Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

I am the video manager for a large summer sports kamp. This is the camera I send out with all of my college age summer videographers. they have varying levels of ability with video cameras. This camera can be used by a novice and has most all of the manual controls a professional would want. Only down side is that some controls are in the menu rather than externally. However, compared to other cameras at this price this has way more manual control. It has three sensors as well. The Sharpness and color are remarkable. Overall, a great little affordable versatile package.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

Its small and easy to use

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

just what you need from a pro consumer camera. vivid detail and excellent control. The only dowmfall is low loight conditions.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

I am a wedding videographer. My company decided to purchase a second HMC40 because the camera is compatible with our IMac OSX system and IMovie, Final Cut, and Adobe software editing programs. The camera is lightweight and very user friendly. Great job Panasonic!

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

This is my first real video camera and it has been great and easy to use. First clips I took of my granddaughter were great, right out of the box.I am a Real Estate agent and Vacation Rental Manager in the north Georgia Mountains and I am using this camera to shoot videos of each house on the rental program to put on our web site. [@] I am also a Wedding Photographer and can't wait to use this great camera at my next wedding shoot. I'm sure it will do great.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

This is an outstanding camcorder for the price. The image quality it is capable of producing, provided that there is enough light, can be compared to significantly higher-end camcorders. I refer to this camera as the "Baby Panasonic." In essence, it has a significant number of the features found on their higher-ed professional broadcast gear, but in a form factor that, with no shotgun microphone attached, could pass for a consumer video camera. This can be very useful for gathering footage in areas where management is particularly picky about what gear is permitted inside a venue, or in areas where film permits are the thing to require...

That being said, there are significant limitations that this camcorder has that should not be overlooked. In particular, these limitations may make or break use of this camcorder in terms of it being used in a long-form production. These are:

-Lossy compressed audio, Dolby AC-3 (A/52). - At the highest quality recording mode, the audio is Dolby Ac-3 at 384kbps. To which extent this will hold up after manipulation, compression, eq, limiting, and multiple generations is up for debate. I would recommend using this audio as a sync reference and using an external recorder in uncompressed PCM. Yes, Linear PCM 16-bit, 44.1khz, is a step up from this...

-Very poor sensitivity: This camera needs a lot of light. If you want to use no gain whatsoever, you will need to be shooting either outdoors, or on a lit studio set. I would wager that this camcorder is very much comparable to the 3-tube prosumer camcorders of the mid 1980s in terms of sensitivity. That being said, the gain at +12dB is perfectly usable, provided that you do not crank up such things as the chroma level in your scene file. The higher gain settings become problematic in HD, though, if your final output is standard definition, you may very well be able to crank up the gain (provided that your chroma is not too high.) and have the noise go largely unnoticed.

-Gain cannot be controlled without the aperture being open: You do have full manual iris control, but it is setup so that you cannot dip into the gain until you are wide open. Keep this in mind if you plan on shooting indoors.

-Camera has poor sensitivity, but TOO MUCH sensitivity outdoors on a bright sunny day: This camcorder needs at least another stop of ND filter. I would recommend obtaining external filtering, despite the drawbacks in doing so.

Please keep in mind that these issues are, for the most part, quite minor. Especially if this camcorder is to be utilized for event video, newsgathering, talking head interviews, or just B-roll.

In order to see what can be done with this camcorder, I do plan to shoot a narrative on it. Having shot an entire production with an HPX500, it will be interesting to see how this little guy holds up.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

It was a bit of stretch for me going from my flip-cam style camera to this Panasonic. But wow, does it ever make a difference! Just completed my first video for a sales page in my coaching business, and it looks a thousand times better. Crisp video, lighting is great, and audio no longer a distraction. Love that focus and white balance and zebras are available with a click; and Final Cut Pro X imports the files like a dream. Best money I've spent in a very long time.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

My JVC GY-HD100 died some weeks ago. Instead of spending $1500+ to repair it I bought the Panasonic HMC40.I needed extra power for HMC40 so I got the Anton Bauer Pouch style adapter to work with the Dionic90 from the JVC. Combining the HMV40 with a HDMI monitor, beachkek XLR adapter, a zoom - focus & iris controller makes a powerful and cost effective studio rig. The picture quality is outstanding for the price. Need CS5 to edit "mts" files

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

Tapeless HMC40 is wonderful in adequate lighting. Must have BeachTek DXA-SLR XLR adapter, zoom, Focus & iris corrollr and Delvcam 7" HDMI monitor for a cost effective studio or field rig. CS5.5 handles the "mts" files . CS3 doesn't....bummer.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

The camera is used to video live church worship. So far it performs as mentioned in the spec reviews provided by B & H. The camera seems easy to operate. The only downside is that it has a delicate feel and video quality in low light, is poor. As though, it if noit handle carefully, it might break.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

Haven't been let down yet by this camera. One thing for sure, though, is to learn all the functions as soon as you get it, or you'll regret it. It has most of the features for shooting video you'd want from, say, a DSLR with video capabilities, but you have to spend a little time and poke around to get to use them.

If you plan on shooting a lot of stuff in low-light, I'd recommend getting an LED panel or something similar to plop on top. As far as video cameras go, it's only average in darkness and doesn't have a whole lot to boost that up well.

