I wonder if the fact that you could hear your breathing was due to the camera recording 5.1 audio in the iA mode, Carol. In manual you can specify that the camera only uses the stereo L & R mic capsules, which may help directionality (not sure, haven't tested that).

Generally wind noise cancellers are simply bass-cut filters, the theory being that if you don't record the bass you won't record the wind. I dislike the thin sound they leave behind. Try recording your hi-fi with the filter on and then off.

Noise cancellation can be good, though generally such h/phones are frowned upon by audio guys because the cancellation circuitry robs you of some fidelity. I like them though - in noisy surroundings (such as that mountain stream, say) what you hear is what you get on the soundtrack. Tghey're like a big rubber eyecup on the v'finder.

Know what you mean about the black lab. Anyone who has photos of themselves with their black lab know they sit beside a silhouette, because the dynamic range required to expose from shadow to highlight is beyond cheap cameras. You can bump the exposure for black faces (using the backlight function, say) but that will be at the expense of the rest of the frame. Best to let them be black unless they're frame-filling faces.

tom.

I wonder if the fact that you could hear your breathing was due to the camera recording 5.1 audio in the iA mode, Carol. In manual you can specify that the camera only uses the stereo L & R mic capsules, which may help directionality (not sure, haven't tested that).


And I thought it was because I was out of shape!

Hi Carol, I only ever record in stereo and have never recorded myself breathing. The 5.1 is too awkward to edit in post.

When using the Nikon, if I am in a windy situation, I leave the noice canceler on just to help out. Unfortunately, the Nikon is good at recording wind noise. I have actually emailed Rebekah from WindCutter asking if they will make a furry for it. When indoors, I turn noice canceller off. It does seem to produce a wider dynamic range with it off. I always use the mike in manual, never used auto.

Cheers,
Ian

Generally the better the mic's frequency response (i e the more expensive and sensitive it is) the better it will record wind noise. Switching in the wind-cut filter generally only curtails the bass response - it certainly shouldn't affect the overall dynamic range.

The limited bass response of the Nikon should help in this regard - though of course it's always best to shield the capsules from the moving air rather than to jettison the bass from the outset.

tom.

I have a difficult time shooting my black lab. I know that I will have similar problems with dark-skinned people when I am in Africa. I thought I would use the AE/AF tracking function, but that is only available in auto mode. So what is the best way to improve my video in these situations?

The video scope in my NLE indicates luminance and chroma are being recorded in PC space (0 - 255). I apply a filter in post, along with a slight gamma adjustment. Also shoot with intelligent contrast on. The bummer is that iris mode switches ic off. Works in shtr or prgm auto though. That's about all you can do, dynamic range is the weakpoint.

I want to thank everyone who has been helping me prepare for my trip. There are a number of classes available in the San Francisco area for photography, but other than formal film school classes, I can't find any classes where you can go out with an instructor and shoot video and learn more about how your camcorder works. So this thread has really helped to fill in some details for me and guided me about what to go out and test.

I think that I am pretty close when it comes to equipment. Here is what I currently have or have ordered:
Panasonic TM900 (obviously)
Manfrotto FLUID VIDEO MONOPOD W/HEAD - Fluid (http://www.manfrotto.com/product/8709.76909.76924.0.0/561BHDV-1/_/FLUID_VIDEO_MONOPOD_WHEAD) (shipped today)
ME-1 Stereo Microphone from Nikon (http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Product/Miscellaneous/27045/ME-1-Stereo-Microphone.html) (arrives tomorrow)
Micover Slipover Windscreen for Nikon ME-1 (http://store.micover.com/micover-slipover-windscreen-for-nikon-me-1.html)) (Ian - I think this is what you are looking for)
Raynox HD-6600PRO 0.66x Distortion-Free Wideangle Conversion Lens for High Definition cameras (http://www.raynox.co.jp/english/video/hd6600pro/index.html)
B + W 46mm Top Linear Polarizer Coated Glass Filter (https://www.schneideroptics.com/ecommerce/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?CID=571&IID=3415)

I am also bringing 1 std. and 2 large Panasonic batteries and charger, plastic bags, small case, various supplies for cleaning lenses and camera, and white and grey WB cards.

I haven't decided how many SD cards to bring yet.

I also haven't decided whether or not to use a daylight, plain glass, UV, or no filter on my camcorder all the time. And I haven't determined if I need to get a polarizing filter for the Wideangle Conversion Lens and if I need a protective filter on the front of that lens.

I think that this not only meets Tom's travel light rule, it also should provide me everything I need to take awesome videos. Now I need to practice, practice, practice to make sure that I really know how to use all of it without having to think about it!

Carol,

You nailed it in the last line. Get totally familar with the camera/ancillary gear you're going to be using before the trip and you'll not regret it.

