Panasonic xx700 Jittering/shaking issue - Page 4

Any infos on when Panasonic is coming up with new 1080p model? hopefully they will get rid of the shaking problem so I can buy one, I waited so long.

The new models are almost out.

Theirs the SDT750 and the TM750. For the US market, I would assume they will get sold separately from the 3D lens. At least I hope.

I'm traveling to europe at the end of october hope they will be out by then. however I've noticed that both have shoe mounted on the side so I may just go with HS700 since I'm not interested in the 3D feature and cross my fingers that it will not come with jettering problem, what do you think guys?

What are the chances that the new camcorders will not have the same problem ?

Isn't' the point of having 'HD', viewing on large screens?

I waited and I will be getting the SDT750 today according to the tracking # I will report if they get rid of the problem in this new model, any suggestions of possible tests that I can do for you guys?

Hi all. New member here, and proud owner of this fine TM700. It's not perfect, but doesn't cost $10,000 either...

Tested the 45 degrees angle shooting, and in fact tested at a lot of different angles, and so far no shaking on mine when still. Although, it DOES exhibit the shaking when slowly moving the camera on the tripot (especially panning), but it stops as soon as the camera isn't moving anymore.

So this behavior looks like it could be due to hysteresis on the electro-mechanical part of the O.I.S. that moves the floating lens, when the weight distribution is altered by tilting the camera. Fortunately on mine, it stops oscillating when the camera is perfectly still, probably because each camera isn't calibrated exactly the same, but this is pure speculation on my part. Nevertheless, I agree this is an issue. I wonder if the new model will have "the shakes" ?

The other annoying thing with mine aside from the fan noise, which doesn't bother me because I use an external mic, is that the auto white balance is too easily confused and changes too abruptly, sometimes without any change in lighting. Luckily there is the manual mode to keep it fixed, but my 12 years old Sony Hi8 does a better job of it, although its resolution is really really low in comparison (400 lines SD).

But, all that being said, once the color balance is set I have yet to see better video in 1920X1080 at 60 progressive frames/sec on any other camcorder under $900 ! Especially when viewed on a big screen TV (Sharp Aquos Special Edition LCD). So I'll keep mine, with all its little annoyances.

Hi all!

After 6 month of waiting let me congratulate you with shaking/jittering issue solution!

The problem has solved by means of new firmware update from Panasonic.

This update was produced recently and as I have told by our local Panasonic-Russia:

1) corrects O.I.S. block (shaking issue)
2) corrects fan ( I do not know what this update corrects)

After updating my camera I have no issues with shaking/jittering at an angle of 50-90 degrees of shooting.

See my video 90 degrees downward from tripod:

http://www.vimeo.com/17238450

As you see (without and with OIS, no matter) this is a "rock solid picture".

Please, call your local Panasonic services and ask for new firmware update.

Please, do not forget to post your results here.

Thank you who reported this problem to Panasonic!

Good luck!

Regards,
MYG

Where is the firmware posted? Or do you have to contact Panasonic directly?

Do you have to send the camera to Panasonic? Can you do the upgrade yourself?

You should contact your local Panasonic and they will update a firmware in their service center.
There is no update available to download from Internet.

It should really be downloadable if it's easy to do.

I've looked on many Panasonic sites and don't see a firmware update for TM700 anywhere. There are many for the different Lumix models, but not the TM700 yet. Where did you get this information please? Did you send your unit to Panasonic for this update?
Please give us more details... Thanks.

There are two things to consider:

1. If a few people in each country ask for update, it is wise to do it in service center.

2. If thousands people ask for update, it is better to upload this update to Internet site for users.

By now, I was only one man throughout the Russia who asked for update.

Regards,
MYG

I have wrote in July to Panasonic Russia, they replied: "Please, wait, we have asked Panasonic Japan". Then after 4 months of silence I have wrote to them again. They replied: "A new firmware update has just released, please, go to our service center in Moscow".

Thank you for a quick reply. So if I understand, the service center has performed the firmware update for you?
If there is indeed a firmware update, that means that Panasonic knew about the problems, and they should make it available for everyone on their sites!

I live in Canada, so I'll try to contact Panasonic here...
In the meantime, let's hope they'll make it available for download soon so we can do it ourselves, instead of having to go to service center (mine is more than 200km away!).

Or, they could actually replace the OIS block, because doing this could be simpler than creating a firmware update for just one user. They could have wanted it to look like a firmware update to downplay their engineering defect and to say that the problem was in software and was easy to fix. Who knows.

Let's hope it is really as simple as a firmware update. The idea of having a $800 camcorder dismantled, and tinkered with, by some repair guy to replace such a critical component isn't too pleasant. Even under warranty. I have had bad experiences with Sony products in the past about that.

Back in 1991, my $2500 CCD V101 Hi-8 camcorder had to have the CCD sensor replaced under warranty (many many dead pixels), and was sent to Sony service center, and came back with new problems, and had to be sent back 2 more times (several weeks each time) to get finally ok. Then, 2 years after the warranty had expired, the camcorder died completely. An estimate of $1800 was given for repair. I smashed it with a baseball bat, and threw it in the garbage bin.

So you see, I don't particularly like the idea of sending anything back to service centers...

No, they updated a firmware of my camcorder in several minutes.

There were several reports even on this forum to local Panasonic from different countries.
We have opened this thread to achieve this.

They can update your camcorder in your presence.

It is very interesting that they did not know what exactly this update must to improve. They said that panasonic Japan accompanied this update with only two short notes:

1) OIS block issue update
2) fan update

They asked me to send them via e-mail if the problem will solve.

Still cameras get updated all the time. I remember complaints that the 20mm lens had for making too much noise. With a certain firmware update, not only was the auto focusing in the video less noisy but it became more accurate. You can read a lot of posts saying they got better shooting results after that firmware upgrade.

For sure we don't know if it's that easy for your average person to do it themselves but even if this increases the reliability by as little as 5% even though it could be a bit higher, that's still important. If it's easy to do and for sure it will make the camera at least a little better, than they should put it online.

Agreed.

Hey MYG, I am wondering have they fixed other issues, like when you click the button on the side of the lens barrel, the camcorder resets aperture to automatic value. Is it still the same with the new firmware? If they did, I might re-buy this camera.

Could anybody tell us how the new firmware will aply to the camera? I mean, how it works? Do I have to send the camera to the Panasonic Service?

Thanks!!

Tito

Please read the last few replies about that...

I've sent an e-mail to Panasonic Canada about it. Awaiting a response eventually...

Tito,

You should contact your local Panasonic again and say that in other countries this update is already available in local Panasonic services.
I do not know how your Panasonic service will organize this. Read my posts above how they did it in Russia. They backed up my old firmware (several minutes) and updated a new one (several minutes). Then engineer asked me to confirm via e-mail if problem solved.