The Official Panasonic HDC-SD/TM90 Owners Thread - Page 4

I had good results with using the free tools. A 30 minute video split into 3.99gb and 1.48gb merged in 2 minutes seemlessly on a 2.57ghz core 2 quad with 4gb ram.


Thanks for the help, I had a 8gb adata class 6 card laying around and it works fine.

Good news, I just received my coded generic vbk-360 hi-cap battery from china. It's the one in the link above, ordered from ebay. It fits perfect and works perfect, and shows remaining time. A real bargin, compared to the $95+ pana one.

For those of you that were asking about the size.......It sticks out just short of the end of the mounted hot shoe. The hot shoe extends out further. I had no problem with the record button. I think it actually creates a good balance. I néed the extra record time of a high cap, so its perfect for me. .

But the good news is this seems to be the first real coded generic fully compatable with pana tm90 units.

Revised; the link did not register in my post. Its the battery mentioned in post #64 of this thread.

Randy

Awesome news. Gonna buy me a couple.

One question, how long does it last?

Did you get just the battery itself and use the Panasonic charger?

First charge shows a little over 3.5 hour run time. It took 4 hours to charge the first time. I used a generic wall charger, that I already had, from amazon. The generic charges both my new battery, as well as the original pana 160 that came with my Tm90.

Have not had a chance to run new battery down yet.

As all new batteries develop longer run times after a few cycles, I would expect this one to get close to 4 hours with a few complete charge/discharge cycles.

A word of note, it took 3 weeks to receive the battery, from china.

Randy

Already had generic wall charger from amazon, or I would have got the whole kit. The generic charges both new battery and original pana battery.

Randy

Cool, just ordered the 360.

Great news! I just ordered one!

Thanks for the update!

For those of you that have owned the Panasonic HDC-SD/TM90 and Canon MF4XX, how much better is the wide-angle of the Panasonic? Is it enough to help forget the Canon's low-light advantage?

You may be out of luck. The Canon M40/41 is discontinued. Canon does not even have any stock. The few remaining units that you will find, are selling for $800+.

The Pana TM90 has also increased in price, and will be discontinued soon.

The TM wide ange is a "true" wide angle that goes out to 28mm. The Canon is closer to a standard lens (45mm). The pana also has a longer zoom range. Both are good in low light, if set up and used correctly.

If you want either, better grab one QUICKLY!

Randy

I just bought the SD90. The Canon was the other model on my list but the SD90 won out because of its wide-angle lens. Over the past 20 years I have had 5 camcorders (from 8mm to Hi8 to Digital8 to MiniDV and now to HD). Except for the first one (and the SD90) I always ended up buying an add-on wide-angle lens because the camcorders were never wide enough. I have found through the years that for family and travel videos a wide-angle is essential. I have mostly ignored the zoom range as such (20x ... 30x ...) as I have always had enough at the telephoto end.
I have never been satisfied with the wide-angle adapters for three reasons:
1- Some cause vigneting which you don't always notice on the LCD screen
2- You have to carry them around and install and remove them continuously
3- In certain situations (panning with a bright sky, for example), a spec of dust on the adapter can be visible in the video.

Point number 3 is the clincher. I have a bunch of video scenes which were ruined because of the combination of dust and a bright sky. A speck of dust on the camcorder's lens seems to be too far out of focus to be seen in the video. When it's on the adapter, it becomes visible as a dark blob. The worst part is that in bright outdoor light, you won't notice it in the viewfinder. And forget about cleaning the lens before each and every scene. When you're at the Chateau Versailles near Paris, you just don't think about dust on you wide-angle adapter! I now think about dust on my wide-angle adapter every time I look at that video, though!

The SD90 is a fine camera, one of the best out there, but I would have chosen it even if it were a bit inferior to the others just for the wide-angle lens.

Bill

Any chance of a picture?

still deciding between 180 or 360.

Sorry, no picture. If you put the hot shoe on the tm90, for reference, the battery comes just short of the end of the shoe. The hot shoe sticks out further.

The battery physical size should not be a consideration. Either you need the extra capacity or not. I need it.