Regarding SD cards - well I took four 16GB SDHC cards to supplement the 32GB in built memory on my TM900 to a recent 3 week trip back to my wife's native Mauritius. I could have filled twice as many cards...so what I did was every day spend 30 minutes reviewing what I'd shot the day before, deleting obviously naff clips and trimming the ends off any that had good sections in them to economise on memory usage. The in-camera editing tools are surprisingly easy to use once you've got a need! Sure, doing all that with the (otherwise pretty good) LCD as your only monitor is not ideal but it worked OK for me.

Enjoy your trip and enjoy that cam. It's an amazing bit of technology that only 5 years ago I'd have said would be impossible to do in such a small package - capable of stunning images when you know how to use it (occassionally, I even manage to get a few with it myself!).

Just be careful about blowing out areas of the picture in very bright conditions. The Picture Adjust, then dial Exposure setting down to -2 or -3 (or even more sometimes) is an important thing with that - as indeed are the Zebra and Histogram tools (never leave home without them enabled - they are very useful and accurate even on this tiny little cam!). Shooting at 1/100th shutter speed in bright light is also something I do routinely now. I shoot almost exclusively in 1080p50 mode by the way being in PAL land. You'll soon get to know all the tricks with this cam and will squeeze the best out of it.

Good luck!

I also haven't decided whether or not to use a daylight, plain glass, UV, or no filter on my camcorder all the time. And I haven't determined if I need to get a polarizing filter for the Wideangle Conversion Lens and if I need a protective filter on the front of that lens.

I can tell you now Carol - only use filters with this camera when you *absolutely must*. Why? Well look at it this way. If you had a 35mm lens on your SLR you could put a filter in front of it without fear of either surface of the filter being in focus on your film, right? Now look at the 900. It's '35mm lens' is in fact an incredibly tiny 3.4mm. Space your fingertips that 1/8'' apart, marvel at the incredibly short focal length and realise that the dof will mean that both surfaces of the filter will be coming into focus at wide angle and close focus.

Do you want spots and splodges in your against the light shots? Thought not. By adding the filter you've got to have three spotlessly clean surfaces - very difficult to achieve, and in against the light shots any minuscule dust spots will be all too apparent.

Now you fit the 0.66x Raynox and your focal length is an astonishing 2.27mm. Your front element is going to have to be squeaky clean and although Raynox describe it as a 'filter thread', take my word for it (I owned one of these) it's much better treated as a hood thread.

So no, you don't need a protective filter. If the rhino's that close the filter won't help you and anyway, modern multi-coatings are pretty tough - you can clean them with (washable) microfibre cloths and all will be well.

tom.

PS, just to add - Carol, you realise that the 6600Pro is not a full zoom-through lens, don't you?

Andy - Nice to hear from you! Thank you for starting this thread and thank you for the advice. My goal is to shoot in as many different environments that I can and then evaluate on my 1080p TV before I go.

Tom - you just saved me a lot of money on filters! I just want to check: When I am not using the adapter, I should still use the polarizing filter when conditions call for it?

Let me see if I have this right about the lenses:

The wide angle lens in the TM900 is a 35mm equiv. lens. If I use intelligent zoom to 20x, that gives me a 35-700mm equiv. zoom. (700=20x35) If I go the the 30x setting, I have a 35-1050 mm equiv zoom. I did some testing on my larger 1080p tv and that video still looked fine to me. I need to do more testing, but at this time, I am planning to use the zoom setting up to 30x, but would welcome any advice.

The 6600PRO is a .66converter. So the wide angle is converted to 23 mm equiv. The 6600PRO is optimized to focus through to 6x zoom, or to 138mm equiv. The lens is optimized to have imperceptible distortion and no vignetting over that range.

So without the adapter, I have the equivalent of a 35-700 or 1050mm zoom lens. With the adapter, I have the equivalent of a 23-138mm zoom lens. That seemed to be a pretty good mix to me, but I am basing that on when I used to travel with my Olympus OM-1, shooting slides, with a wide angle zoom and a telephoto zoom.

My decision came down to this lens and the Panasonic VW-W4607 Wide Conversion Lens (0.7x). Almost every review of the Panasonic lens remarked on how heavy it is. I only considered 46mm lenses since I find it a lot harder to change lenses when I need to use an step-up ring. But now that you point it out, that lens would be the equivalent of a 24.5-294 zoom at 12x, and to 490 at 20x. How would the quality of that video compare to video shot without the adapter on?

Do you think I made the wrong choice and I would be happier with the Panasonic adapter? Or a third adapter I didn't even consider? (The adapter won't arrive until next week, so I can easily change my order.)

OK, we'll take the points in order. Firstly I'm glad you've got the message that filters add nothing, they only take away. That 'taking away' might leave you with better images which in itself can be good reason for using them, but there's little that can't be replicated in post - although the polariser is a noted exception.

Grads can be good for bright skies over dark plains and if you've got all the time in the world then a selection can mean you carefully flag the filters so that they're always operating in the shade. This way the inevitable imperfections won't show up on your footage. It's a big reason why matt boxes are popular.

Of course the wide converter means hooding the front element becomes much more difficult, but paradoxically much more important. Aspect ratio hoods (or petal hoods) are the answer if that's possible.

