The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread

[Clayton Moore]

Im looking for a clip that has a good sample of the internal microphone. The floor model I purchased is not great and does not seem to even get a good stereo signal ... seems to be all mono all the time. A factory reset does nothing to change it. I use external most of the time and thats perfect but for a quick and dirty grab and go, Id like to think its working normally. So Im looking for a sample clip to compare.

I have a new microphone element to install if needed but I wanted some information first. So any links or samples of what that mic should sound like would be great.

Thanks

[Clayton Moore]

FIXED! I put in the new mic element and its fine now.

[Luc Spencer]

Speaking of microphones, I encountered a weird problem with the TM900 recently - I tried hooking up the Zoom H1 to it at my last event and mounted it on the shoe, because I'm a bit disappointed with the sound quality of the TM900s internal mic. I was very surprised to hear a LOUD hissing sound (noise?) over the already loud music playing at the event (was using headphones to monitor sound). Could it be because I used a cheap stereo cable to connect the H1 to the TM900?

I set the TM900 on manual mic volume and tried all sorts of values, fiddled with the H1s input volume as well, the hissing just wouldn't go away. Oh, one more thing - I had to set the H1 to a very low input volume, I think anything past 15 caused severe distortion, even with the TM900 on minimum mic volume (no red bars shown on the mic volume though!). It's as if the H1 was feeding it already distorted sound. Maybe connecting the H1's headphones/line out to the TM900's mic in is a bad combination? Hm.

[Clayton Moore]

Its about the gain and the mic pre-amps in both the 900 and the zoom tend to be on the noisy side if levels get cranked a bit. So it will be a combination of recording levels on the zoom dialed in so you get a strong yet quiet signal out of the headphone jack of the zoom then you don't need to push the gain to much on the 900 to get good recording levels. I have both pieces I may have to run a test on this myself.

[Greg Mlotkowski]

Here is a video I shot last weekend, with both my TM900K and HCX900M. Both cameras were set to full manual mode, no external microphones (something I'll investigate in the future, comments are welcome). The set lighting was very very dark at times, and I shot from the rear of the auditorium.
I captured approx 100 minutes at 1080/60p, edited with Avid Studio. This video is only a short trailer advertising the results of the play. Great bunch of kids. Cameras performed well.

Your comments are welcome.

Pointe Players present Midsummer Night's Dream Trailer 720p on Vimeo

[Adrian Lepki]

Interesting, the results are quite good for these little cameras, especially that they were positioned behind the audience, quite a distance from the stage.
Theater, stage productions are hard to shoot because of the lighting (changing colors, hot spots etc.) and sound - big area to cover with many sound sources (actors). Rule #1 in sound - get as close to the sound source as possible. In this case, a double sound system seems necessary - a couple of cardioid (or directional) mics positioned right in front of the stage recording to a separate digital recorder.
Also, if there was a dress rehearsal - that's an opportunity to get variety of medium and closeup shots that can be later inserted in editing.

[Greg Mlotkowski]

Good info, I could not imagine using a external digital recorder then trying to keep a seperate audio track in sync with other video/audio tracks. Lip sync is important and when it is off, everyone knows. Can you suggest a microphone for these panasonic cameras. Be aware, often I do have oppportunity to get inputs from the sound board in auditoriums, but sometimes the input comes from an improper source. I once had inputs, and it came from some cordless microphones that were used on stage. With those, I could not hear the orchestra in the pit, only people singing into them. Another time I could not get ambient, and everything sounded flat. When using inputs from soundboards, I cannot use the AC adapter, because noise is introduced into the audio track, and I must run off battery power. Even with an extended battery, I fear running out of power. Then, anytime I do use a line input, audio is converted to stereo, sometimes mono depending on the soundboard settings. Always tradeoffs.

[Dave Therault]

Clayton, I thought I'd report that I did pick up the AC90 a few days ago, and will be shooting about 12 hockey games with it this week. Thanks again for the tip.

[Adrian Lepki]

Greg,
as you are getting decent images in your stage video recordings, the same should be done with the sound.
The in-camera audio should be used only as a reference for syncing other audio tracks you'll have from external recorder.
A good start would be a Zoom H4n digital recorder with Rode NTG-2 shotgun, and Audio-Technica AT2020 (or AT2035) cardioid mic. (Use phantom power from Zoom H4n to power those mics.)
With some experimenting you'll find out what works best in different types of shooting you do (stage, soloist, piano etc.)

There is some good sound recording advice here:

https://sites.google.com/site/iconta...ound-recording

with more links at the bottom there.

[Clayton Moore]

Originally Posted by Dave Therault

Clayton, I thought I'd report that I did pick up the AC90 a few days ago, and will be shooting about 12 hockey games with it this week. Thanks again for the tip.

Oh hey, I cant wait to get your observations as well as see some samples:-)

[Clayton Moore]

I found this GH3 Movie review in 7 parts on vimeo.

Nick Driftwood’s Videos on Vimeo

[Bill Bruner]

Unbelievable - the

Panasonic X900M with 32GB of memory is now $589 at Amazon

 

Panasonic X900M with 32GB of memory is now $589 at Amazon

- temporarily out of stock, but you can reserve one at this price - which is less than a

TM900 costs used

 

TM900 costs used

!

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution

[Bill Bruner]

Originally Posted by Clayton Moore

I found this GH3 Movie review in 7 parts on vimeo.

Nick Driftwood’s Videos on Vimeo

Part 7 is a little profane - but hilarious!

(this post should probably be in the Lumix GF/GH section of the forum, though :))

Cheers,

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution

[Clayton Moore]

Yet one more network wedding video.

Broadcast TV might shift things again. Maybe, in time. The ABC network broadcasts a wedding - http://abc.go.com/shows/the-bachelorett ... 29/1050635

The visual beauty of this stuff is not cinematic, not narrative like a small movie, but just a straight from start to finnish shoot with vibrant color all lit up and super sharp HD images.

It will be interesting to see how long the "wedding" DSLR craze will last if the networks pump up this stuff.

It looks pretty standard HDTV, shot with, Im guessing, SONY XDCAM, 50 Mbs. 4.2.2. My guess is ratings will be HUGE. Shots are all standard, HD Video Depth of field largely deep.
Expect when they have those fat broadcast lenses on telephoto of course.
Frame rate looks standard broadcast.

It will be interesting to see if, over time, networks get on the band wagon with this stuff, brides start to ask can you do a video like that.
In which case Standard video camera shoots for wedding will be back in vogue….but using some of the new lighting technologies and newer improved but affordable video cameras.

Just wondering

[Philip Scott]

Yes; just grabbed one at B&H in NYC for $599. Very pleased so far.

Originally Posted by Bill Bruner

Unbelievable - the Panasonic X900M with 32GB of memory is now $589 at Amazon - temporarily out of stock, but you can reserve one at this price - which is less than a TM900 costs used!