I have made a few short documentaries with my Panasonic TM300 camcorder. Heck sometimes I have even get paid and much to my surprise this seems to be happening more often than before. This proves it is possible to make a documentary with any camera if you are careful enough and patient enough and not too fussy. However the appeal is wearing thin as I sift through the footage from my latest effort on an LCD big enough to see all the shots I lost because I was not careful enough to baby the TM300 that is good for what it is but leaves something to be desired when it comes to dynamic range, low light performance, moire, handling tricky autofocus subjects, panning, artifacts from outer space etc etc.
That said there are also certain things I really like about this camcorder including its size, excellent zoom and ease of hand holding (no doubt due to the small size of the sensor), decent battery life and hell I have to admit it in most cases quite useable footage straight out of the box with not much need for massaging in post (fortunately since this is really not an option: you pinch the file and it screams and dies from over exertion). So...
Considering an upgrade, also because the TM300 shoots really lousy stills ie garbage and I would LOVE to have a camcorder that could do everything the TM300 can do AND also shoot great stills. Is this too much to ask?
Have looked into DSLR combocams like the GH3, Canon 5D MKII&3, Sony A99 etc but so far have not found one that I reckon can do everything the ugly duckling TM300 can do when it comes to handling and shooting rather than just listing specs. Also have not come across a camcorder that shoots good stills though am sure some must be able to do so better than the TM300 that even my wife's iphone can beat.
So my inclination at the moment is to treat stills as a separate camera issue and concentrate on trying to figure out if it is possible to upgrade my camcorder to a better one without spending a fortune, and if so what could that be?
Forget about 4K or other advanced technologies since all I do is destined for the internet and I have no wish to clog up my computer system with even bigger mounds of brid droppings than I already do. Just give me a suggestion for a decent affordable camcorder that has better dynamic range, low light performance and if possible shoots better stills. Preferably a model that is available used as I have never bought a new one before.
That said there are also certain things I really like about this camcorder including its size, excellent zoom and ease of hand holding (no doubt due to the small size of the sensor), decent battery life and hell I have to admit it in most cases quite useable footage straight out of the box with not much need for massaging in post (fortunately since this is really not an option: you pinch the file and it screams and dies from over exertion). So...
Considering an upgrade, also because the TM300 shoots really lousy stills ie garbage and I would LOVE to have a camcorder that could do everything the TM300 can do AND also shoot great stills. Is this too much to ask?
Have looked into DSLR combocams like the GH3, Canon 5D MKII&3, Sony A99 etc but so far have not found one that I reckon can do everything the ugly duckling TM300 can do when it comes to handling and shooting rather than just listing specs. Also have not come across a camcorder that shoots good stills though am sure some must be able to do so better than the TM300 that even my wife's iphone can beat.
So my inclination at the moment is to treat stills as a separate camera issue and concentrate on trying to figure out if it is possible to upgrade my camcorder to a better one without spending a fortune, and if so what could that be?
Forget about 4K or other advanced technologies since all I do is destined for the internet and I have no wish to clog up my computer system with even bigger mounds of brid droppings than I already do. Just give me a suggestion for a decent affordable camcorder that has better dynamic range, low light performance and if possible shoots better stills. Preferably a model that is available used as I have never bought a new one before.