For me, the TM900 is the best camcorder I have used

And I have tried a lot. Other than not giving shallow dof shots, it is better in both handling and video quality (sharpness, color accuracy, lack of moire, aliasing) than other camcorders less than $3000 and all those camera/camcorders, including the Sony NEX-5N and Panasonic GH2 (which I have used). That is my conclusion, others can disagree but the point is not to start a debate. If you like something better, fine.

Here is my latest video with it:

http://vimeo.com/33374935

Ducks, geese, joggers, quidditch playoff (Harry Potter game), birds, graffiti. Cold, windy and sunny.

Shot 108060p. Edited in Vegas Pro, to 108030p.

One of the nice features of the TM900 is the iZoom - which lets you extend the zoom range to 700mm, taking advantage of the extra pixels. And the OIS really works well; at 700mm camera shake would otherwise create a lot of blur.

Here are two frame grabs - not still photos - from the camera with the 700mm and 400mm lengths.These were shot at 1/60th of a second:





And here's the (downloadable) video. You can see how sharp the TM900 is.

http://vimeo.com/33826041

A lake in Hong Kong with birds, turtles, a fish frenzy, graduates, a model, soccer, lily pads, flowers.

I have the Sd version of that camera and i like it very much. Am hearing a lot about the vegas editors so am likely to get one.

My main gripe is my broadband speed, 3.5mbs. I find thats just to slow to upload a video to youtube in hd format, even shot for the ipad.

I have to resort to my little sony and shoot std 640x480. How are you getting round this. You have good broadband speed.

OS.

I uploaded the videos in this thread from my hotel room. So you wait for an upload to complete, same for download - download then play rather than stream.

Here's another video, complete with music and sound track, edited with the included HD Writer AE 3.0, which does not re-encode:

http://vimeo.com/34102767

showing off the TM900, in good and dim light.

http://vimeo.com/34347925

A day in a famous city: A hall, a bell, a horse winny, flags, street music, holiday decorations, Amish, food, memorials, holiday light show.

108060p, manual shutter, aperture and sometimes focus.

I have the TM700 and absolutely love it.

Just got a blu ray burner and finally get to enjoy the fantastic quality via a disk.

I'm using Edius Neo 2.5 and it does an excellent job for editing and burning.

Alan

Hi. Thanks for your post. I have just ordered the same model after reading the many favorable reviews (including your post) of this videocam. I really hope I won't be disappointed in any way. Happy New Year from Down Under.

Thank you for posting. I'm new to video but I'm planning to buy a TM900 or Canon HF G10.

Time Lapse and 12X zoom made me go for Panasonic. But my favorite photo store does not list it anymore.

And it made med wonder if the TM900 (and the HF G10) are a camera series that get an update once a year?

At $599, the TM900 is $200 cheaper than when I purchased my TM700 last February when it was on sale.

Try B&H Photo and Adorama.

Alan

Hi Mark. I received my Panasonic HDC-HS900 today and am very pleased. May I know if you have bought a spare battery and separate charger for your TM900? If so, are they original Panasonic or 3rd party items? I'm tempted to buy much cheaper non-Panasonic battery and charger but am worried after reading Panasonic's warning contained in the manual. Thanks and regards.

I did purchase an extra battery (of teh same size as the original) and an external charger. I did this when the TM900 just came out and there were no third-party alternatives. Having two batteries is essential for full day video excursions (even when that is not the purpose of the day). Having the external charger makes charging two batteries faster and mroe convenient for travel.

intransfer said:

And it made med wonder if the TM900 (and the HF G10) are a camera series that get an update once a year?

Click to expand...

Yes, it seems to be yearly for the Panasonics. The Panasonic 900 series (TM900, SD900, SD800) was released a year after the 700 series.

