The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread

[Andy Wilkinson]

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)....

[Tom Hardwick]

Originally Posted by Claire Watson

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.

[Tom Hardwick]

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.

[Kevin Janisch]

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?

[Kevin Janisch]

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

[Geoffrey Cox]

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?!

[Tom Hardwick]

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,

[Geoffrey Cox]

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

[George Taylor]

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.

[Keith Moreau]

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.

[Claire Watson]

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.

[George Taylor]

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 Taylor]

Originally Posted by Phil Lee

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.

[Claire Watson]

Originally Posted by George Taylor

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.

[Keith Moreau]

Originally Posted by George Taylor

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.