HMC-40 IS AWESOME! Need quick advice on flash card/battery

R

raven13mb

Member
Hello all,

Just got my hands on an HMC-40 and let me tell ya, I'm extremely pleased! The footage it takes is amazing, pretty much on par with the Canon XH-A1... I've used the A1 and this Panasonic really packs an impressive punch. I'm going to be gradually replacing my 'fleet' of GL2's (which the HMC-40 completely blows out of the water in picture quality and general settings... performs better than the GL2 in low light from my tests) and I have a couple equipment questions.

First, I'm excited to use the flash memory instead of tapes. With my first HMC-40 and for the tests I've done, I got a SanDisk Extreme 30MB/s Edition, 16GB's:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...t.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=580125&is=REG#features

I'm assuming this is one of the best cards to use with this camera? I like the 'rescue pro' feature. I do photo too and a SanDisk card a while back stopped functioning. I couldn't find the pictures on the card. It appeared to be blank but when I used the 'rescue pro' program, bam, it salvaged every single picture. PHEW!

It seems a little pricy, but Sandisk is offering big bucks back if you buy the cards in quantity. I'll be getting four of them total and that would get me $110 back total.

Secondly, batteries. Are the 2400ma battery that comes with the camera and the 5800ma battery the only two options? I want a Panasonic brand (not generic) and will upgrade to the 5800ma if it's my only option as I'll utilize the longer record times with that battery:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=547674&is=REG

I'm assuming that's the right battery to use (as it doesn't specifically list the HMC-40) and also assuming that's the best price I'll find.

Any thoughts on both of these issues would be great! I plan on posting a full report of the HMC-40 after using them on a wedding shoot.

Thanks!
 
Thoughts on cards can be as varied as the users. FWIW, I have four SanDisk Extreme III 30 mB/s 16GB cards and have yet to have any problems with them over several extended shoots.

In my experience, the 2400 mAh battery is good for about 3 hours on the HMC40 - and that's with the optional XLR adapter phantom powering a shotgun mic. The 5800 battery is good for almost 7 hours with the same setup. If weight is a concern, you could get three or four 2400 mAh batteries and switch 'em when you swap cards.
 
I just checked my 5800 mAh battery and it matches the web page description. BTW, the pack is pretty large when compared with the 2640 battery that comes with the HMC40.
 
Mark Whalen said:
In my experience, the 2400 mAh battery is good for about 3 hours on the HMC40 - and that's with the optional XLR adapter phantom powering a shotgun mic. The 5800 battery is good for almost 7 hours with the same setup.
Click to expand...
Just wanted to share that, for me, the HMC40 reports a battery life of 5 hours 40 minutes when phantom power is on for both channels through the XLR adapter.
 
NetHead said:
Just wanted to share that, for me, the HMC40 reports a battery life of 5 hours 40 minutes when phantom power is on for both channels through the XLR adapter.
Click to expand...

Which sized battery are you using, NetHead? Also, are you using AF, OIS and zoom when shooting? The reason I ask is most of my shooting is using manual focus and the cam is frequently locked down, so I turn the OIS off.
 
Weight isn't a concern for me... this HMC-40 set-up is going to weigh half as much as my GL2 set up, so even with the bigger battery, things will still seem significantly lighter from what I'm used to.

That, and the fact the 5800 battery is less expensive than the 2400 is a clincher. Really makes no sense if you ask me!

What's a good affordable third party charger to use for these batteries? I like to just keep the chargers that come with the cameras in the case for field charging and use a third party to charge my batteries the night before. Or would anyone recommend against doing that?
 
I think you'll really like the 40's weight and balance. I owned a DVC80 and have a PD170 that I still use for various jobs. When comparing the HMC40 to those cams, I'm fairly happy with its size and weight. The only drawback I can see is the low light capability doesn't compare to the PD170 - but it's something that can be overcome with using an on-cam light like the Comer 1800.
 
Used the 40 on my first wedding in it's entirety. The footage looks great! I'm very impressed with the results, and thrilled about this purchase. It'll be nice to not have to worry about tapes anymore!
 
Mark Whalen said:
Which sized battery are you using, NetHead? Also, are you using AF, OIS and zoom when shooting?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the late response. I mainly do live concerts and theatre type work, usually from the rear of the venue. Manual focus and a decent amount of zoom (tasteful, though!).

Now, I'm using a stereo shotgun M/S mic which requires power on both XLR channels, so that probably has a lot to do with it. When I do separate-system audio recording and switch the phantom power off the camera reports over 7 hours.
 
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