thread. When things settle down a bit I'll try and do another quick summary of what's been covered over the last few weeks since the last one. Blummin heck, nearly 90,000 views! If someone else would like to do this summary, please do.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Just filmed my first live stage performance (school performance of kids singing) with two tm-900's, and an HV-30. Until now I have always shot with 3 Sony PD-170's. I shot in 1080p on the TM-900's in spite of the fact that I was going to export eventually to NTSC DVD. I shot in 1080i on the HV-30. My other settings on the TM-900 were: Manual white balance, intelligent auto on, anti-shake off (I was using nice tripods), manual audio at -21dB using VideoMic Pro, AGC audio on the other cam, 14x zoom maximum, autofocus, face-framing all, everything else at defaults. Here is what I liked/disliked:
Good:
1) Intelligent auto worked great for exposing faces properly whether the kids were under the spotlights or in shadow. Kids with very dark complexions were exposed properly when side by side with kids with very light complexions. This was far superior to the PD-170 and to the HV-30.
2) Great sharpness/resolution. The TM-900 was far sharper than the HV-30 and even more so in comparison with the standard resolution PD-170.
3) Turning anti-shake on and off with the button rather than via an embedded menu item

Bad:
1) "Face framing all" was a mistake on my part. I wanted to know what the camera was focused on, and this was an easy way to do so. But when panning across with 30 faces in each frame the little boxes drive you crazy. I will turn this off or maybe try "face framing primary" on my next project.
2) Manual white balance of the two TM-900's didn't result in them being quite as identical as it does with my PD-170's. I think the next time I might pick a preset that is close to perfect on both cams and not bother with manual white balance. I was also afraid that the camera might forget the manual white balance setting when turning the camera on and off. It blinks at you when you are in manual WB when you turn the camera back on and you wonder...
3) Colors were over-saturated. The kids had very bright red shirts on and they were almost fluorescent in the raw video. I had to dial them back in post which slowed down my editing process.
4) Matching the HV-30 well was pretty much impossible, even though the HV-30 was manually white balanced as well. I tried using the HV-30 in cinema mode because it is a lot less contrasty in that setting. But the resulting video was impossible to get to look like the TM-900 video from both a color and sharpness perspective.
5) Zooming at the desired speed is possible but much more difficult than the PD-170. I had times when I tried to zoom slowly but didn't apply enough pressure so nothing happened. I had other times when I tried to zoom at a moderate speed and ended up zooming way too fast. I did not try to use the zoom ring at all because it has seemed very clumsy to me to do so when I've tried it.
6) Trying to remember what the camera remembers when you turn it on and off or when you go to intelligent auto and back. This is probably the most annoying issue with the camera when trying to use it for this purpose. I was deathly afraid that I might accidently hit the intelligent auto button after I got the camera all set up and then lose all my settings. Or that when I turned the camera off after getting it properly set up that it wouldn't return to the same state when I turned it back on. I'm not sure if there is any difference in behavior if you just shut the LCD screen vs turning it off in this regard. I'm also not sure how quickly it runs down the battery if you just shut the screen and otherwise leave it on. These things aren't documented anywhere and it would take a lot of experimentation to figure it out.
7) The audio through the VMP was not good. It clipped some when folks clapped. It was still "boomy" in parts in spite of the fact that I was running in the low-cut position on the mike. I'm now wondering if the mike is more optimized for interviews than with musical productions. Fortunately I had several PD-170's running during the show on fixed tripods and I was able to use their audio. I'm not sure what I'll try next time as I really want to get away from the PD's and tape in general.
8) The additional editing time associated with using the high resolution video. I'm using CS5.5 Premiere on a very fast editing system. In spite of the fact that the video played back smoothly even with effects and multiple timelines, you can't quickly scroll through the clips. The final render times with color correction were also several hours rather than 15 minutes. This isn't too big a problem unless you discover an issue and have to go back and do it again (which I did twice).
9) Using the camera on a big tripod is not as nice as using a bigger camera. It's hard to be as smooth as the camera doesn't weigh anything. I used the eyepiece as I've always filmed that way. It's hard to get close enough to the camera as it barely extends out past the tripod plate on a big tripod. You end up leaning forward more than you have to with a camera that extends back further from the center of the tripod. The big battery also gets in the way a bit, both in getting your eye up to the eyepiece and also if you have to change the diopter adjustment.

In general the overall production was a success. I have proven that I can do projects with the TM-900's. I will be able to provide Blu-ray versions on future projects to go along with regular DVD's. The cameras aren't as convenient to use for this sort of thing because they aren't optimized for shooting in manual modes. (My guess is that they have intentionally made this so to prevent the cameras from impacting their professional lines). But they can be used, and at the price are hard to beat. I got my 2nd one for $699 at B&H a while back and am considering a third. The biggest issue is audio. I need to figure out a better solution in this area.

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Alan

The problems with HV30 in cinema mode are:

- Lower resolution
- Different hue. Red gets wrong.

You can't change resolution in post. Hue is easier to change, try that when you color correct (CC) and try to match the two camcorders. I once used a XH-A1 and a HV20 in cinema mode and succeeded CC by changing hue.


Regards,

/Bo

Re: The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread
 

Did you have a left hand on the pan bar and right hand on the zoom controller?
I think i'd opt for the ring control to try to get smooth zooms . . . some sort of support would probably be needed to rest/steady the hand, though.

Lack of a LANC port on this thing is a real shame.