The Official Panasonic HC-V700 Owners Thread - Page 12

It cracks me up people think riding on a bike it should look good. If your bouncing all over the place any camera would be a mess.

I have the TM90 and think the IS is simply amazing. Even at over 700mm zoom with a steady hand its very stable. I absolutely love it! The 700 will blow you away!

Well folks I FINALLY ordered my HC-V700M from Amazon for 399. I also ordered the accessory kit they have. $474 total for the camera and the accessory kit. I think it is a great deal. The kit comes with the following items, 32GB Accessory Kit For Panasonic HC-V700, HC-V700M, HC-V500, HC-V500M, HC-V100, HC-V100M, HC-V10. Camcorder kit Includes 32GB High Speed class 10 SD Memory Card + Replacement (2000Mah) VW-VBK180 Battery + Ac/Dc Charger + Deluxe Case + 50" Tripod + Mini HDMI Cable + Mini tripod +More. Cleaning kit etc...
List Price: $159.95
Price: $69.95

I hope I love this camcorder. You folk have really helped me to decide and I thank you all. I will let you know how I like it when it comes some time during the next few days

Ronomy - thanks. I get really good video from a dash mounted Vixia HF100 in my jeep on trails. I just thought it would be better.

What video did you see on youtube? I looked at one and it was pretty good. HF100 is still a good camera tho. I almost bought one back then but decided to stick with my old DVCAM for a while longer. Now I have the TM90 and love it. My only gripe is the auto color balance isn't that good. Although my old Sony didn't change color well either. Indoors I had to force indoor incandescent lighting mode. What I don't like about the panny is it changes too slow and too much while panning. So its best to force a mode or use manual color balance so it doesn't shift too much. Other than that it shoots a very sharp clear image.

Ronomy - I'll have to look on youtube for the name of the video I saw. I'm between a rock and a hard place. I love my hf100 and it takes some very nice video. But I want a higher bit rate and the 60P for wildlife off tripod. I using a Nikon D7000 with cinima loupe/Rhode video mic pro/Manfrotto 055 CF Pro and a 501 head with a Nikon 300mm and a TC1.7 (approx. 750mm) and the images are to die for, but it's not a run and gun outfit. My Vixia has provided me with very fine video now that I know its weaknesses and strengths. I see the 700 as a suppliment as if I had two video cameras I'd take more risks with the HF100 (shooting with a monopod over cliffs and rushing rivers, using it as a trail camera on my property. Also the great ois and long range of the 700 without convertors is very appealing for hikes (it would be like a kit with my m4/3 camera. I would use the Rhode with it and I think it would be a very good addition to my kit. I understand there are deals on camcorders arround Christmas and that the new models come out in January - correct? Waiting just a little longer to pull the trigger.

If you are looking for 1080p bit rates and high zoom, don't overlook the Panasonic FZ150 from last year and the FZ200 version this year. The optical zoom is 24x which is a little greater than the 700's 21x. The "intelligent zoom" is a little higher too. On the FZ150 or FZ250 there is the option of adding a Panasonic telephoto conversion lens that brings the total to 1137 mm equivalent. I bought the FZ150 and telephoto option for my wife when she said she wanted "a little more zoom for wildlife". It actually works!

Bill

I seem to remember around Thanksgiving last year the TM90 was under $300 at least twice. So I would expect the 700 to dip below $300 at some point too.

The FZ200 sounds impressive...F2.8 across the entire 25mm to 600mm range. Wow! Will keep an eye out for the review for this one.

I believe the at the optical range the 700 is something like 700mm or so, and about 1200mm with the extended zoom. My HF100 is pretty good out to bout 25 extend and then I put on the 1.5 convertor - still very sharp. Anything past 30 (digital) is pretty much blurry though. I pretty much think this is going to be my camera unless the next generation is better. I wounder if the price is going to go lower than the $375 (Amazon today) for V700K.

That's a good price already...I bought my TM90 in June last year and it was over $400. I think it was around $450 but it dropped to as low as $299 in November.