Last week the successor to the TM900 was announced, which is the X900:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/News/Panasonic-launches-X900-flagship-prosumer-camcorder.htm

and the details from Panasonic: http://panasonic.net/avc/camcorder/hd/x900_series/

Cheers,
Ian
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Ianperegian

http: ianperegian.com

Which editing program do you use? I have a Panasonic PV-GS400 which works great with Pinnacle Studio, downloading using Firewire, but my Panasonic SDR-H80 is all but impossible.

Bills Canon said:

Which editing program do you use? I have a Panasonic PV-GS400 which works great with Pinnacle Studio, downloading using Firewire, but my Panasonic SDR-H80 is all but impossible.

Click to expand...

The GS400 was standard definition and shot in a low compression AVI codec one could edit on a mono core PC.

You need a multi-core PC, with dedicated graphics card, to edit AVCHD. You'd best get a new i7 machine with all the trimmings. A 2.6gHz i5 or core 2 duo might meet minimum spec, but have seizures or crashes if the timeline extends over 10 minutes or if you add many edit effects. Don't skimp. Fortunately, PC prices continue to fall. Fast, new i7s sell for less than the first quad-core machines did a few years ago. Blu-ray burners (not read-only) can also be obtained for less than what DVD burners cost not long ago. While you're add it, get a model with USB3 and / or eSATA connections for external drives and etc. Firewire is NOT the best for file transfer or external memory connections any more.

Stick a probe into your brain right away and freeze whatever brain cells send out the idea that you can edit stuff from the SDR-H80 in 2012 pretty much as you did with the GS400 in 2002 or earlier. Ten years do make a difference.

need help, I am in no rush but thinking of getting one of this cam. So should I get the TM900 or just wait out for the newer version HX900 thank you for your help.

You mean the HC-X900. It has just been announced, so be suspicious of anyone who claims to be an "old hand" with the device, or even have one at all. Camcorderinfo simply experimented with one briefly at the CES.

However, based on the spec list, the main difference from the TM900 involves a more advanced 3D mode, which you may never use anyway, unless you buy the 3D adapter and the necessary 3D TV system.

The HC-X900's LCD screen offers higher resolution, but the EVF (what you'd need on a sunny day) is still fairly low res.

Now might be the time to shop for a TM900 at a bargain price, as vendors discount it to make room for new wares.

Thanks for the info, BTW, I am aware that it's 2012,m I was looking for help and info, not snide remarks.

I don't think he was trying to be snide - just lighthearted.
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Bill Hansen
Ithaca NY, USA

Markr - I'm interested enough in the TM900 so that I downloaded and read through the user manual last night. The multiple icons and touch screen menus seem quite complex, but maybe it's just that they're different from my Canon Vixia. I have a few questions for you and others who own the camera:

First, am I correct that the only format available for non-Apple users is AVCHD 50P? If that's so, have you ever wished that you could shoot at 60i, or at 24P? (AVCHD 50P is fine for me, for almost any type of shooting - mostly I'm just curious about it)

Second, from reading the manual it looks as if using manual settings (aperture priority, shutter priority) is quite cumbersome. Do you use those manual settings often, and if so, how do you implement them? These Av andTv settings are very easy to use in my present Canon camcorder.

Third, I don't see any easy way to use exposure compensation. Using "scenes" (backlight, night, etc) would help somewhat - but again, that would be cumbersome and time consuming if more than one EV compensation were needed.

Fourth, I like the use of the front ring for manual focus, but I didn't see any way of magnifying the image when focusing manually. Is there one?

Thanks for whatever info you can give me. Knowing the answers to the questions above will go a long way toward helping me make my decision.
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Bill Hansen
Ithaca NY, USA

Mark - From your post just above, I can see that you're using the manual settings. I hope you've seen my note to you and others, way down at the end of this thread. Regarding this particular post, can you share with me what shutter speeds you commonly use for moderate paced action in good light, and also in cloudy conditions? I ask because I know that the shutter speeds necessary to produce good video may be quite different from those I'd use for still shots of action - but maybe I'm wrong about that, and knowing that the same shutter speeds work for both stills and video would be a big help.
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Bill Hansen
Ithaca NY, USA