Polarisers (as you know) do their magic when used at 90 degrees to the sun's axis, so they can give continuity headaches when your shots happen to be 90 degrees apart. They also remove the sheen from hair and fur, so the male lion might not be best pleased.

My 6600Pro did add to the barrel distortion but not by much. Raynox trade distortion for zoom ratio, and Panasonic take the other route. They give you the full zoom but in combination with more barrel distortion. When I had the Raynox I was always worrying at what point as I zoomed I would enter this soft zone - with the Panasonic lens attached you can forget this worry. And will the distortion show up on the African plains? I doubt it. It'll show up in the Toyota Land Destroyer though, when you film your cut-aways.

Now some thoughts about the 900's lens. When shooting stills it's a 12x zoom - with different focal lengths depending on the aspect ratio chosen (unlike their GH2, say). When you shoot movies you can 'use the full chip' and get a 20x zoom (very clever, Panny) without loss of resolution and with mild f/1.5 to f/2.8 ramping. If you go into the digital zoom area, even slightly, you lose picture quality. OK, you say it's hard to spot but nevertheless it's there.

The next point is that a focal length of 1050mm really requires a concrete tripod, and however good the hybrid OIS and monopod is, that's asking a lot. As always, pictures trump specs, so if you're getting better pictures at the 30x setting rather than the 15x setting, go for it.

There must be a lot of wimps out there. Complaining about the weight of the W4607? Will someone else carry their water bottle? And we're back to my statement that the picture is more important than the pixels. Adding an extra (slightly miss-centered) 3 elements in front of your fine 12x zoom will degrade the image; it's the law of the land. Oh, and having a polariser on the 900 and the wide-converter on that (now 4 extra elements) could well result in vignetting - on the smaller W4607 more so than on the 6600Pro (which will have its step-down ring permanently attached).

tom.

ps just to add that this 900 review is well wort a read:
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Panasonic-HDC-TM900-Camcorder-Review.htm

Tom - Thank you for the excellent feedback. Let me make sure that I understand your recommendations correctly:

I tested the 30x with the tripod that I returned, and you think that with the monopod I will need to limit to the 20x setting. Except that if the only way to get the shot at all is with 30x, then break the rule.

The only filter that I am bringing is the polarizing filter for the built-in lens, but I should use that judiciously. (Are you also saying that if really needed, I could put the adapter on top of the polarizing filter?)

With the adapters, I have to balance limits on zoom (6600Pro) against slight distortion (W4607) which will mainly show up at the widest shots. Since it is always preferable to shoot without the adapter, I think that I will stick with the 6600Pro and limit using it to situations where I really need the extra width, e.g. taking shots of our group, in the car, or for panoramic scenery shots.

I can't wait for everything to get here so I can start testing with everything put together! I've been doing test videos every day - they are definitely improving but not there yet. I've signed up for a digital photography composition in the field class in a few weeks. I would prefer a workshop geared towards video but can't find any in the San Francisco area, but I think this workshop will still benefit me.

I am actually familiar with the camcorder review link you sent - that is one of the main sources I used in choosing the TM900.

Carol

The more telephoto you use the more it will test your tripod, the legs and head. Stills photographers use 1000 mm lenses sure, but then they generally use very high shutter speeds like 1/1000th sec and shorter. You'll be filming with a shutter speed of 1/60th sec and you could well be on a none-too-stable platform with a diesel engine underneath it. Me? I'd be content with the 20x zoom but as I say, pictures dictate, not pixels.

Yes, you can put the Raynox on top of the polariser and you'll need to to maintain image continuity. But before you do, check out the possible vignetting. The W4607 (Wide, 46 mm 0.7x, see?) is almost guaranteed to vignette the image corners if you do this as it's physically smaller than the 6600 Pro.

Good girl - that's exactly how a wide-angle converter should be used - when you need to see wider. If you want to shoot at 15mm, take the converter off, don't simply leave it in place, zoom and shoot at that focal length. Unless the hippo is charging, that is.

Remember that wide-angles are really all about perspective distortion, not about 'getting more in the frame'. They're at their best when used to exaggerate perspective with unusual povs, when they're used to frighten the audience as you hand-hold the camera as it careers across the plain (see note re hippo charging, above)..

tom.

Where can I get a good price on replacement batteries for the tm 900

Hi Bill and welcome.

Got mine here: Panasonic VWVBN130 Battery Pack HDC-TM900 HDC-TM900 NEW | eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200641909123)

Hi -
I am trying to download some video that I shot to my PC from the SD Card in my TM900 using HD Writer AE 3.0. I am connecting to my computer with the USB cable. HD Writer is not recognizing any of the videos that I have on the SD Card. It shows 2+GB of data but says there are no pictures.

Most of the video on the card is 1080/60p with two AVCHD clips. I have no trouble playing this media back using the camera or playing on my Viera TV.

I previously taped and downloaded a few videos from this SD card, mostly AVCHD, and did not re-format the card afterwards. I've been recording lots of tests on the card and deleting most of them. It is a 32GB card and I am only using 2-3GB of space.

