The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread

[Dan Carter]

Razor sharp indeed Mark. Thanks for sharing.

[Corey Graham]

I just picked up a TM900 from B&H because I couldn't resist the $599 price. What a great camera, and thank you all for your painfully extensive discussion about this.

I've been mainly testing it out in low light, and it's killing my HMC40 in that department.

I'm looking to post some clips soon, as the snow is finally falling here and I'd like to see how the camera handles it.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Enjoy your new cam. At that price it was a steal!

[Brian Tori]

Originally Posted by Corey Graham

I just picked up a TM900 from B&H because I couldn't resist the $599 price. What a great camera, and thank you all for your painfully extensive discussion about this.

I've been mainly testing it out in low light, and it's killing my HMC40 in that department.

I'm looking to post some clips soon, as the snow is finally falling here and I'd like to see how the camera handles it.

That's interesting that you say it's better than the HMC-40 in low light considering they both have 1/4" chips.

[Corey Graham]

It's gotta be the way the circuitry in each camera processes the signal and adds gain. The noise on the 900 is much less pronounced than the 40 up to 18dB.

[Corey Graham]

On another note, I'm looking to buy some batteries for the 900. I'm tired of paying Panasonic's bloated battery prices, and have found some Chinese knockoffs on ebay that I'm considering.

Does anyone have any experience with these?

[Tom Hardwick]

These pirate batteries were a long time coming to market, and for such a popular camera I'm wondering why. And why did Panasonic change from the TM700's battery? What's going on here?

[Corey Graham]

Originally Posted by Tom Hardwick

These pirate batteries were a long time coming to market, and for such a popular camera I'm wondering why. And why did Panasonic change from the TM700's battery? What's going on here?

A lot of people are fired up about Panasonic changing batteries between the 700 and 900. To me, it just looks like they're trying to get more money out of us.

And I believe that this is the very reason that the knockoffs were later coming to market -- the battery construction is different and had to be "figured out" by third-party manufacturers. I read somewhere that the same was true when the 700 first came out -- it was a good 6 months before knockoff batteries were available.

I think I'll take a chance on these, and let you know how it goes.

[Tom Hardwick]

Is it these ones? I'll have one too.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-VW-VBN...em256a0 99d8e

[Corey Graham]

This is what I just ordered:

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

[Mark Rosenzweig]

I used HD Writer AE 3.0 to make a new video from original TM900 clips, this time inserting transitions and adding a title and music track to see how fast the process is and how quality is affected.

The 3:51 minute video took 24 minutes to render. This is very fast, and means there was smart rendering - only those parts needing re-rendering were re-rendered (transitions, titles, fades, adding music).

I normallly do not add music, as I am interested in the natural sounds, and it is hard work to coordinate music and video for the music to be effective. Here I kept the music low as an experiment, leaving the natural sounds (bird songs) prominent. The music was recorded by me (original instrument ensemble).

The 108060p video (which makes use of the iZoom feature a lot) is at

Panasonic TM900 HD Video: Hong Kong Lake 2 on Vimeo

[Roger Shealy]

Sometimes really bad ideas and really good ones are hard to distinguish. Anybody tried this before using the TM900 or other lightweight camcorder with a DSLR? Posted originally on 7D forum. Stop laughing! : )

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-eo...ml#post1706202

[Andy Wilkinson]

Interesting idea Roger - I never thought of doing that! (and I have all the items in your picture).

On a different tack, almost exactly a year ago I was deliberating whether or not to get a discounted TM700 or wait and see if Panasonic announced an improved model. Well, you all know that I did the later and I've been delighted with the TM900's performance.

However, no cam (I currently have 5 HD Cams) is perfect... so I bet there are people out there wondering the same about the TM900. Buy now or wait, especially since its price seems to have come down gradually over the last few months (and no doubt one or two outlets are offereing them at sale prices).

So, for those that want to know, here are a few things that Panasonic could do well to improve on if and when a new model gets announced in January. This assumes they follow the same product refresh pattern as previously - I fully accept this may not be the case (because of the tragic events in Japan earlier this year).

TM900 Weaknesses - My Suggested Improvements

In no particular order:

1. Needs to go wider than 35mm. Personally I'd be prepared to trade a little off the (amazing) telephoto end in order to make this possible. 30mm or even less (as long as barrel distortion does not get out of hand) would be most welcome - indoors especially.

2. The on-board mic seems particularly prone to picking up even the slightest breeze. If I ever use it I just use it as a stereo mic anyway. Personally, I'd like them to completely re-design the mic unit so that it can at least give "acceptable results" in what people would otherwise call pleasant outdoor weather - i.e. just a light breeze! Sure, I know no on-board mic is going to produce stella results but of all the cams I own this one craps out on the audio well before any of the others...

3. Some menu changes/improvements. There are some terrific features and the cam has a good deal of manual control but certain menu options get cancelled/become unavailable as soon as the cam is turned off and then back on again (i.e. need re-setting etc.). A flexible "Custom" area in the menu structure would be terrific. I'm sure others might detail the suggested menu improvements required!

4. Panasonic did a couple of naughty tricks regarding the battery and charging arrangements when they moved up to the TM900 and all its sisters from the previous year's models. We're stuck with the newer battery design now (and I must say the 1 large and the, supplied, 1 small Panasonic batteries I have have given stella performance) but I think they really should go back to providing an off-camera battery charging option (i.e. on the "cable block"). Using the camera as a battery charger is impractical for obvious reasons (as it must be off to charge for those that don't know). Sure you can go out and buy a separate charger...so it's an irritation rather than a deal breaker, as they are not expensive.... but I think the TM700 arrangement was better.

5. Everyone would want me to add "better in low light". This is the thing we all want improved on every camera we own, is it not! However, in truth, it performs remarkably well considering the size of the sensors in that 3MOS imaging block (I put up a quick low light test on YouTube some time ago if anyone is interested). If you want a true low light king then get a different camera - but the TM900 is not what I'd call bad in low light. Comparison with my elderly Sony HC1 soon shows me how far small sensor camera performance has come in just a handfull of years!!! It wipes the floor with the Sony V1 too! Sure my EX3 and 7D are well above it - but so they should be. Use the right tool for the right job, horses for courses and all that.

Don't get me wrong, it's a stunning performer for the price and size and I still love it!

Please feel free to add/refine suggested improvements or point out other weaknesses for those considering buying, especially if I missed anything obvious.

[Roger Shealy]

Good Start Andy. I'd like to add to your list if the price isn't driven up significantly:

6. Fix auto exposure levels for outdoor shooting and be able to offset iA exposure levels to match manual exposure if you need to jump between manual and iA.

7. Provide spot focus via touch screen. Sony uses this on some of their cameras and its a very handy feature.

8. More rounded bokeh (more blades on iris)

9. Add LANC control.

Its a great camera and worth every penny. With a few of these mods, it would be even better!

[Mark Ahrens]

Originally Posted by Roger Shealy

9. Add LANC control.

This is my number 1