Videomaker Mag - HMC40 Best Product of 2009 Award

D

dan.carter

Well-known member
Best Professional Camcorder

Panasonic AG-HMC40
$2,295 - www.panasonic.com
The Panasonic AG-HMC40 is a tremendous value for a can-do camcorder. It's inexpensive for a professional camcorder, to the point where some news directors might even stock up on them to be used as expendable news gathering camcorders. It's also expandable; while the AG-HMC40 ships with only an 1/8" mic input, you can add a Panasonic XLR mic adaptor for $300. We also like that it uses inexpensive, standardized media.
Read Videomaker's review of the Panasonic AG-HMC40.
 
Videomaker? Their reviews always look like rehashed manufacturer's advertising materials. Do they even test these cameras? Sometimes it feels like they do not. All they care is advertising, I cannot remember they ever had a negative review.
 
David S. said:
yes they do

and i've seen some negative reviews

I don't think the reviewers are very thorough though
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I agree. I was a subscriber to Videomaker for about 10 years until a few years ago. There were some helpful articles on video making tips, but my main interest was to get thorough product reviews and the latest news in the industry. I found it lacking in both areas. The news was usually stale by the time it would be reported in the magazine. I could overlook that if the product reviews made up for it. But, IMO, the reviews were too subjective and not very detailed. There should be some subjective evaluation (i.e. 'excellent,' 'good,' 'poor,' performance), but I was also looking for more objective performance measurements, such as lines of resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, etc. Those more objective measurements are more useful to me in comparing equipment before purchasing. Again, they do provide some valuable articles, but it wasn't satisfying my expectations.
 
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John_in_NY said:
I was also looking for more objective performance measurements, such as lines of resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, etc. Those more objective measurements are more useful to me in comparing equipment before purchasing. Again, they do provide some valuable articles, but it wasn't satisfying my expectations.
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Again, most times these essential facts were missing.

Like what maximum bitrate does a cam shoot? How big are the chips, etc.
 
I still subscribe but Videomaker seems geared toward the most beginner of beginners. Their articles lack substance. HDVideoPro is fantastic though. What other magazines do folks recommend these days?
 
David S. said:
yes they do

and i've seen some negative reviews

I don't think the reviewers are very thorough though
Click to expand...


While I worked in the Videomaker office ('05-'06"), I reviewed camcorders as part of my job. We were given 6 hours on the clock to test them. I shot resolution charts, sure, but mostly took them out into the field. We weren't mandated to publish res charts. Different reviewers had different styles, some more thorough than others. I always made sure to highlight the usefulness of a camera over it's tech specs.

Videomaker usually gets camcorders earlier than other publications. I don't know how, but a few times we had the only model in the whole country. I wish they would publish more sample video.

-a
 
In this case, it did provide those numbers, but my experience has been that these are too often omitted.

I like the mag, and think it provides some useful information, but some reviews are tailored too much to the novice.

I'm more a fan of DV magazine and Videography or many on line review blogs.
 
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