When I hook the camera up to my Windows PC, Windows Media Player comes on and requests that I set up the device. This seems to hang. I've also tried to upload the video by just cancelling the media player. I am not sure if I need Media Player or if it is causing the problem because it hangs.

After I connect the camcorder to the PC, I select the PC option on the screen. After that, it displays a READ ONLY msg on my camcorder.

My understanding is that the only way to download the 1080/60p video off of the camcorder is to use HD Writer.

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium.

Does anyone have any idea about what is causing my problem?

Update to previous post:
I tried transferring the video to the internal storage. That was successful, but HD Writer still did not recognize. Then I found that I could see the video files using Windows Explorer. They showed up as MTS files instead of the M2TS files that I get when I use HD Writer to upload the video.

Are the MTS files still 1080/60p? Is there any reason not to just transfer them directly to my PC? Or am I losing something by doing that?

After I started viewing the files using Windows Explorer and playing them on VLC media player on my computer (directly from the camcorder) and uploading them to MyBookLive using Windows Explorer, all of the files on my camera suddenly showed up in HD Writer.

I've been working on this for 6-7 hours now and did not do anything different that I am aware of. The Windows Media Player device setup is still hung (for >2hrs now).

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Hi

You can transfer them directly to your computer by just drag and drop/copy and paste.

Don't try and move/delete the mts files on the camcorder or camcorder memory card from the computer, as this can cause the camcorder problems as it manages the files using other data on the card, for example just deleting the video file on the camcorder means the camcorder still has data on the card elsewhere saying it is there, which can stop the card from working.

VLC on my computer gets the levels wrong when playing AVCHD files so it it looks a little washed out, just something to aware of, Windows Media Player gets the levels correct.

Regards

Phil

I don't own this camera but have received it's footage for a project.
Is this the only affordable camera out there shooting 60p 1080?

The quality is great, i love it! BUT. . . . the workflow is atrocious!

Here's my deal . . . getting high school football game footage from a team shooter with this cam.
Gave him an SD card to record to, picked it up, transferred the files, used ClipWrap to convert all 111 plays/clips. No Problem - 20 minutes to transfer the 6GB, 2minutes to wrap them (nice that they're all under 60 seconds so i don't have to purchase ClipWrap).
Here's the kicker, though - it's a 22 to 1 ratio for convert time to ProRes422LT! So, it's going to take about 11 hours to convert 30minutes of footage! Seriously! Using Compressor 3, 8 cores @ 100%.

Is there a better / faster way? Besides Premiere Pro? (i tried editing AVCHD codec and it just was not acceptable - stuttering)

Overnight renders are okay . . .but if i had to deal with this everyday? no way.
Any advice?

If this is mentioned in this ridiculously long thread, i apologize, but my searches came up with nada.

Hoping Canon comes out with a similar product on Nov3rd with a better post recipe.

Update to previous post:
I tried transferring the video to the internal storage. That was successful, but HD Writer still did not recognize. Then I found that I could see the video files using Windows Explorer. They showed up as MTS files instead of the M2TS files that I get when I use HD Writer to upload the video.

Are the MTS files still 1080/60p? Is there any reason not to just transfer them directly to my PC? Or am I losing something by doing that?

After I started viewing the files using Windows Explorer and playing them on VLC media player on my computer (directly from the camcorder) and uploading them to MyBookLive using Windows Explorer, all of the files on my camera suddenly showed up in HD Writer.

I've been working on this for 6-7 hours now and did not do anything different that I am aware of. The Windows Media Player device setup is still hung (for >2hrs now).

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Hello Carol,

Unfortunately Windows Vista does not have native support for AVCHD files. If your hardware supports it, Windows 7 provides native AVCHD support and will solve all the usual workflow issues.

With Windows 7 you'll be able to import video clips to Windows Live Photo Gallery or Picasa just as you would a JPEG image. Both programs allow viewing and categorizing clips as well. The new Windows Movie Maker also supports basic editing of AVCHD clips.

Good Luck.

Is there a better / faster way? Besides Premiere Pro? (

I use Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinium 11. It handles 1080 50/60p footage with ease..

It takes awhile to render footage but my PC is 3 years old and was only a middle of the range one back then..

Here's the kicker, though - it's a 22 to 1 ratio for convert time to ProRes422LT! So, it's going to take about 11 hours to convert 30minutes of footage! Seriously! Using Compressor 3, 8 cores @ 100%.

Is there a better / faster way? Besides Premiere Pro? (i tried editing AVCHD codec and it just was not acceptable - stuttering)
You might try using Mpeg Streamclip in multiprocessor mode, I think its faster than compressor for this kind of thing, 11 hours seems excessive. Not only that your footage blows up to 5 to 6 times the original size - a lot of hard drive space.

I do use Premiere Pro 5.5 and I find it handles the 1080 60p footage well. It was one of the reasons I switched from FCP to Premiere was how well it handled the AVCHD footage and saved me all that wrapping and transcoding time. The stuttering isn't happening too badly unless I do a lot of multiclip work, but I'm on a 8 core mac Pro.

