Crosby!
Active member
I’ve owned several camcorders over the years, three were HD, all were tape based. I sold my last one to switch to tapeless and large sensor cameras (Panasonic GH2) for shallow depth of field, stills and video. Added things to it to get audio and other things I wanted and ended up with a minor beast to carry around. There have been several situations where I really missed having a camcorder, and not having enough DOF has caused me some hassles — like only being able to use a clip for voiceover as the subject moved out of the designated focus range while saying something important. So I started looking for a camcorder again.
Kind of sucks having to rely on online reviews and videos versus just going into a store with a memory card to run my own tests. I narrowed it down to a few and further down to the AC90 and AC130, neither had I seen in person. In researching I ran into a few messages on DVXuser from Felipe Henao on the HMC40 which I’d never heard of before. I looked at some videos shot on it and decided to add it to my list.
As luck would have it I found a AC130 and HMC40 on craigslist and decided to take a drive (they weren’t close) to see them in person to help me decide. Saw the AC130 first as that was the one I thought I wanted most from what I’d seen online. Current model, long lens, loads of features, etc. Holy cow! Those online videos and pictures did not prepare me for the size of it. When the guy brought it out I was shocked. That’s one BIG camera. Kind of looked like an oversized store display.
Before seeing it in person I thought the people saying "Panasonic likes to make them big” was an exaggeration. I like bigger cameras, took the Canon AF100 off my list as it’s too small, this redefined “big” to me. I picked it up and played with it. Like the controls and way it worked but the size really bothered me. Lovely footage, nice futures, but I couldn’t see me carrying it around for run ’n’ gun, personal shooting, etc. Way too big and conspicuous for my needs. It would have to be on a tripod most of the time and I wanted something I could grab and go with.
Drove to look at the HMC40 and when I saw the size of it I smiled. I picked it up and played with it (17hr) and it felt good in my hands. Stuck in my SD card and shot some footage in auto and played it back. Yeah, this one I could see using. I was just there to see it in person but when I saw what was included in the package I bought it (see below).
Now I’m working on learning by reading the manual, Barry Green’s “The HMC Book” and lots of testing and playing. LOTS of stuff in the menus and features none of my previous HD camcorders had, which means I’m not tossing it into production just yet. Dusted off my Sony 0.7x which works throughout the zoom range. I will be playing for a while. Three user buttons sounds like a lot but from my reading so far I’lll have one for WFM and another for backlight, I’d like a few more.
I plan to use my GH2’s and the HMC40 together, kind of like I use lenses, if I want shallow DOF I’ll use a GH2 with a fast lens, deeper DOF and the HMC40, stills and video the GH2, run 'n' gun play, whatever is closest to the door.
rogar-BigGrin(DBG)
Kind of sucks having to rely on online reviews and videos versus just going into a store with a memory card to run my own tests. I narrowed it down to a few and further down to the AC90 and AC130, neither had I seen in person. In researching I ran into a few messages on DVXuser from Felipe Henao on the HMC40 which I’d never heard of before. I looked at some videos shot on it and decided to add it to my list.
As luck would have it I found a AC130 and HMC40 on craigslist and decided to take a drive (they weren’t close) to see them in person to help me decide. Saw the AC130 first as that was the one I thought I wanted most from what I’d seen online. Current model, long lens, loads of features, etc. Holy cow! Those online videos and pictures did not prepare me for the size of it. When the guy brought it out I was shocked. That’s one BIG camera. Kind of looked like an oversized store display.
Before seeing it in person I thought the people saying "Panasonic likes to make them big” was an exaggeration. I like bigger cameras, took the Canon AF100 off my list as it’s too small, this redefined “big” to me. I picked it up and played with it. Like the controls and way it worked but the size really bothered me. Lovely footage, nice futures, but I couldn’t see me carrying it around for run ’n’ gun, personal shooting, etc. Way too big and conspicuous for my needs. It would have to be on a tripod most of the time and I wanted something I could grab and go with.
Drove to look at the HMC40 and when I saw the size of it I smiled. I picked it up and played with it (17hr) and it felt good in my hands. Stuck in my SD card and shot some footage in auto and played it back. Yeah, this one I could see using. I was just there to see it in person but when I saw what was included in the package I bought it (see below).
Now I’m working on learning by reading the manual, Barry Green’s “The HMC Book” and lots of testing and playing. LOTS of stuff in the menus and features none of my previous HD camcorders had, which means I’m not tossing it into production just yet. Dusted off my Sony 0.7x which works throughout the zoom range. I will be playing for a while. Three user buttons sounds like a lot but from my reading so far I’lll have one for WFM and another for backlight, I’d like a few more.
I plan to use my GH2’s and the HMC40 together, kind of like I use lenses, if I want shallow DOF I’ll use a GH2 with a fast lens, deeper DOF and the HMC40, stills and video the GH2, run 'n' gun play, whatever is closest to the door.
rogar-BigGrin(DBG)