Randy

If the TM90 has been discontinued, does anyone have any knowledge of its successor? I'm actually interested in the SD90, and assume that it's discontinued also. I can't decide whether to grab it now at $386 (B&H and Amazon) or wait until next week to see if I'd prefer the new one. A new one will probably cost more, and if no new one is announced, then the old one may still be higher in price next week. I already have a Canon XF100 and LOVE it, but this purchase would be for a pocket/travel cam.

So, I'm inclined to gamble and see what next week brings. Anybody read anything that would make me jump now instead?

Thanks!

I had similar thoughts and went ahead and ordered the sd90 last night. The main thing to remember is if you wait to see what next week brings, then next week you'll wait to see what the following week brings and so on, and you'll never get anything. Sometimes you just gotta do it.

Yes, 98 percent of the time I'm the same way. But since Panasonic almost always announces new consumer-level camcorders at CES, I'm guessing that their official CES 2012 press conference this coming Monday at 3 PM (Pacific Time, I assume) is probably when we will find out their plans for the entire 900/90/80, etc. lineup for the year - like this from last year.

Now, the new cameras may not be available until March, but last year saw features continue to trickle down from the 700/900. If that continues, it might be worth the wait. However, I will probably be sitting there waiting for the news with the mouse hovering over Place Order on the SD90

I hear ya, I figured worse case scenario is I'll have 30 days to return it if something new comes out that I want. I'd have to weigh whether or not the new features are worth the wait and extra money.

In regards to the eBay batteries mentioned here...would it be best to charge them with a stand alone charger instead of charging them on the camera or would it matter?

Do any of you guys use any lens attachments with you TM/SD90? I recently got the TM90 which I will mainly be using on vacation to shoot outdoor scenery/landscapes. I'm thinking maybe a lens hood to protect my lens are reduce flare. I'm not sure if their worth getting for video cameras though. Are there any other attachments you guys use?

-Sean

Either way works, but I don't like the hassle of having to plug up the camcorder to charge. I use external chargers for all my camcorder batteries. Much easier when traveling also.

I've just ordered a 41.5mm-58mm step-up ring, a 58mm UV filter and a 58mm lens hood for my SD90. I will be using it to protect the lens when in dusty or wet environments: beach, desert ... Niagara Falls! I might leave the lens hood on all the time. It doesn't only help with lens flare, it helps prevent fingers from getting in the lens accidentally.
Be carefull with what you buy. The SD/TM90 has a very wide angle lens. Many filters and lens hoods can be apparent in the corners of the frame, especially when the image stabilizer is working hard..

Same here, I bought this one and it seems to work fine with the OEM batt..

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

Is the SD/TM90 41.5mm? I could of swore it was 37mm. Could you link me to the step-up ring, filter, and hood you bought? Knowing my luck I'll order parts that don't fit haha.

The SD90 is definitely 41.5mm. The TM90 only has extra internal memory, so it should be the same.

As for the links ... first a discalimer: as I said, I ordered the parts, but that was just a few days ago. Still haven't received them, so I can't comment as yet on the seller, or how well the parts fit.

They are item numbers 330631301469, 230634873473 and 250819017921 on ebay. Just go to ebay and search for these item numbers and they should come up.

I received this camcorder today, and like it, but I ordered the HDC-SD90K and received the SD90P. Anyone know the difference?

I'm 95% sure that's just the color. I think 'k' is black but I'm not sure




Not sure why I thought it was 37mm. Let me know if they work well when you receive them. Only thing I'm worried about is the lens hood cause shadows but it has the petal design so hopefully not.

Hello Everyone, quick question, Amazon has TM90k, and Bestbuy has TM90, what is the difference (if any)?

The k just means it is black.

thanks!

Here's a shot of the eBay battery mentioned earlier that arrived today. Fits comfortably and as someone else mentioned, it gives the camera a better balance. I was expecting a 4 hour charging time , but I looked after two hours and it was fully charged, so I'm not sure exactly how long it took. Camera shows me 3hrs10min available battery time in video mode. Just have to see how well it works with normal shooting. I charged it attached to the camera since I don't have an external charger yet. Took two and a half weeks to get to my door from the day it was shipped.