Quote:
Originally Posted by
W.Mayer 
i have to report that the unit we use for a test seems to have a problem.
Good, I am interested to see also your impressions, my first impressions can e found in German here:
http://www.videotreffpunkt.com/threa...526#post218526
But I summarize also what I have seen up to now, even if that are first impressions really - have not shoot a lot now.
You find the major manual on the CD, there is also a short introduction manual in paper what is nice, but to get an overall picture to read the pdf manual is a must. The menus are similar to what I know from the consumer models Pansonic 750 or 909 - it is similar, but Panasonic has added here a lot of additional features from the professional modes, what allow a lot of manual adjustments and combinations. You find here 7 settings for gamma (like B.Press, Cine-Like D und Cine Like V) and can also choose from 4 color matrices. You can adjust the knee, DRS, Master Pedestrial Chroma Phase and Level und additional sharping (vertically and horizontally). These setting can be combinded in the way you want in 6 presets, and can used whenever you wish to do so. The camcorder comes with some prestored presets that allow you to start without spending a lot of time to come up with some combinations that make sense - but you can adjest that how you wish to do.
I think that this is valueable since that moves the camcorder more toward what professional camcorders are able to do. Given that, you have to be aware that this camcorder is much more complex, compared with the "simple" JVC TD1 or Sony TD10, and it may take take some time to learn and test the presets and to adjust them.
The major functions like white balance, black balance, focus, iris and gain can all be adjusted in a manual way, also for 3D. For the white balance for example, you find fixed settings for 3200K but also for 5600K. You have also an automatic mode, you can lock the wb, but have in addition two posititions where you can store two manual adjusted wb settings. As far as I have seen, the wb function works nice.
All of the settings, that are blocked in the TD10 or TD1, can be manual adjusted also in 3D. The iris and the gain are combined, what is maybe a little bit new, but my first tests with the typicial lowlight situation in a room with lower light - it was a gey day and I did not use additional light for my check - showed, that the noise in the camcorder does not come up significantly, I have checked that on myl large 3D HDTV. So from that side the combination of gain and iris is fine for me. The manual adjustment of gain with the large wheel works fine.
Manual focus can be done with another wheel, and there is also a support function marking the sharp areas in red - nice. There is also a push focus function, if you decide to put that on your programmable bottoms (there are 3 physical bottoms and 4 shown on the display).
The whole concept of using the camcorder is an interesting combination of using bottoms, but also to use your fingers and the tough screen interface. I see that as a great combination, but it is something new - where you have both elements from consumer camcorders but also from more professional camcorders.
The camcorder is not very heavy, and is quite well balanced in your hands. All togehter nice even if you feel the weight of the camcorder after some time.
For the display, I have to state that it does not have the good quality as we know it from the Sony TD10, but it is better then what I have seen from the JVC TD1 - so somewhere in the middle. The 3D effect #on the display# is weaker compared with the Sony display, but there are some additional features that makes the adjustment of the convergence really nice. Even in the settings as delivered there is a 3D function on one of the manual bottoms where you can reset the convergence - what is nice. The convergence can be adjusted between C00 and C99, what is nice. In addition you see a calculation of the deep bracket, so the distance from you to the near object and the most distance object, what I have not seen with the TD10. That allows a great control. More important, you can switch with that bottom from 3D - mixed - 3D off - again 3D. This kind of "mixed" picture shows both video parts, and is great to adjust the convergence point for the movie. I have not seen a better control of the convergency up to now, the TD10 suffers from the fact that the only check is the picture, what may suffer from sunshine a lot. So all together, the unit is great in 3D convergence adjustment and controll.
To have an first impression of the 3D deep feeling I have connected the camcorder to my 3D HDTV, and looked to the 3D picture. First of all, you have two adjustment possibilies for the later size of the 3D monitor - what is nice since we know that this makes a difference. What I have seen here is good - so, the 3D display on the camcorder is not so fine as we know it from the TD10, but the 3D effect on the 3D plasma is nice. I have to state that I have done that up to now only in my room, what is up to 7 or 8 meters - so here additional testing is required.
I have not testet the internal 5.1 microfon yet, nor the XLR-possibilities - but especially for the XLR you can connect whatever microphon you wish to use, what is great. The internal microfon can be adjusted with the two small wheels if it is set to 2.0 audio, what may be fine for many shootings.
All together, what I have seen up to now in the first hours, the camcorder is an impressive machine. For resolution tests we have some tests in the German slashcam forum, what states that both 2D and 3D behaves similar.
Who want to see some luminancecharts or an iso chart can have a look to that page:
http://www.slashcam.de/artikel/Test/...zit.html#Aus_d
All togehter my first impressions are that this is really the camcorder that I have waited for. It may not be perceived as really cheap, but compared with the possibilities I have seen from both the TD10 and the TD1 I am really impressed up to now.
