HDC-TM300 an economical alternative?

S

santafeliving

Member
As a student/aspiring documentary filmmaker, I've got my eye on the HMC150. Seems like the perfect camera for my circumstances and have found this forum to be a gold mine of helpful information.

Then I saw an announcement of the HDC-TM300 (http://www.camcorderinfo.com/conten...corder-Review-36059/Compression-amp-Media.htm) and (again, speaking with a student's budget) wonder what folks think about this as an economical alternative - not as good, obviously, but might be good enough? I realize this is just a glimpse and the camera still needs a lot of testing, but wonder whether this is worth keeping an eye on, too.
 
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As a student I would go with the HV 30 or HV 20 especially if you dont have the horsepower the edit avchd .
 
Thanks - I'll check these out. Editing AVCHD shouldn't be a significant problem, based on what I've read about the performance of my MacBook Pro. What especially attracted me to the HDC-TM300 was the ring's manual capability, particularly the focus.
 
Looks pretty cool, with the lower bitrate you'll have to try keep all shots smooth/on a tripod if you are outputting HD but it does look pretty cool. and you can always convert to dv if you are struggeling with the edit. nice camera for a water housing i think...
 
I have the SD100. This seems similar but with bigger sensors, which is nice. The manual ring is really good. The HMC150 is a class apart from these of course both in terms of image and manual control.
 
studio1972 said:
I have the SD100. This seems similar but with bigger sensors, which is nice. The manual ring is really good. The HMC150 is a class apart from these of course both in terms of image and manual control.
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Yep - I've done enough reading to agree entirely about the difference in class. But what I'm unsure of is whether the HDC-TM300, or the HV-30 as Everts suggests, would give me at least some professional-looking video (given sufficient skill and knowledge of the camera) to do docs of various lengths on things like punk bands, sit-down public affairs interviews, poetic nature stories. Appreciate the help!
 
These cameras are more than enough.
HV30 basically gives you XL-H1 video quality. It isn't all about the camera.
Check the Canon 5D Mark II also. Best low light for band performances. Comes out the camera with a saturated popular look.
 
santafeliving said:
As a student/aspiring documentary filmmaker, I've got my eye on the HMC150. Seems like the perfect camera for my circumstances and have found this forum to be a gold mine of helpful information.

Then I saw an announcement of the HDC-TM300 (http://www.camcorderinfo.com/conten...corder-Review-36059/Compression-amp-Media.htm) and (again, speaking with a student's budget) wonder what folks think about this as an economical alternative - not as good, obviously, but might be good enough? I realize this is just a glimpse and the camera still needs a lot of testing, but wonder whether this is worth keeping an eye on, too.
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If you are looking to save money,
you may want to consider the Canon HF100, or the newer HF s100.
They record to SDHC cards instead of hard drive. Hard drives can not record if you are running, or have a certain amount of shake. Recording to memory is usually without trouble.

The Panasonic compresses the image at 17Mbps. I am of the belief that you need at least 20+ Mbps to have the best image. The canon records at near 24Mbps I believe. I have used the Canon, and think it is great, with a large (relative to the camera size) sensor.
 
Green Hornet said:
If you are looking to save money,
you may want to consider the Canon HF100, or the newer HF s100.
They record to SDHC cards instead of hard drive. Hard drives can not record if you are running, or have a certain amount of shake. Recording to memory is usually without trouble.

The Panasonic compresses the image at 17Mbps. I am of the belief that you need at least 20+ Mbps to have the best image. The canon records at near 24Mbps I believe. I have used the Canon, and think it is great, with a large (relative to the camera size) sensor.
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I see what you mean about the HF s100 - definitely seems worth waiting to see how it performs, and the price.

Can you clarify a couple things? When you say that you used the Canon, do you mean the HF 100 or the HV30? I wonder why you might prefer one over the other? And I take it you think that the lack of Panasonic's focus ring is an acceptable sacrifice, meaning that you've had highly satisfactory experience with the Canon manual focusing mechanism? Thanks much for your thoughts.
 
Definately check out the Canon HV30 in this class of product. Canon is quite strong in this price/performance class.
 
sewolla said:
Definately check out the Canon HV30 in this class of product. Canon is quite strong in this price/performance class.
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This has been terrific guidance, from a great community. I think, given my economic circumstances (not to mention, the economy itself), I may go for the HV30, keep my eye on the HMC150 for better days, which I'm sure are coming - and then I'll have two excellent cameras.
 
Who would want a tape based camera under $2,000?

