How good is the HDC-TM700 (for professional use)

[Dan Carter]

Good find Graham. There is that, but the clips "Digital Cinema" produce are strange birds. They are definitely interlaced and depending on how you read their properties are 60i or 29.97i. Not exactly sure what Panasonic is doing with this feature, but it isn't the 24p that people are hoping for.

We might be better shooting 60p and rendering to 30p or 24p.

[Mark Joseph]

Originally Posted by Chuck Spaulding

I'm not sure I understand what your saying. I use FCP and I was able to import footage from the TM700 using Log and transfer and it encoded it directly into ProRes LT. It was interlaced, are you saying it is not possible to get 24P out of the camera?

I was referring to the 28Mbps progressive 1080p50/60 mode? The 1080i modes can be log & transferred - but the highest Panasonic does is 17 Mbps compared to Canon 1080i 24Mbps.

Of course you can do an conversion using ClipWrap or Mpegstream clip --> ProRes then import into FCP.

I was wonder if the 17mbps looks worst than 24mpbs interlace of other HD cams - reportedly not from a little I've read.

[Paulo Teixeira]

What Panasonic is doing with 24p is no different than what in the HV20/30 or a GH1. 24p is put inside a 60i stream. Basically 24p with pull down added. NeoScene can fix that and output a true 24p stream. It real 24p once you do that but I do wish is was more like the HV40 or the HF S21 in which you get the 24p stream from the very beginning. With all that said, Nothing in this price range beets the quality that you get in 1080 60p.

[Harold Franklin]

Does anyone know if the TM700 image quality will be basically the same as the new GH2? I'm thinking about getting one of each for the best of both worlds... but only if I can intercut the footage.

[Graham Hickling]

In good light, the TM700 will be sharper, and of course with greater depth of field. And the GH2 doesn't have a 1080P60 mode. But overall yes, I would expect them to intercut OK.

Hard to get much from this clip, but may be of some interest: YouTube - GH2-test shooting vs GH1 and TM750.mov

[Paulo Teixeira]

Getting one of each is something that I've been thinking about these past few day. My mind was all set in selling the GH1 and getting the GH2 but I keep thinking about how I'll feel much better shooting events with the TM700 in good lighting. Especially in 1080 60p, you get an image that is much sharper, much more detailed and it doesn't have the slight moire and aliasing issues of the GH2 and never mind comparing the TM700 to a real DSLR since the difference in picture side effects are gigantic.

I originally bought the GH1 because I'm into photography, video and thought about the low light capabilities. The reason I wanted to upgrade is because of the significantly faster auto focusing especially in the photo mode and the 2.6x and 3.9x respectively in the 1080p/i and 720p modes.

Thinking about it really gives me a headache. I have college loans to pay off and recently just bought a nice computer and an HD TV. Still, it will be used for projects that sometimes comes up so it wont be that bad. I'll be getting the best of both worlds and for some projects, it'll look better having 2 HD cameras than 1. I've done concerts with as little as 1 or 2 camera and this way, I'd be able to easily have at least 2 or more angle all the time.

The good news is that the TM700 does have an attractive price of $750. Amazon has recently lowered the price of the stripped down version, the SD600 for only $500. That's really an excellent price but for my case, I'd be too annoyed over the lack of focusing ring, viewfinder and it would be nice to have a mic input. I like having as much freedom as I possibly can which is why I better see a lot of video modes as well as external features or I'll almost have no interest although if the SD600 were to ever get to $400, I'd be extremely tempted. I don't think that would happen this year since that camcorder already received a huge price drop but I'm not going to be surprised if the TM700 gets to be $700. WIth the release of the SDT750, you really never know and besides if Amazon is willing to sell the SD600 for $500 than the chances of Amazon lowering the price of the TM700 to $700 before Christmas seams likely. At least I hope.

[Daniel Moreno]

Originally Posted by Norman Pogson

I bought the Panasonic TM700 to replace my Canon HV30, I decided to stop using tape. I also bought the Canon 7D last year, so have been shooting with that for nearly 12 months. My main use is stock video and I use the camcorder for run and gun and also stealth shooting.

The Panasonic is a great replacement to the HV30, I'm only shooting 60p and the image quality is much better than the HV30. Low light is much better and the camera is faster to use.

Norman. I have a hacked GH1 and an HV30. I have been thinking on upgrading the canon to the tm700 as I find my hv30 to have much less detail than the hv30. Is the tm700 much sharper than the HV30? How much better is it in low light? I do lots of weddings and lowlight is really important to me!

[Floris van Eck]

I am also looking into a HDC-SD700 (EU model with no on-board flash) and GH2 combination. I really like the image of the HDC-TM700, especially the 50p 28mbps quality.