Oh, another thing by the way, don't use the Clipwrapped footage with .MOV extension in Premiere Pro, it chokes on this for some reason, I think because if it sees a .mov it starts using quicktime to decode the footage, maybe that's your problem. Native MTS files work pretty well.

Another option is to convert to a Cineform .avi format. There is a demo of the standalone Neoscene so you can see how this works for you. I use this for all my Canon DSLR footage.

Peter

Keith, thanks . . . i'll try the native files - i probably used the clip wrapped last time i tried.
By MultiProcessor mode in Streamclip, do you mean the "amount of instances" drop down option?
I've never seen a "multi processor mode" on Streamclip. Guess i'll have to look closer. That app just amazes me . . . it can do so much and it's free . . . gotta donate to that one!

I guess if this is the direction editing is going, my Final Cut Suite is headed for the backburner. ugh.

Edius 6 or Premiere Pro CS 5.5?

The discount offer on Premiere Pro expires very soon and the details of the Edius 6 discount are yet to be announced. A bit of fiddling with TM 900 clips and an FCP X trial copy shows that there are serious shortcomings in actually getting the material into the program. There are also storage issues for the transcoded footage. Regrettably FCP X is out..

In short I am trying to decide between Edius 6 and Premiere, as an iMac user (3.06 GHZ, Intel core 2 duo, 4 GB) I have the added expense of buying Windows 7 Pro and maybe Parallels if I go for Edius. However that is a minor consideration

My question is, is there a compelling reason (or reasons) to go for one of these programs rather than the other? I also have an EX3 to consider. As I see it both programs have a lot to recommend them but Premiere is possibly more flexible. However my needs are fairly basic and the ease of use and a gentle learning curve are both highly desirable. I would appreciate any comments.

I went the Adobe CS 5.5 Production Premium route. Main reason is flexibility and what promises to be a relatively easy switch in workflow from FCS2. I say promises - I've been so busy the last few weeks with existing FCP projects and clients wanting new versions of older films that I've only had a couple of chances to open CS5.5 to have "a general look around" so I can't personally verify what I've read. Looks like it'll be OK though! Can't wait to be able to easily mix Canon 7D, Sony EX3 and Panasonic TM900 (1080p50 footage) all in the same project....without tedious transcoding and re-rendering, not to mention seeing all 8 cores on my Mac Pro and all that RAM hard at work! Up until now I've been using Vegas Pro 9E on a Windows 7 Core i7 PC for TM900 stuff (which it handles well). Adobe's After Effects and Audition should be superb tools to have in my editing bay too! After years of using Photoshop Elements it's also great to have the full version.

Adobe does have some great on-line resources for FCS2 switchers and I'm totally confident it is the right choice for me but I won't be using it for commercially critical projects until I'm up to speed. But until then, FCS2 is running just fine alongside it.

OK, after 50,000 views I guess its time for another very brief summary of what we've all covered below - lots of nuiances I've missed (I'm just trying to help!) so don't forget you can use the "Seach this Thread" function too. Many thanks to everyone for making this such a useful and informative thread for all of us TM900 (and SD900, HS900 etc.) owners - and potential wannabe owners too. Keep the tips and user experiences (good and bad) coming!

Page 1 - TM900 specs, first impressions, link to Panasonic information, new battery type needed, suggested camera settings, No "Bondi Blue", remote control.

Page 2 - Filters and chances of vignetting, editing 1080p50/60.

Page 3 - 1080p50 as slow motion in post, hybrid optical image stabilisation and iZoom test video.

Page 4 - No Bondi Blue (again...), tendency to overexpose in bright sunlight, low light test video.

Page 5 - TM900 and Steadicam Merlin test video, larger battery pics/comments, battery charger.

Page 6 - More TM900 and Steadicam Merlin tests, Rode Videomic Pro/Nikon ME-1 discussion, my accessory shoe modification.

Page 7 - Polarising filters, ND filters, more test films.

Page 8 - Wide angle adapters, TM900 and Canon 7D comparison test video.

Page 9 - More on wide angle adapters, manual settings.

Page 10 - More on manual settings, menus, shutter speed selection, relay recording clarified.

Page 11 - Rode Vidoemic Pro and deadcat information (link to audio section), editing 1080p50 (again), iZoom and polarising filters clarification.

Page 12 - Fan noise (or lack of in some cases), wide angle adapters (again), recording specs - still unanswered - anyone?

Page 13 - Some discussion on Intelligent Contrast Mode.

Page 14 - Discussion on AVCHD, editing, wide angles for the TM900 etc. series and ultra close up (i.e. macro ideas and lens tips). Discussion on F stops.

Page 15 - F-stops discussion continued. Pics of the Rode VMP (with Deadcat on) on a Rycote bar with my TM900.

Page 16 - Shutter speed discussion. Tendency to blow out highlights and exposure compensation settings discussed again.

