HMC40: Any gripes or grumbles

1) I wish it had the wider angle lens of the HMC150. Solved this with a highend .75 Pany converter adapter which is on the camera 95% of the time.

2) the ND filter is inadequate to shoot at 1/60 on a bright day - how crazy it that??? The Pany adapter has no filter thread, so had to superglue a 77mm ring to it - I shoot with a ND8 most daylight hours.

3) Like Pavel, most of my front buttons provide zero tactile feedback, which is surprisingly annoying.

4) The EVF is barely useable.

But I love the image quality, the endless battery life, and the size and the form factor. Pairs nicely with 720p60 from my Gh2 -the two make a good combination.

P.s. Maybe I don't get online enough, but PASS is about the worst-designed manufacturer website I've visIted in the past 2 years. Just saying ...
 
Last edited:
My 2c. Add a shotgun mic to her and try to turn down the fiddly little sound level knobs on the XLR unit to a low enough sound level: almost impossible. I have mine almost on zero and still too loud sometimes. EVF is a joke, LCD is crappy too for something this price - makes it hard to focus without using focus assist. Knobs on side are not very tactile. Stingy scene files, only 3 allowed - come on now Panny! Lens not very wide angle for inside a vehicle. If you're thrashing around in a run and gun situation the camera may go out of focus if the camera is in manual focus mode and you lightly bump the focus ring.

Look for the price, only a DLSR setup would come close so you get what you pay for and like someone who's lost a leg, you get work and create workarounds for the disabilities you are stuck with (not that this camera is legless :) - more of a finger or a couple of thumbs).
 
thabo said:
My 2c. Add a shotgun mic to her and try to turn down the fiddly little sound level knobs on the XLR unit to a low enough sound level: almost impossible. I have mine almost on zero and still too loud sometimes.
Click to expand...

this tells me that you have an impedance mismatch. Get a in line Pad to temper down the levels so that you can gain some control.

Best,

Jan
 
Hi Graham

I agree about PASS too!!! I have been trying to register my cameras with them for 3 months now!! They ignore all messages and have zero support!!!! I cannot use Edius Neo 2 that came with the cameras as I cannot register them on PASS!!

Chris
 
I don't understand the registration issue with the PASS website; sure, the website is the worst navigation design (and visually too) I've ever encountered for a major company, but I was able to register my HMC40 within 5 minutes starting from the beginning of my first visit there.
 
My issue stems from the camera registration..I keep getting an error saying "Equipment Profile does not match delivery" ...Panasonic will not answer an email either...all I want to do is register one cam (I have two HMC82's) so I can use Edius Neo 2 Booster and you have to register the camera to get a serial number!!

Chris
 
ChrisHarding said:
My issue stems from the camera registration..I keep getting an error saying "Equipment Profile does not match delivery" ...Panasonic will not answer an email either...all I want to do is register one cam (I have two HMC82's) so I can use Edius Neo 2 Booster and you have to register the camera to get a serial number!!
Click to expand...

What this means is that the camera was delivered to another country and was sold to a different one. not sure where the 82 is sold but as an example, if someone was trying to register an 85 here in the US it would say the same thing as the 85 is a Japanese model. this would be a gray market product. I know the site is a bit cryptic, and I apologize for that, but try contacting Panasonic directly in your country to see if they can help you get the camera registered.

Best,

Jan
 
Hi Jan

You are truly an angel!!!! I also got the same response from PASS eventually so someone did read my message!! I am now registered!! The problem was I paid for the camera to the company in New Zealand but although it was orginated in Japan (where on the 85 is sold) it had been sent to the Singapore warehouse so was classed as originating in Singapore but delivered to Australia. The 82EN can be delivered from Australia but has a different serial number prefix and the serial number and country of supply must match!!!!

My apologies for making a fuss about PASS!!! The system works well if you simply use a bit of logic!!! Sorry guys to hijack the HMC40 thread (I'm getting one in a few months to use with the two HMC82's anyway so I sorta qualify!)

Chris
 
HMC40 OK, not great

HMC40 OK, not great

For the price, the HMC40 does a fair job. Highlights tend to blow out and there a reddish tint that consistently requires correction. I don't find low-light a big problem. I've used it in some very dim places and it's worked fine. Heck, it's a 1/4 chip.
Upside is that it travels very well. Easy to pack in carry-on and doesn't draw attention in places where you'd rather look like a tourist while still returning with nice looking HD pictures. The requirement of an XLR adapter is a pain - flimsy and gets in the way but it works. Mounting a shotgun to the adapter tends to pick up camera noise.

BIGGEST gripes:

- Cheap plastic construction. Somebody mentioned carbon fiber - no way. Good old fashioned brittle plastic that breaks very easily. I'm an old stills shooter who's used to banging cameras around - not the HMC40. A single slide to the floor atop a monopod broke both the battery slot (so I no longer can use the 6-hour battery) and the clips inside the lenshade, so the shade either is crooked or falls off and is hard to return;

- FOCUS or lack thereof. My first time out with the camera I found the same as the original poster - put the camera on Manual but found the focus going in and out, especially in low-light. Called Panasonic (no easy trick the first time) and they pointed me to the second step - the Manual focus button on the lens. Now, months later, after returning from several talking head sessions, I found one of them totally out of focus and another pretty soft (but usable). Once again contacted Panasonic and they pointed me to steps three and four - setting Focus Assist in the on-screen menu and pushing the button. What a pain! Ah, but the pain doesn't stop there. So I hit the Focus Assist settings, as recommended in Panasonic's video on the topic, and the lens zooms in. OK, so I reset the shot and rolled on. Stupidly, I didn't check the footage as the Focus Assist screwed up the framing and I ended up with the microphone and about 75% more of the scene than I wanted. As this just happened today, I have to run some tests to see how to properly work with Focus Assist. It would make sense to me to have manual focus as the basis of the system and then have to hit one, two, three, four buttons and functions to get auto working.