What I am wondering... if I want to mix 50p with 25p, how well does that go? And how does 50p look on YouTube, Vimeo or downconverted to a SD DVD?

[Graham Hickling]

Remember that DVDs are inherently interlaced. If you are familiar with avisynth, here's a script for 720p50 to PAL DVD ...

AVISource("whatversource.avi")
LanczosResize(720,576)
AssumeTFF()
SeparateFields()
SelectEvery(4,0,3)
Weave()

[Herm Stork]

Originally Posted by Guy McLoughlin

...Right now I use the Panasonic HS700 for long-format event shoots, and a Panasonic HMC-150 for higher quality ( better paid ) shoots.)

Have you used footage from the 700 mixed in with the 150? If so, how does it match up?

[C.S. Michael]

Originally Posted by Daniel Moreno

Norman. I have a hacked GH1 and an HV30. I have been thinking on upgrading the canon to the tm700 as I find my hv30 to have much less detail than the hv30. Is the tm700 much sharper than the HV30? How much better is it in low light? I do lots of weddings and lowlight is really important to me!

Yes, the TM700 is significantly sharper (1080P 60P vs. HDV) and better in low light (less noise, greater sensitivity) than the HV20/30 series of cameras.

I own a couple of HV20s and used the heck out of them for years. But the TM700 is better in just about every way. It's a couple of design generations beyond the HV20 series.

[Andy Wilkinson]

I'm keen on picking up this camera as a B or C cam - was hoping to stretch to a new Canon XF100 or XF105 but the initial pricing info looks like it's going to be ridiculous - so unless I land a big contract....;-)

So I'm back looking at sensible, highly portable and not too expensive "prosumer" camcorders like the Panasonic TM700 (or it's much cheaper sister SD700) and the Canon HFS20 and 21 or 200. Some questions:

1. I've read that the fan on the TM700 can be pretty annoying to some (I doubt I'd use any on camera audio for anything other than family stuff) but others say they hardly hear/notice it. Any comments about this aspect?
2. Also, is the low-res LCD really as bad as some say - how do you find it?

Thank you for any input.

[Tony Neal]

I noticed the fan noise on the very first sequence I shot, which was indoors in near silence. Four weeks on and I haven't noticed the fan being on or its noise being recorded so I don't consider it a problem, unless I'm recording in near silence, in which case handling noises would be a problem anyway. For serious sound I'd use a digital multitracker.

A full resolution LCD monitor would be wasted on such a small camcorder, and you'd need to carry a magnifier to see it. The monitor on the TM700 is good enough for framing and checking white balance and the focus assist functions throws a blue outline around objects in focus. I recently used focus assist to pull focus from an icicle hanging on a cobweb to a full snowscape and back - it worked very well.

Some other observations:

The auto WB is sometimes slow to react initially and needs to be switched to manual override, but once auto WB gets a grip its very accurate.

The manual contol ring is very good at doing creep zooms.

Surround sound recordings are unexpectedly good when played back through a surround sound system.

While pro cameras have lots of controls and tweaks that you have to master to get the best results, the TM700 has lots of auto modes and manual overrides that you have to be aware of in order to get the best out of the camcorder. Example: the Spotlight auto mode will correctly expose faces under stage lighting without burnout. It actually does much better than my Sony Z1 in spotlight mode or in full manual mode.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Very interesting and informative Tony. Thank you!

[Les Wilson]

Just some clarification, the LCD is 3". By comparison, it's larger than the 2.7" on the Canon XH-A1 prosumer camera which also has a low res 237k pixel count. On the other hand, the Sony EX1 LCD is 3.5" and has 921k pixels. So the statement about needing a magnifying glass to see the screen is confusing. The screen is plenty large to function but I think the cost of a hi-res LCD would dramatically change the attractiveness and viability of the product for consumers and professionals. If it were more expensive, you'd lose consumers and pros alike. If it were more, it starts competing with the MFT video DSLRs.

For this camera to be "for professional use", the LCD should at least provide an adequate means for composition, focus assist and exposure. It's hard to imagine any modern camcorder not handling composition but a low res LCD is garbage for focus assist and exposure.

I'm glad to hear it has peaking (the "blue outline around objects in focus") as the low res screen was a deal breaker for focus assist but the specs page does not list Peaking on the TM700, just the ST750.

For exposure, again, a low res screen is inadequate. However, the tm700 at leas has zebras which should be fine enough but there's also a histogram which is great. There's also a meter in the center of the HUD.

I would never use auto white balance. Can you set the white balance by temperature or with a white card?

This is a useful page of features and explanation but it doesn't specify much about WB.
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