Definitely love the onboard audio quality--it's a lot better than what jaded people like myself have come to expect from that sort of feature. And it defaults to 5.1 Dolby whether you plug in external mics or not (note: sometimes. obviously if you change the settings or a couple of other things, it won't.) which isn't even a huge space-waster or a hassle when editing.

It's also very light and handy to carry around. I get broadcast-quality controls and video and audio from a camera that fits in my DSLR bag. One thing, though: definitely splurge on the XLR adaptor if you plan to use external mics even infrequently. It's worth the money. Although, if you also plan on using phantom, go for an upgraded battery, too. I've seen my battery life drop a whole hour--when it only started at three to begin with--because I switched on the phantom. So beware of that.

Construction is pretty solid. I've never felt like it was made cheaply or I felt like it was falling apart, and I've used it heavily for about a year now. The flip-out screen flickers every once in a long while, but not often enough to be an issue, and it's not like it affects the video itself.

Overall just an affordable and great, yet professional, video camera. Do buy if you plan on doing telecom-eqsue video or journalism, or want an all-purpose awesome video camera. Do not buy if you want a theatrical look--it's not built for that kind of thing.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

The camera is kinda mediocre in low light.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

It is a little early to tell, but we purchased this product to shoot a documentary. Thus far we have been very happy with the features. All basics are covered, and there seems to be a considerable amount of bonus features. To me, Panasonic has always been a trusted source. So far, so good.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

i like it, is so small, so light and the video is great on HD, great resolution, some of my partner on the video industry told me that they want to buy it, i use it to commercial announcements and weddings

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

I can't say enough good things about this camera. Coming from an outdated camcorder bought 5 years ago for $800, I am beside myself at this modern day HD prosumer stand-out.

1) I researched prosumer cameras for several weeks and time and time again, I kept coming back to this well reviewed Panasonic model. Over and over online reviewers praised this camera near the top of their ratings of models for the year.

2) I've had the opportunity to take the camera to tape my kids at the park and was floored when I inspected the footage at home. I was using Auto mode which basically takes over all the settings for you. Nonetheless, this is the best quality footage I've ever shot and let me tell you, if you are a stickler for quality video, this is the one you want.

3) The camera feels solidly built and fits well in your hand.

4) There are so many features and options for this camera, if you are coming from a non-prosumer world like me, you will soon start playing around with the settings and duplicating effects you've seen on tv over the years.

5) Warranty - Panasonic extends the warranty to 3 years. None of my other cameras ever got that much backing from the manufacturer.

6) The battery is pretty powerful and at full charge can run more than 3 hours. My previous camera ran for exactly 1 hour on a single charge so this is refreshing.

As others have mentioned, the one downside I discovered was the size of the LCD/touchscreen. I wish it were about an inch larger. Sometimes your hand winds up hitting the wrong area because the button is tucked too much into the corner.

I can still get around this however and would give the camera an outstanding review.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

I use this for a combination of projects from shooting independent films and TV shows to creating wedding videos. The camera has great image quality in most lighting conditions, but gets grainy in very low room lighting. Typical office lighting is more than enough for a clean image. The color produced by the three chip system is accurate and vivid, in fact better than most of the high end single chip DSLR cameras.
The integrated Leica lens produces crisp, sharp images corner to corner with no perceptible chromatic aberration (a color fringe problem on many lenses of this type). But the lens is not removable, and it's focus-by-wire system is never as good as a true mechanical focus.
The XLR adapter is imperative for film production, as it negates the need for second system audio and all the added chores of syncing audio and video files together in post production. There is a 1/8 inch external mike jack too, but the XLR produces much cleaner audio.
This is a big enough camera to look professional to the average wedding guest, but in a film environment, it looks too small to do the job well. For film work, it lacks the shallow depth of field of a typical DSLR, but produces a much crisper image with less visual artifacting than a DSLR. You can get shallow depth of field, but you need a screw-on ND filter to do it.
The electronic viewfinder and the LCD screen are a weak link in this camcorder, with neither offering crisp enough imaging to obtain critical manual focus. The camera does have video peaking to aid in manual focus mode, and you'll need to rely on it.
In summary, the image quality in properly lit situations is nearly as good as any other professional camcorder in the 2000 to 6000 dollar price range and is up to the task of any TV or indie film production. The optional audio XLR adapter is a must for this type of professional work and it's 300 dollar price should be taken into consideration when comparing prices to other cameras. It is the menu driven controls, the electronic focus and the poor LCD displays that really detract from the otherwise stellar performance of this camcorder and prevent a five star rating.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

Good camcorder generaly speaking. Good images. Very poor viewfinder. Poor lcd screen. Hard to focus small objects. Insuficient zoom. Poor controls. Hard to take stills.

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

I use turno Camera for filming events as weddings, the quality is gray and it is very light I don't need to rely on my tripod, now I can take better angles. What I would recommend is to get the shotgun microphone as the recording audio isn't to advanced

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

i just made 6 mini movies in a contest with 30fps in full HD 1920 1080 very very nice
this is realy for normal filming.but not so much for low light you just getting alot of noise on your screen,and is not fun in anyway trying to remove that when you edite.focus ring is ok but not the best
but cool love my AG-HMC40 .

Comments about Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM HD Camcorder:

Great in low light conditions... very easy to operate