So you want to brag about your little HMC40? Now you can tell your pals that footage shot with this little camera has aired on PBS News Hour in a piece about tornadoes. OK BFD and sure, she's not discover channel HD certified but if you own this little camera it might make for fun party small talk 
Here is the URL: http://youtu.be/7TKJVbQT0Xk?hd=1&t=2m19s (my footage starts at 2m20sec to 2m35s - URL should start off at 2m20sec but watch the entire thing if you have time as it's pretty interesting)
The footage was in ProRes422 and it looks a little dark (gama shift probelm). This was the second time I went out with the camera to shoot some nasty weather and we could the Oklahoma outbreak although we were not that close to any twisters like some folks were.
As I've said before:
Pros:
=======
Light weight, 60 Minutes Australia were out with their big camera and I felt sorry for the guy lugging that big shoulder mounted panny around but I'd like to of swapped lens and sensors!
Cheap -
Great picture - when you have tons of light - eg here in CO.
Ergonomics - you can hold her out of the window of a speeding car and get the shot of the big twisty angry tornado coming at you.
Cons:
========
Low light: most tornadoes happen in low light, gray, rainy conditions and she's not too happy but you can push the gain and tweak the scene file too
Focus ring - can be bumped easily and then you loose focus and then your twister is all blurry! Especially if your resting the little camera on a bean bag like I do all the time.
There is a reason discovery channel use the Sony 7zu .... HDV seems so 90s but it has a real lens and low light is excellent I hear but I'm not gonna blow $5k on yesterday technology. But you get what you pay for and for 2k she's not a bad bet at all. I have a 7D and while she's more weather resistant I'm not comfortable to take her out on the run and gun stuff: "Look here it comes ..... oh s**te ..... my 12 mins is up or .... oh dear the camera is overheateing!!
Here is the URL: http://youtu.be/7TKJVbQT0Xk?hd=1&t=2m19s (my footage starts at 2m20sec to 2m35s - URL should start off at 2m20sec but watch the entire thing if you have time as it's pretty interesting)
The footage was in ProRes422 and it looks a little dark (gama shift probelm). This was the second time I went out with the camera to shoot some nasty weather and we could the Oklahoma outbreak although we were not that close to any twisters like some folks were.
As I've said before:
Pros:
=======
Light weight, 60 Minutes Australia were out with their big camera and I felt sorry for the guy lugging that big shoulder mounted panny around but I'd like to of swapped lens and sensors!
Cheap -
Great picture - when you have tons of light - eg here in CO.
Ergonomics - you can hold her out of the window of a speeding car and get the shot of the big twisty angry tornado coming at you.
Cons:
========
Low light: most tornadoes happen in low light, gray, rainy conditions and she's not too happy but you can push the gain and tweak the scene file too
Focus ring - can be bumped easily and then you loose focus and then your twister is all blurry! Especially if your resting the little camera on a bean bag like I do all the time.
There is a reason discovery channel use the Sony 7zu .... HDV seems so 90s but it has a real lens and low light is excellent I hear but I'm not gonna blow $5k on yesterday technology. But you get what you pay for and for 2k she's not a bad bet at all. I have a 7D and while she's more weather resistant I'm not comfortable to take her out on the run and gun stuff: "Look here it comes ..... oh s**te ..... my 12 mins is up or .... oh dear the camera is overheateing!!