Finally gotten my V700 PAL version....still exploring the features and functions but so far it looks good. There are some questions which I hope someone can help me with -

- Quick Power on - will this drain the battery significantly? The manual doesn't really say it but if it's on 'standby' then i presume it would, right?
- i read somewhere that can we connect a dvd writer to it for direct burning into disc. Has anyone tried this? What format will it write into?
- wasabi batteries - are these good? Will it 'damage' the camera? Can the wasabi charger be use to charge the panasonic batteries? Will it charge both the vbk180 and vbk360 sizes?

I have an older version of the v700.

Quick Power On does drain the batteries a little, but not significantly.

Look in your instruction book. It says there are Panasonic DVD burners available but it does not give a model number. That said, I've never heard of them being used because most find it easier with a computer and software such as supplied with the camera. DVD use seems to be dwindling with all the other viewing choices, like YouTube.

I have a wasbi battery and it works fine. I don't use the wasabi charger.

Bill

Hi all,
Sorry to barge right in here but I've got quite a specific question that I'm really hoping you guys can help with. I'm looking to get a camcorder in the very near future and although reviews are hard to come by and compare, I'm thinking this one is probably my best choice. However, I need the camcorder for quite a specific purpose. Effectively, I want to use the camcorder as a digital monocular, but I want to view the feed on my laptop. I've been doing some research in to this and it seems it's quite difficult to get a live feed from cameras these days as none of them have FireWire ports. However, I have found a way that I can possibly take an HDMI feed or a component feed and view that on my laptop. My question then is whether the HDMI and component ports on the camera give a feed all the time? Eg. If you plug an HDMI cable between the camera and your TV, can you use the TV to see what the camera see's?
Sorry for the fairly long-winded ramble there; hopefully it's somewhat clear. If anyone has some information around this topic or could test this theory out for me, that would be very much appreciated.
Cheers,
YP

From the manuals, it doesn't seem to say that only panasonic DVD burners are compatible. Then again, probably someone has explored this function??

As for the wasabi charger, anyone else tried charging panasonic batteries with it? any issues? can the wasabi charger support both sizes?

I think the HDMI on my laptop is for "out" to a TV or monitor. How do you get it to be an HDMI "in"?

Earlier Panasonic camcorders such as the TM900 and SDT-750 will duplicate the viewfinder on a TV continuously through the HDMI. No doubt the 700 will too. I have a Sony that can do it too. So, it seems standard to use TVs or monitors. One issue can be getting the TV or monitor to be completely free of any camcorder information. Doing it can vary by model.

Bill

With difficulty, especially if you're using a laptop. You basically have to purchase a device that can do it. If you search 'BlackMagic' it should be the top result. Some of these devices are PCI-e cards and some are separate boxes. There are other companies that make similar devices. I'm thinking of going with this: but it's rather pricey. If anyone has any other suggestions I'd love to hear them though, as I may be missing a trick here.

OK thanks, that's good to hear. If someone can confirm that the v700 definitely does this, that would be great. I'm not too worried about having information on the screen, but if it can be removed that would be a bonus for sure.

I got the Panasonic HC-V700MK a little more than a week ago off Amazon for $379.99. I could not resist the price so I bought it because my old camcorder broke 2 weeks ago. So far I am loving the camera except that it does not have any focal length indicators on the screen when using manual focus. I have always owned Sony camcorders in the past and they always have had them and its very easy to focus to infinity with them. Anyway, since this is my first HD camcorder I was wondering what video editing program I should get? I am looking for something less than $100. I will be editing with a windows 7 64 bit os, 8 gb ddr2 memory, a ssd hard drive for the program itself, a 10,000 rpm hard drive for storing video, an intel quad 6600 processor, and a hd5500 1 gb video memory video card. Thanks for any suggestions!

I like Adobe Premier Elements 10 a lot. On the surface it has some cute "instant" features and themes. But, if you drill down a little, there is an amazing set of "pro" tools, features and effects. The learning curve can be a little steep but can be flattened with an organized training video from lynda.com or video2brain.

Others here like the under $100 version Sony Vegas a lot.

Don't leave out HDWriter that came with your camera. I think you get version 4.0. It will do impressive stuff, especially with 1080p60 clips. The manual is a .pdf on the disk. Scan it and see what it does. You may find you need nothing more.

