my Panasonic HC-X1500

[Barry Lloyd]

HI everyone Bazza here

What a lot has gone on since i was last on here first lost being able to sign i due to computer change and now owning a Panasonic HC-X1500 and handle So where do I start? I suppose with the wearing out of my old panasonic HC-X900M after 11 years of use.

Next was a disaster the Sonyx ax53 camcorder, I fell for all the hype about how steady the videos were. so got rid of that pretty quick

So now onto my present camcorder the Panasonic HC-X1500 and handle. Wow what a difference. OK I own up it took ages to get somewhat into the menu setup but now found my way around for what i want. Oh it will accept 256GB memory cards . It splits each card into 127 halves .so infact you have the equivilant of 4x127GB cards

Yes there arf a couple of things I am not happy with, such as the knerled wheel being set back that far with the select/set/push, it could have been made a little more proud. Also the slow speed only does half speed to get slower needs an editing suite.

But oh boy the rest of the camcorder makes those a minor issue. The zoom unbeliveable - the video quality well say no more that axis to steady shows up how bad that Sony was. Yes I would liked to have it to have a 1" sensor so would most I suspect.

A for microphones for it
I think I have found the ideal one but relatively unknown. In my opinion is far better than well known makes everyone goes for. It is the

AZDEN SMX-30 well worth investing in and I have no financial interest in suggesting it

Where it wins hands down it is a dual stereo/directional microphone- it has a detachable audio lead (most are fixed into the microphone) . The power can be from camcorder or 2AA batteries via a dial and the batteries are easily removed while on the camcorder. Usual bypass switches and has its own 30% pivot so no need to turn the camcorder. What is more it is a lot cheaper than RH***





crossing the Artic circle using that Azden mike for sound

blue nose ice waterdip - YouTube

What I have also done is use a 3m sticky pad under the front of the handle and stuck a bluetooth dongle on it. then connected the mic cable into the camcorder mic socket port and another cable from the Mic out port at the back to the dongle. Now I can use a bluetooth headset for sound without being tethered to the camcorder. Thee is a sligvht latency b ut not enough to worry about
Just one other thing was the place a zoom/start/stop control on my Manfrotto Befreelive tripod which makes things a lot easier

[Andrew Smith]

Just watched the video and the sound is quite respectable. Then there is like "what, plunging into an ice bath to then bow before a troll?" but that's another matter entirely. :-)

Andrew

[Barry Lloyd]

I would love to go to Brisbane in Australia it is right at the top of my bucket list. I have been following a youtube couple from there as well who I would love to meet. Kate and Slaiman Akl. I also have cousins in Sydney so a good reason to go out there if I had the money. You are so lucky to be living there

That mic the Azden-30v version is about £250. The great thing is not having to carry a directional mic and a stereo mic as this does it all in one.

Any mic that picks up sound like this must be fantastic.

I took this video in South Korea. ENJOY

South Korea music and dance - YouTube

I KNEW YOU WANTED TO SEE IT FROM START TO FINISH

[Barry Lloyd]

Now you are thrilled with that here is another one for sound test. There is a darkened bit at first after the talk, but this is at normal speed

SOUTH KOREA DANCE - YouTube

[Barry Lloyd]

UPDATE re audio cables

as I have a bluetooth dongle stuck with a 3m sticky pad under the handle, the minor problem was running a cable from that to a out audio port on the HC-X1500. At the moment I have used a straight 3port 3.5mm 30mm cable. works ok but decided a right angle cable is neater and won't stick out so much

Trying to find one the right length wern't obvious. Either too long - not 3.5mm connector- wrong colour (wanted black) or not a 3 pin plug - not right angle end

Same issue trying to find same but only 20mm long from Microphone to camcorder audio in socket.



looks ugly and unprofessional with all those bits sticking out

[Andrew Smith]

In a sense, I think you've done the right thing in term of if it's got to be there then make it a distinct colour that stands out so much that people can only assume it's mean to be there and is part of the camera setup. And the orange is pretty close to the other coloured bits in the photo.

My suggestion would be to run the cable down the other side of the camera body so it can't conflict with you grabbing and operating the zoom rocker etc on the side handle.

Also, in the olden days, audio techs would cut their cables to length and then solder away as they attached their own connector ends. It may well be possible to get a custom cable made today (or even have a crack at it yourself).

Andrew

[Barry Lloyd]

what I did was cut a slice of a 3m sticky pad and used that to keep the cable away . what annoys me is not having right angle ends on the cables so that they don't protrude out so much. Already ordered what I think wil be better and one lot should arrive today. when I get them all I will do a comparison photo if I remember

[Barry Lloyd]

it has only happened twice in about 12 years of using a Sandisk memory card. Just had a 128gb -170mb/s card fall apart . So I can't complain and it looked well used anyway. Trying to get a replacement 170mb/s card of that size is getting harder to get as most now are in to 200/300mb/s range. having a double slot in the camcorder I want to have a matching pair of cards in each slot.

The handbook printed in 2020 on page 36 only quotes up to a 200mb/s speed so i supose the 300mb/s card was not produced back then. Newer cards strangely enough seem to be cheaper than the one I want

[Dave Baker]

I'm using 250 and 300 mb/s cards in mine with no problems. I never checked when I bought it a couple of years ago, I just put in the best cards I had and used it.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Barry Lloyd

Trying to get a replacement 170mb/s card of that size is getting harder to get as most now are in to 200/300mb/s range.

That's the read speed, not the write speed which is only 95mb/s, the "170mb/s" cards from Sandisk have now been replaced by 200mb/s which only means faster transfer speed to your pc.

[Ronald Jackson]

I have a HC-1500 and find understanding the menu and setting up the camera accordingly difficult. (Unlike with my GH6s which easy).

A question for fellow users : How does one set the lens to macro?

Ron

[Dave Baker]

It doesn't have a dedicated macro function, the nearest you can get is full zoom and as close to the subject as focus will allow.

[Barry Lloyd]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

That's the read speed, not the write speed which is only 95mb/s, the "170mb/s" cards from Sandisk have now been replaced by 200mb/s which only means faster transfer speed to your pc.

understood thank you
it is not the speed from card to PC I am thinking about, more the speed from camcorder to card and buffering


unedited

as you can see it is a replacement card for my paired spare sets

[Noa Put]

The highest bitrate your camera is capable of is 200Mbps and your current cards can handle that, anything higher and I would be looking at faster cards. I also use the same cards as you have and only if I use the 400Mbps codec that my Panasonic camera's have it will stop recording.

[Barry Lloyd]

thank you. I did wonder about the 300 card if it would work but as the manual says 200 is the max that is what I would have gone for as the 170 looks as if it is being phased out

as a matter of interest the 256GB cards work in the camcorder. what happens with each card the camcorder records only 128GB so after the first half of the card (128gb) it sarts recoring on the second half of the card (128GB). So in actual fact each 256 card is 2x128 on one card. saves running out of card space on a long shoot.
With a double slot camcorder with eack slot holding a 256GB card in follow on mode the recording time is almost endless. Oh I do record to both cards simultainously. More so now I had a card fall apart