Page 17 - More thoughts and demos on shutter speed. Good new user summary.

Page 18 - SD card choice/suggestions.

Page 19 - Filters and backlight compensation discussion.

Page 20 - Backlight compensation discussion (cont.) and batteries/battery life.

Page 21 - Asthetics of the TM900 image along with neutral density/other filters discussion/image issues with small sensor cams.

Page 22 - Canon 60D versus TM900 image/asthetics comments. Discussion on slow shutter speeds.

Page 23 - TM900 for an African safari? - comments and advice. Serious audio accessories (with excellent pics).

Page 24 - More African safari TM900 accessory kit advice plus Nikon ME1 microphone comments.

Page 25 - TM900 and NLE workflow discussion/suggestions....(ongoing)....

Here are the minimum/max focus distances I found for my TM900 with close up lenses, +1 diopter = 21" to 42" +2 diopter = 13" to 22" +4 diopter = 8" to 10.5"

Just to say that I'm using the SD900 to rephotograph a lot of 35mm slides. I use a +3 dioptre lens and the 900 allows me to zoom in to crop the original film image if needs be. I have the camera in manual - w/b, shutter speed and iris. I find auto-focus is fine shooting plane-parallel like this.

What's good is that when using this camera in its stills mode you can select a genuine f/4 (the sweet spot) and vary the shutter speed to suit. In the movie mode f/4 is simply maximum aperture with added internal ND of course.

You can shoot in the same aspect ratio as the original 35mm frame and you get 9mp (or so) copies of your transparencies. It's a lot quicker than scanning my slides on my ancient Minolta Dimage II.

tom.

Just a note to Alan Christensen (p 14).who says, 'The manual "iris" control is limited to a set of pre-defined combinations of f stop and gain. The settings are f4.0, f3.4, f2.8, f2.4, f2.0, f1.7, open, open w/ 3db gain, open w/ 6db gain, ... all the way up to 18db gain. Notice that no gain is ever applied until the iris is completely open (f1.5)'.

This sequence of events is true when the camera is set up for shooting stills but only partially true when it's shooting movies. The gain is only applied once maximum aperture has been reached and all the internal ND filtration has been removed.

To put it another way: as it gets darker (when in movie camera mode) the 900 opens its two iris blades (that give horrible diamond oof highlights btw) to maximum aperture, and the screen readout shows f/5.6.

It gets darker still. The iris blades are fully open, so from f/5.6 to 'open' the internal ND is withdrawn to mimic the effect of going f/5.6, f/4, f/2.8 etc. While this is happening the screen readout is actually showing these changing f stop figures, but as you can see they're simply extrapolations you and I can relate to.

tom.

Quick question, no touch focus in Manual Mode??? There's AF tracking in iA mode which is pretty handy, but no touch focus in Manual?

Anybody know how to turn off the "timecode" display during playback while viewing on camera? Many thanks.

Simple question: when in manual mode and after adjusting shutter, WB etc on the touch screen, how do get the display to disappear or go back the main menu without closing the cam door and opening it again?!

Simple answer: when you've touched iris and it's been yellow ringed it's now locked, right? Touch it again, the yellow ring disappears (leaving locked iris, natch) as too does the vertical list, to be replaced by the <II> at bottom left.

I then toggle through to get the 'active OIS' hand up on screen, which, when touched, brings this magical stabilisation into play.

to,

Tom: a simple thanks. Press it twice, doh!

I'm trying to find out if the TM900 has manual ability to shut off AGC. I can't find anything in the user guide or on the menu screen. Nothing that even says the camera has AGC to begin with. Can anyone shed light on this?

Second, if I can't shut off AGC on the camcorder, would one expect bad results (clipping, etc.) using a shotgun mic in somewhat windy conditions if using a good deadcat? I would probably be using a JuicedLink CX211 and Azden SGM 2x or 1x.

Thanks for any help.

Sure, it's there in the record setup/Mic Level/, you can set to Auto or manual and adjust the manual level from there.

I believe it's also in the user manual. You also have the choice of Manual or AGC + Manual in there, not entirely sure of the AGC + Manual effect, but you have more choices than you even asked for.

Yes you can turn off AGC, at least in manual mode, I don't ever use iA mode so not sure about that,

I turned off the AGC because I hated the pumping effect I got with it on and the increased background noise during quiet moments.

I use an Edirol CS50 stereo shotgun mike fitted with a Rode WS6 windshield and a JuicedLink CX231 all on a Hague portable camera support. I am very happy with this combination and no longer worry about what my audio will sound like when outside in wind.

With gain switches on the JL set to MED I have the TM900's record level set to -12dB. This seems to allow me plenty of headroom for sudden loud sounds such as a passing truck roaring by, (no clipping occurs) while I can still pick up useful ambient sound from far off. I set the TM900's record level to -6 in a controlled environment if I want maximum recorded sound. Seems to be working out very well for me.

Duh!!!! It helps to have the cam in Manual mode before looking at the menu. Thanks, Keith.