Who would want a tape based camera under $2,000?

santafeliving said:
I see what you mean about the HF s100 - definitely seems worth waiting to see how it performs, and the price.

Can you clarify a couple things? When you say that you used the Canon, do you mean the HF 100 or the HV30? I wonder why you might prefer one over the other? And I take it you think that the lack of Panasonic's focus ring is an acceptable sacrifice, meaning that you've had highly satisfactory experience with the Canon manual focusing mechanism? Thanks much for your thoughts.
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I have used both the HV30 and own a HF100.

I would not own another tape based format- drop outs, macroblocking, converting to digital for editing, and the lower quality end result due to compression amount to name a few reasons.

The HF100 and that series of camera is really good in low light, image capture hand holdability etc. My belief is it is the BEST SERIES of camcorders under $2,000 period. I believe that nothing else comes close in that price range.!!!

If you want to spend more, then there is the HMC150, above that, it gets very dicey.

AVCHD, to me is the best economical solution for usability, transportability, editing, and low cost.

I can't do tape anymore...I feel very strong about that.

As for focusing, yeah that is a pain, but this series of camera come with Canon's very advanced focusing algorithm with "instant focus", or what ever it is called. If you have ever used Canon's slrs, you will know that auto focus is one thing they have down.
I canonly imaging with the newer HF s100, and it's larger lens, it can only be better.

My point is, the camera can likely focus faster than you (or I or any other human) can.
If it focuses incorrectly, then yeah, that is a problem. I have found that to be rare.
If you are shooting something that is not moving, just turn it to manual and lock it in.
It is really a problem trying to manually focus, but not one I had an issue with personally.
 
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Green Hornet said:
I have used both the HV30 and own a HF100.

I would not own another tape based format- drop outs, macroblocking, converting to digital for editing, and the lower quality end result due to compression amount to name a few reasons.

The HF100 and that series of camera is really good in low light, image capture hand holdability etc. My belief is it is the BEST SERIES of camcorders under $2,000 period. I believe that nothing else comes close in that price range.!!!

If you want to spend more, then there is the HMC150, above that, it gets very dicey.

AVCHD, to me is the best economical solution for usability, transportability, editing, and low cost.

I can't do tape anymore...I feel very strong about that.

As for focusing, yeah that is a pain, but this series of camera come with Canon's very advanced focusing algorithm with "instant focus", or what ever it is called. If you have ever used Canon's slrs, you will know that auto focus is one thing they have down.
I canonly imaging with the newer HF s100, and it's larger lens, it can only be better.

My point is, the camera can likely focus faster than you (or I or any other human) can.
If it focuses incorrectly, then yeah, that is a problem. I have found that to be rare.
If you are shooting something that is not moving, just turn it to manual and lock it in.
It is really a problem trying to manually focus, but not one I had an issue with personally.
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Thanks a bunch for the follow-up, really appreciate you sharing your experiences - especially the point about the camera likely focusing faster than I can. I had not considered that. Very true indeed!
 
Green Hornet said:
I have used both the HV30 and own a HF100.

I would not own another tape based format- drop outs, macroblocking, converting to digital for editing, and the lower quality end result due to compression amount to name a few reasons.

The HF100 and that series of camera is really good in low light, image capture hand holdability etc. My belief is it is the BEST SERIES of camcorders under $2,000 period. I believe that nothing else comes close in that price range.!!!

If you want to spend more, then there is the HMC150, above that, it gets very dicey.

AVCHD, to me is the best economical solution for usability, transportability, editing, and low cost.

I can't do tape anymore...I feel very strong about that.

As for focusing, yeah that is a pain, but this series of camera come with Canon's very advanced focusing algorithm with "instant focus", or what ever it is called. If you have ever used Canon's slrs, you will know that auto focus is one thing they have down.
I canonly imaging with the newer HF s100, and it's larger lens, it can only be better.

My point is, the camera can likely focus faster than you (or I or any other human) can.
If it focuses incorrectly, then yeah, that is a problem. I have found that to be rare.
If you are shooting something that is not moving, just turn it to manual and lock it in.
It is really a problem trying to manually focus, but not one I had an issue with personally.
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Personally I would get the panasonic as I think having a bit more manual control will help you develop your skills more than simply auto everything. I doubt any image quality difference is significant between the Panasonic and Cannon so that would be the main factor for me. Also the Panasonic has a film style progressive mode, not sure if Canon is as good at this type of thing. The Panasonic also has headphone, AV and Mic sockets and a full size cold shoe which are essential in my view, you could attach a Videomic which is what I do on the SD100.
 
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