Bill

Download the trial version of Sony Movie Studio which is now a 64 bit GPU enabled piece of software. Unless you are doing 2k/4K its got everything you need and it looks like your system will run it very nicely. Try before you buy:)

I have worked with Premier Elements 10, Sony Vegas Movie Studio 11, & the Cyberlink PowerDirector. Out of the 3 the easiest to use is Premier Elements. Next would be the Cyberlink software. The Sony software is good also but I had a hard time trying to make transitions between clips. Outside of learning to do transitions with Vegas Movie Studio it might have been my favorite. Searching YouTube for tutorials may help. Wanting to 'dive in and go' the Adobe product was hands down easiest for everything including making menus, etc.. If you have time on your hands you might like Movie Studio once you've learned how to use it.

Someone asked about image stabilization while driving down the road. I have 53 minutes of video driving from Nevada to Arizona then up into Utah. I can tell you this much. When going north from Cameron AZ on US89 it wasn't smooth. Playing it back one would never know unless you watch the hood of the car at the bottom of the frame.

Something that helps is don't rest your elbows against your body! Let the camera 'float' while you shoot. Turning on 'grid lines' aids in keeping the horizon level.

My camera just came today from amazon and even i spended 519 USD on it (cause im in Mexico) so far i think its totally worth it. I was shooting videos with a sony w290 camera and the change is really really noticeable. also one thing i didnt knew was that i can record as much as i want on my house witouth that annoying 30 minutes restriction i had on the sony cam cause battery ran out of fuel. Now i just need to charge battery when going out to film tricking footage, thats amazing!!!

Just got my unit and I have a few questions:

I thought I'd be able to simply take out the SD card, plug it into a reader, and view it on my tv. My TV will not recognize the MPEG-TS format. Is there a way to pick from mp4, avi, etc?

When I was outside filming my cat (the quality was INCREDIBLE btw) I panned over to objects in complete sun and they were washed out big time. My cedar chimney for example was a massive white blob. Any adjustments I can make to prevent this?

Hi guys, new to the site. Got my HC-v700m last week and have been very impressed with the video quality. There is one thing I just noticed. When the camera is off and I tilt it slightly from side to side i hear a light rattle. After I turn it on it goes away but can still be heard if I shake a little harder. There's no way I would ever record something with that much movement but what concerns me is the clicking I hear when it is off, sounds like something loose. Is this normal? Anybody else experience this?

Yes, I noticed this also....but I'm guessing it's probably something related to the image stabilisation components. If that is the case, I'm just wondering if hard shakes or knocks will damage those components?

Pansonic and Sony teamed up to create "AVCHD". It was updated to 2.0 or "AVCHD Progressive" to include 1080p60 files. So, if your TV is a Panasonic or Sony, it should handle the AVCHD files created on your camcorder. If the TV is a few years older, it may be AVCHD 1.0 and not able to play the 1080p files. An easier solution may be to get a "WD TV Live" media player. They are famous for taking any file format and sending it to a TV via HDMI. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005KOZNBW?keywords=wd%20tv%20live&qid=1347811163&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Regarding exposure, the "Intelligent Auto" mode should be responding to the light changes. If it is not, you have it turned off, have made some other change to settings or have a defective camcorder.

Bill

so the v700 is $377 on amazon (plus tax now thanks to Cali laws) (with no extras and standard panny warranty). the v500 at costco is $319 and includes a 8gb SDHC card (also included is the standard 90 return policy and the extra year warranty after panny warranty ends).

what is the better deal?? vid cam will be for home use but i like very good quality and the optional extra on the 700 (mic input, light on the front, etc)...
thanks for the input

louie

On the highest setting of 60p at an outdoor soccer game I am reviewing video...and it is not that great. The edges of the players all seem pixalated...could it be my old sony wega tv, since this setting is HD.

Thanks!

It is more of the outline that is pixalated.....sorry about the lousy picture....digital snapshots from a camera of a tv screen don't come out so well this close up.

Thanks for any info....just curious if I have a lemon camera...or if this is normal when playing HD video on "AV out" setting to a analog TV.

I just don't recall these pixalated outlines of my other indoor videos...this is only my second video with this camera.

Oh and I have a UV filter on....to protect the lens, but wanted to mention it.

Hard to tell from the pic, but it sounds like CA

read this for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_aberration