And thanks, Claire for some very useful tips. For the record, I'll be using the Azden SGM 2x with Windcutter Stormchaser and JuicedLink CX211 for my upcoming trip to N'Djamena and rural SW Chad. In your opinion, do I have the right (or at least an acceptable) JL pre-amp?. It's good to know that with the Panny at least I don't have to add another box to disable AGC.

Hi

You can transfer them directly to your computer by just drag and drop/copy and paste.

Don't try and move/delete the mts files on the camcorder or camcorder memory card from the computer, as this can cause the camcorder problems as it manages the files using other data on the card, for example just deleting the video file on the camcorder means the camcorder still has data on the card elsewhere saying it is there, which can stop the card from working.

VLC on my computer gets the levels wrong when playing AVCHD files so it it looks a little washed out, just something to aware of, Windows Media Player gets the levels correct.

Regards

Phil

Phil, can you elaborate on this? Like Carol, I was under the impression that one had to use the Panny software to successfully upload 1080/60P files to the computer.

If I read you correctly, I can simply plug in my camcorder vis USB (or insert the card into a card reader) and let the computer (Windows 7 Home Premium) treat the camcorder/card reader as an external drive, then drag and drop the video files.

If so, will I then be able to work with them using the HD Writer software on my computer? (I need some help with your second paragraph..."Don't try and move......")

Also, once the files are moved, can I simply re-format the cards AND the camcorder's flash drive?

This will be very helpful for me, because it will mean I won't have to expend precious laptop battery power uploading files with HD Writer. I'll be in the African bush without electricity for six weeks. I'll have a vehicle charger for camera equipment, but it won't be able to recharge my netbook, which I'm taking only for the laege storage capacity.

Finally, is there anything else I should be aware of to use the drag and drop method?

Thanks much.

Duh!!!! It helps to have the cam in Manual mode before looking at the menu. Thanks, Keith.

And thanks, Claire for some very useful tips. For the record, I'll be using the Azden SGM 2x with Windcutter Stormchaser and JuicedLink CX211 for my upcoming trip to N'Djamena and rural SW Chad. In your opinion, do I have the right (or at least an acceptable) JL pre-amp?. It's good to know that with the Panny at least I don't have to add another box to disable AGC.

George, I think your JL is same as mine except for the phantom power which I guess you don't need since your mic takes a battery, These preamps work really well and in case you don't know.. keep the TM900's record level down and let the JL's superior low noise preamp do the work.

One thing, it's very easy to forget to turn off the JL after use so take plenty spare batteries for it.

Finally, is there anything else I should be aware of to use the drag and drop method?

Thanks much.

Drag and drop works, as long as your editing software can deal with the native AVCHD files. I use Premiere and it does. Other software, like Final Cut Pro, requires transcoding.

I also, just for safety, use some type of verification method to read back the card and compare it to what it was written when I copy off the card, I have found, on occasion that for whatever reason the drag and drop will miss a bit here or there. Very unlikely, but it happens, and it's hard to recover long GOP video when that happens.

I use a Mac, so I use Chronosync. There is software called 'shot-put' that does something similar, I'm sure there is also windows software that also does this verification.

While drag and drop works, I prefer to use HD Writer to transfer the footage. The reason is that with drag and drop you lose the option to have meaningful filenames. HD Writer lets you choose what to say in the filename and also include date and time, I consider this vital when sorting clips during editing and moving stuff around on the timeline.

example..

With HD Writer doing the transfer, you could have.. ''30-04-2011_110808.m2ts" etc.

This translates to the day, hour, minute and frame count. You type the date before pressing go and the h:s;f is added automatically, or you might type "Wedding 20-04-2011", whatever you like.

With drag and drop you only get meaningless names.. 0001.mt, 0002.mt, 0003.mt, etc.

The m2ts files from HD Writer also give me date and time data that can be displayed on the monitor, not sure if this is available with only the mt files using drag and drop, I haven't tested that.

BTW, there is some talk of NLE's faiing to properly stitch together the clips larger than the 4GB (or is it 2GB?) that this camera splits such clips down to when filming continuously for more than a certain duration. HD Writer appears to stitch seamlessly, I have yet to find any defective clips in all the months I have been using this camera.

Also, HD Writer transfers the .tmb files as well as the video clips, so what are they? They are 416 x 240 thumbnails, useful in File Explorer especially if you are running WinXP as opposed to Win7 in which case file explorer would normally not display the m2ts file thumbnails.

Thanks, Claire and Keith. Your inputs are very helpful. You may think I'm crazy, but I have decided to not even think about post packages and processes until I get back from Africa. This is my first foray into video, and I just want to be sure I get good shots and sound and save them (twice) appropriately. I'll shoot only in highest def and figure out what to do with the footage later. I received the cam only three months ago. I love it, but there's more than enough that this septagenarian mind can handle without having to deal with editing technology (not to mention the cost). It may mean going to a pro for editing help. but it will be worth it so long as I come back with quality footage.

