48 replies to this topic

[Long John Silver]

At least I base my views/opinions on carefull real world evaluation. It would be a dull world indeed if everyone else agreed with me...

... continuing a pretty long thread on these "mysterious" mini-panny camcorders. Mysterious because in spite of a great diffusion for terrestrial use, it's quite difficult to see underwater shoots.

Test TM300 (rar file)


So here we have a "real world evaluation" from Daniele Iop, an established italian video operator. He posted some unedited shoots of the TM300 in Malpelo island. Some of the reddish parts are made with a red filter. The greenish one are just in full automatic demonstrating the green cast bias of the camcorder. People on the forum confirm that the TM700 has the same tendency.

Bye

[HDVdiver]

From Sealux housing for Panasonic HDC-HS700/TM700

I hope they don't drill the attachment bolt holes right through the housing wall anymore...and simply seal the threads with epoxy!


...and Test TM300 (rar file) isn't really any sort of comparative evaluation. There's so many variables going on it doesn't mean anything one way or the other.

The great thing is...if ya don't like the camera...ya don't have to use it!


Cheers

Edited by HDVdiver, 25 June 2010 - 03:15 AM.

[Long John Silver]

I hope they don't drill the attachment bolt holes right through the housing wall anymore...and simply seal the threads with epoxy!

You lights are the best, your machined "compact capsule" is the best. Whatever you produce and sell is the best.
The epoxy tale is becoming boring. You could evaluate another use of epoxy before criticizing companies as Sealux.

...and Test TM300 (rar file) isn't really any sort of comparative evaluation. There's so many variables going on it doesn't mean anything one way or the other.

Of course your pics shoot in your kitchen are a well known and trusted evaluation
I'm waiting to see a comparative evaluation shoot with your machined "compact capsule".

The great thing is...if ya don't like the camera...ya don't have to use it!

And this is the reason because you are in charge of criticizing Sealux and all Led lights manufacturers?
Very strange concepts of video forum...

I'll confess you a thing... I work hard all the year to save the bucks to buy a video setup so I fully evaluate everything before buy something. If you have money to burn I could give you my bank account number for a donation.

[HDVdiver]

I'll confess you a thing... I work hard all the year to save the bucks to buy a video setup so I fully evaluate everything before buy something. If you have money to burn I could give you my bank account number for a donation.

LOL What a rant...chill out and go have a good dive!

Edited by HDVdiver, 25 June 2010 - 06:31 PM.

[DeanB]

I'll confess you a thing... I work hard all the year to save the bucks to buy a video setup so I fully evaluate everything before buy something. If you have money to burn I could give you my bank account number for a donation.

Honestly ... There are some peeps on here with money to burn and then there's the rest of us Its what you do with your stuff that matters I expect there are a lot of really expensive holiday cameras or even paper weights hanging around the world of shooting. If I win the lottery I'll buy you a nice camera ...

Dive safe

Dean(Willows dad)B

[scaper]

I just bought the TM700K a few weeks ago. In 60P mode in good lighting (haven't tested it much in low light) it has the best image quality of any camera I have owned, including the Canon 5D, Canon XH-A1, Canon HV20, Sony HC-7, and Sony HC-1. It out-resolves the others and has far fewer motion artifacts, compression artifacts, and noise. It also has better color resolution with less color bleeding (HC-7 has a lot) than the other full-time video cameras. I am thinking of adding one or two bulkhead E/O video adaptors to the back of an old Sony Sportspak housing and using this camera as a pole camera (you can enable record topside with the remote and then shoot in full auto or whatever manual settings you locked in before closing the housing). The timelapse feature is awesome. It gives you several frame time steps starting as fast as one per second, yielding nice full 1920 by 1080i files. The antishake features seem similar in power to the Sony CX500 and it's brethern. The downside of this is that it can overcorrect on occasion and may cause vignetting problems if your port isn't wide enough. The manual controls are okay, the lcd is just good enough, and the viewfinder is kind of poor, but for a $757 camera I'm not going to complain. I'm glad to see Sealux will offer a housing. I wonder how good their wide angle ports are.

Pat

[HDVdiver]

I just bought the TM700K a few weeks ago. In 60P mode in good lighting (haven't tested it much in low light) it has the best image quality of any camera I have owned, including the Canon 5D, Canon XH-A1, Canon HV20, Sony HC-7, and Sony HC-1. It out-resolves the others and has far fewer motion artifacts, compression artifacts, and noise. It also has better color resolution with less color bleeding (HC-7 has a lot) than the other full-time video cameras...

The manual controls are okay, the lcd is just good enough, and the viewfinder is kind of poor, but for a $757 camera I'm not going to complain.

Pat

I agree completely! The TM/SD700 produces remarkable video for its price point.

The LCD could be of a higher resolution, but it's adequate. As far as the viewfinder goes it also could be improved...but at least there's still a viewfinder. Sony's usually have a great viewfinder, but when I compared the Pana to the Sony HDR XR550 there wasn't much difference. If anything the Pana's viewfinder seemed slightly better to my eyes.

Underwater the TM700 takes equally excellent video. I haven't used it for many dives, but the evaluation of the prototype version of the housing is proceeding smoothly.

Here are a few frame grabs (AF; AE; preset WB; HID 50w lighting; .7x conv; Subal SW dome):

Attached Images

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Edited by HDVdiver, 28 June 2010 - 02:39 AM.

[xkingx]

I agree completely! The TM/SD700 produces remarkable video for its price point.

The LCD could be of a higher resolution, but it's adequate. As far as the viewfinder goes it also could be improved...but at least there's still a viewfinder. Sony's usually have a great viewfinder, but when I compared the Pana to the Sony HDR XR550 there wasn't much difference. If anything the Pana's viewfinder seemed slightly better to my eyes.

Underwater the TM700 takes equally excellent video. I haven't used it for many dives, but the evaluation of the prototype version of the housing is proceeding smoothly.

Here are a few frame grabs (AF; AE; preset WB; HID 50w lighting; .7x conv; Subal SW dome):

nice pics u have.. all taken by the tm700?? wad underwater housing u used?

[HDVdiver]

nice pics u have.. all taken by the tm700?? wad underwater housing u used?

They are frames taken from video shot on the Panasonic SD700 (the PAL version of the TM700). Frame rate of 50p results in video which is very free of panning/motion artifacts.

The housing is a prototype of one we are making for possible production...haven't decided on this yet. At this stage I'm treating it more as a personal project to sort out design ideas for a compact stereo 3D video housing that we are currently doing CAD for (special order for a customer/IMAX cinematographer).

My initial idea was to buy a Sealux, but Jurgen wasn't able to confirm a delivery time or whether their super-wide lens would work with the lens on the TM700. I also checked with Mangrove...but they told me there would be some vignetting with their 90 degree wide lens. Since I'd already sold all my Canon gear, I needed to quickly put together a housing to use for myself...I can't enjoy a dive without a camera in my hands.



"No shooting professional has to justify what equipment they use... only their results." Jim J.

Edited by HDVdiver, 28 June 2010 - 02:47 AM.