which handheld camcorder for documentary use with hmc150?

Mercatus

Mercatus

Active member
hi, with a limited budget, i'm looking for a 700-1000 small handheld 1080p/24 camcorder to combine with my hmc150. i'm doing a small traveling documentary that will include interviews and some in car footage (which is why i wanted the smaller camcorder). any recommendations for that to get? i know i'll occasionally have to cut footage from the two cameras together and i don't want something too jarring. or will the video quality be so different that it will be jarring no matter what?

and please no recommendations for HDSLR's.

thanks
 
I haven't evaluated consumer camcorders in a very long time. Six or eight or ten months ago I would have recommended the Panasonic HDC-TM700K. That camera was, essentially, the HMC40 without XLR inputs. You'd shoot everything with that specific camera in 1080/60p -- but that's very easy to output to 24p.

The obvious answer is the HMC40 -- but that may be over your specified budget.

The simple answer is to find the top of the line Panasonic consumer model -- and in recent times those offered full manual controls that the competing Canon and Sony did not.
 
i was looking at either the hmc40 or the tm700, if the smaller camera is essential the the hmc40 then i'll get the smaller one for the form factor.

what about a dashboard mount? will the OIS in the camera be sufficient for smoothing out the slight car vibrations during driving?

also, any idea if i'll need a wide angle lens to get that type of in car shot?
 
Actually, I also was also considering recommending the GoPro. Great little b-roll camera for "MOUNTING". We used them recently on a shoot for the "Speed" channel for a show called "Car Nutz". Also used them last year for a video for the FAA to capture interior car shots of the driver, mounts on the side of the car, and on a motercycle. It is a fixed focal length, but it looks terrific and is inexpensive, about $300.

Tom
 
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