On another matter, does anyone know if there is a charger for the TM900 battery that has a car outlet and ships from the USA? It appears the Panasonic branded charger does not have a cigarette lighter adapter. Carol Berman has ordered one from Hong Kong, but I'm afraid I might not have enough time for that. They advertise 15 - 17 days, and I leave November 30. I've looked on Adorams, B&H, Amazon and the like but haven't found one.

I think I've solved the battery charging problem that was the subject of earlier comments on this thread. My host in Chad tells me we will always have access to a motor vehicle of some sort. That avoids me having to think about 110/220 volt conversions.

Thanks for any help.

I just found the answer to my battery charger question here:
PANASONIC Battery Chargers, VW-VBN130 (http://www.global-batteries.com/product_info.php/products_id/7174?osCsid=0d642543b3dd9e2e77d9ef8b95376b3b)

The $8.95 price is unbelievable, and I would normally be skeptical. However, I talked with the shop owner on the phone and he appeared very helpful. They ship from Fremont, CA, about 20 miles from my house.

I'm ordering two, in case one fails on me. And I'll have plenty of time to try them out before I leave.

While drag and drop works, I prefer to use HD Writer to transfer the footage..

For whatever process you use to get the files onto your computer, I think it is wise to archive the contents of the SDHC card in the original form. Not only does this back up the original data, but it also preserves the metadata that is included in the original file structure, which contains data, lens, and other info. Most professional NLEs (or even prosumer ones).

You can then use other apps to translate that original native data to something else, or just use the native structure. In my opinion this is the most efficient way to handle the files.

Thanks, Claire and Keith. Your inputs are very helpful. You may think I'm crazy, but I have decided to not even think about post packages and processes until I get back from Africa.

That's all fine, but I would recommend that the data that you shoot is somehow backed up. These cards are not infallible, not to mention easy to misplace in a foreign land. If you plan to fill up more than the cards you have, an archive is of course necessary, but even a 2nd copy of that would be a good idea.

Good luck to you and have fun on your trip.

Thanks, Keith. I'll archive the card data as you suggest. Is copying from the Panny's flash drive the same thing as from an SDHC? I would think so.

Here's how I'm planning to manage my storage - Upload ("copy" function) my SDHC card and camcorder flash files via USB to my HP Pavilion dm1 netbook (340GB). Plug in my USB powered dvd writer. Copy my files from the netbook to a standard dvd disc for storage. Make sure I can see the data on the dvd (if possible). Reformat the SDHC card. BUT....can I also reformat the Panny's flash drive? or should I just delete only the copied files?

On my netbook, I'll create a separate folder for each day or maybe half-day if I'm doing a lot of shooting. I'll keep a handwritten notebook of scenes while shooting, and draw a line to separate uploads.

I've got 2x32GB SDHC cards to go with the 32GB flash storage - 96GB total before needing to upload. (Of course, I may do it more frequently, depending on my shooting schedule.) I will not use any SDHC for permanent storage.

Tonight, I'll see if I can make heads or tails out of the contents on the flash drive - especfially to see if there's any "software" there that should not be touched.

As always, I'll be grateful to hear of any flaws in my thinking. Thanks all!

You should only delete files off the camera or SDHC when you're sure they're backed up, preferably backed up twice and you have had a chance to at least view the footage you've taped or at least inspect the files to make sure they are basically what you think they should be.

You should have some type of set ritual that you use to archive, like at the end of each day, even if the card and cam isn't filled up. You never know when you're going to lose files or even the camcorder or just need more space.

The internal 32 GB plus a SDHC card is great. You can even set the TM900 to 'relay' from the internal to external if you think you're going to be shooting continuously for several hours.

I you haven't, consider getting one of the long playing batteries, they are great for not having to worry about changing batteries.

The actual video files are .MTS files, they will be named 00000.MTS, 00001.MTS, etc deep inside a series of folders. Those can be played via various players, VLC should work for you.

When you archive, just copy everything from the root of the SDHC or Camera Memory (they are both the same structure), including all the weird folders. Then when it's time to edit, you'll have an exact duplicate of the card.

Good luck.

Thanks, Keith. Just two questions:
1) I hope I'm not thick, but what is VLC?
2) So, do I copy (and delete after verification) only the MTS files and leave everything else on the card/flash drive, or can I reformat the card/flash, like I do with my D200 DSLR?

Thanks!

VLC, stands for Video Lan Client, it's a video player, plays all kinds of video formats, including MTS. Compatible with PCs. I'm sure there are other players that work as well. I'm on a Mac so I use other stuff that works a bit more friendly for me, such as "Movist."

When you're sure you've backed up what's on the card and are ready to clear it, format the card (or the internal memory) in the camcorder.

Hope this helps.

It does help. Keith. I downloaded VLC and tried to play some files I previously downloaded with HD Writer. In each case the starting image appeared and froze, but the audio played through correctly. I'll experiment tomorrow by uploading files by drag-and-drop, and see if they work better. Anyway, I'm sure I'll solve the problem.
Thanks for everybody's mentoring!