All said - I bought the HMC40 instead of the JVC 100 and stick with that decision. I don't have any problems importing and editing images in Final Cut 7. The price fit right into my budget of starting a business and I'm glad I didn't spend any more. I am looking to step up and find myself caught between a video-capable DSLR or a four-thirds with interchangeable lenses.
 
MMImedia said:
For the price, the HMC40 does a fair job. Highlights tend to blow out and there a reddish tint that consistently requires correction. I don't find low-light a big problem. I've used it in some very dim places and it's worked fine. Heck, it's a 1/4 chip.
Upside is that it travels very well. Easy to pack in carry-on and doesn't draw attention in places where you'd rather look like a tourist while still returning with nice looking HD pictures. The requirement of an XLR adapter is a pain - flimsy and gets in the way but it works. Mounting a shotgun to the adapter tends to pick up camera noise.

BIGGEST gripes:

- Cheap plastic construction. Somebody mentioned carbon fiber - no way. Good old fashioned brittle plastic that breaks very easily. I'm an old stills shooter who's used to banging cameras around - not the HMC40. A single slide to the floor atop a monopod broke both the battery slot (so I no longer can use the 6-hour battery) and the clips inside the lenshade, so the shade either is crooked or falls off and is hard to return;

- FOCUS or lack thereof. My first time out with the camera I found the same as the original poster - put the camera on Manual but found the focus going in and out, especially in low-light. Called Panasonic (no easy trick the first time) and they pointed me to the second step - the Manual focus button on the lens. Now, months later, after returning from several talking head sessions, I found one of them totally out of focus and another pretty soft (but usable). Once again contacted Panasonic and they pointed me to steps three and four - setting Focus Assist in the on-screen menu and pushing the button. What a pain! Ah, but the pain doesn't stop there. So I hit the Focus Assist settings, as recommended in Panasonic's video on the topic, and the lens zooms in. OK, so I reset the shot and rolled on. Stupidly, I didn't check the footage as the Focus Assist screwed up the framing and I ended up with the microphone and about 75% more of the scene than I wanted. As this just happened today, I have to run some tests to see how to properly work with Focus Assist. It would make sense to me to have manual focus as the basis of the system and then have to hit one, two, three, four buttons and functions to get auto working.

All said - I bought the HMC40 instead of the JVC 100 and stick with that decision. I don't have any problems importing and editing images in Final Cut 7. The price fit right into my budget of starting a business and I'm glad I didn't spend any more. I am looking to step up and find myself caught between a video-capable DSLR or a four-thirds with interchangeable lenses.
Click to expand...



Sounds like a fair amount of your issues are self inflicted, so not fair to blame the cam. Once you get the hang of the controls, most of the problems you describe will go away. With regards to the highlights and reds, have you done any work on your scene files? The stock ones are lacking, so if you haven't tweeked them, give it a try; there have been many threads on this, the the Barry Green Book is a good resource also.

One other thing with regard to focus: your image will go soft if your iris down past about f5.6. This is a quirk of the lens, but is similar to many other cams. This quirk becomes a major issue when bright light overpowers the ND system. So, carrying an external ND filter is a must with this cam. This is certainly less than ideal, but for most daylight shooting, I just park a 0.9 ND or a CP on the cam.

Welcome to DVXuser
Grant
 
ggrantly said:
I am thinking seriously about purchasing the HMC40 for a guerilla B-Cam. Besides the low light issues, what complaints do you have with your 40 that don't make you PannaHappy?

Thanks in advance,
Grant
Click to expand...
Other then low light, not having the ability to add lens (without 35mm adapter... and that's mostly because they are so expensive)
 
Craig,

I did purchase a HMC40 about a 18 months ago and overall, it has been great. I added the Panny W/A lens as well, which gives me 28mm equiv.

The quirks are well known, and at this point the worst of it is not having enough ND within the cam. The other irritations for me are the flipout and VF. Having said that, for a small, light, and inexpensive cam, the IQ is pretty awesome.

Grant
 
I did purchase a HMC40 about a 18 months ago and overall, it has been great. I added the Panny W/A lens as well, which gives me 28mm equiv.
Click to expand...
Those are the screw on ones right? They can only do so much without ruining quality. At lease the budget-priced ones ;)
 
There was a lot of discussion a while back about which WA adapter was best. Century and the Panny options seemed the best, with Raynox having some support also. The biggest issue with all of them is no filter threads, so no screw on ND filters, which is a problem. I am pretty happy with the quality of the Panny.

Grant
 
The Century WA Adapter is good, BUT if the iris is wide open the corners are a bit fuzzy. As the iris closes down, the corners do sharpen up.

Zooming into the image is a BAD idea, you can go up to 52 (or so) and as you zoom in, the corners become even more fuzzy. Beyond 52, the image goes way out of focus.


Bob Diaz
 
Bob,

The Panny works well through the entire range, though I haven't really tested the corners through all the aperture possibilities.

Grant
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top