Topic: Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 - Feedback for HD Video

[Chrisedge]

one thing to note about card transfer vs using the camera and software...the files on the card are MTS files but when you transfer via the camera and software they are then stored as m2ts files along with some small files for each clip. probably no difference at all but just so you know they are "ifferent"

[Nick's Picks]

I have the prior model, the TZ5.  That Leica lens is *the source* !
it does a great job in low lighting.

[exxile]

Nice samples, I was wondering how the quality is when shot from further back (seating/balcony etc) as opposed to close up,  down the front. Cheers

I have some stuff (U2 Chicago 9/12/2009) on my YouTube page that is further back...Depeche Mode too.

Yeah they look pretty good chris, which rec. setting do you use? (SH:17Mbps / H:13Mbps / L:9Mbps) and were you 'zooming in' as much as the cam would go for those vids (Depeche/U2)?

What type of SDHC cards would you guys recommend as a minimum, Class 6? and any particular brand? I'm thinking in terms of HD video capture as opposed to still images. Cheers

[guysonic]

Personal flash favorite is Sandisk Extreme class 6 cards.   These seem to have the highest continuous write/read ratings, and proven to be the most consistent over many production runs of any brand.  They do cost a bit more, but I feel worth the extra cost.

Uploaded aYouTube music video from local arts festival.  Used camera mounted at chest level on prototype 'pendent rig' holding camera in handsfree use for doing interviews/documentary projects, but seemed to work OK for simply hand grabbing for working zoom function for this band while in a seated position.   Audio from my newly re-named DSSM mics into preamp/MT1 recording swapped with camera audio in post.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhR334zEf4c

Same arts festival showing interview/documentary using camera on the 'pendant' mount: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RvltKT5SoE and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6tXRXQdEss
Same rig used to record sounds of a covered bridge:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5EOBFkv8xA

I'll post photos of the 'pendant' rig shortly for those interested in building their own, or maybe ordering a version when I've refined it a bit more.

[rastasean]

she didn't card you to buy the wine!


its pretty nice video because its stable and not zooming in/out and the panning is just how you would do with your eyes. how did the camera audio sound? the dssm audio sounds good but the ladies on the left are slightly chattery.

[carbine000]

Personal flash favorite is Sandisk Extreme class 6 cards.   These seem to have the highest continuous write/read ratings, and proven to be the most consistent over many production runs of any brand.  They do cost a bit more, but I feel worth the extra cost.

Uploaded aYouTube music video from local arts festival.  Used camera mounted at chest level on prototype 'pendent rig' holding camera in handsfree use for doing interviews/documentary projects, but seemed to work OK for simply hand grabbing for working zoom function for this band while in a seated position.   Audio from my newly re-named DSSM mics into preamp/MT1 recording swapped with camera audio in post.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhR334zEf4c

Same arts festival showing interview/documentary using camera on the 'pendant' mount: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RvltKT5SoE and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6tXRXQdEss
Same rig used to record sounds of a covered bridge:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5EOBFkv8xA

I'll post photos of the 'pendant' rig shortly for those interested in building their own, or maybe ordering a version when I've refined it a bit more.

I definitely want to know more about the pendant rig and how the mic mod worked out. I was reading about this earlier in the thread but I can't seem to follow the conversation. More information would definitely be appreciated.

I ended up going out and getting the camera today. Got it from a guy on craigslist. Everything looks great so I am happy with my purchase. My one concern/question though is that it seems like the zoom in/out is a little slow (for lack of a better word) and the lens seems to make a lot of noise. I'm not terribly worried about it because I will be using it in concert conditions. But, I was just kind of wondering if it was something I should be concerned about for the future.

I look forward to hearing more about your setup.

[guysonic]

she didn't card you to buy the wine!

its pretty nice video because its stable and not zooming in/out and the panning is just how you would do with your eyes. how did the camera audio sound? the dssm audio sounds good but the ladies on the left are slightly chattery.

Good question, so to answer this I've posted a camera audio-then headworn mic audio comparison with this text:
"Camera 'stereo' audio is compared with headworn SonicStudios.com stereo-surround mic audio in this version of an already posted wine vendor banter.   
As becomes obvious, we start with the camera audio and switch back/forth ending the clip with the headworn mic audio. 
The difference is clear, but the camera does do OK, at least in this situation."
The clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkeQRCzlKEk

The camera audio operating from the chest region is acceptable and is the usual quality expected from a well designed point-n-shoot camera.   Yes, when recording in quiet places, the zoom does make an audible, but not too loud recorded sound.  Music documentary using the camera mic will not have much zoom noise, but ALC and lack of low/high frequency bandwidth will be a noticable shortcoming.

[Chrisedge]

Nice samples, I was wondering how the quality is when shot from further back (seating/balcony etc) as opposed to close up,  down the front. Cheers

I have some stuff (U2 Chicago 9/12/2009) on my YouTube page that is further back...Depeche Mode too.

Yeah they look pretty good chris, which rec. setting do you use? (SH:17Mbps / H:13Mbps / L:9Mbps) and were you 'zooming in' as much as the cam would go for those vids (Depeche/U2)?

What type of SDHC cards would you guys recommend as a minimum, Class 6? and any particular brand? I'm thinking in terms of HD video capture as opposed to still images. Cheers

I didn't think there was any settings to video other than avchd. I alwasys set my cameras to the highest quality so if there is a setting it would be on that.

[guysonic]

My camera has both AVCHD and .mov/AVC settings.  Used the .mov a few times finding it shuts down after ~30 maximum length, and quality seems not nearly as good as AVCHD which runs for as long as the battery/memory capacity allows.   

Below is a quick photo of the pendant proto used for making those YouTube music/documentary videos.



The release shoe staying with the camera body was notched allowing the camera's battery/flash card door to fully swing open without need of removal.    So changing battery/flash requires only a quick release action freeing the entire assembly taking less than a minute to start shooting again.

[carbine000]

I didn't think there was any settings to video other than avchd. I alwasys set my cameras to the highest quality so if there is a setting it would be on that.

Of course. Why would you do anything different?

[exxile]

I didn't think there was any settings to video other than avchd. I alwasys set my cameras to the highest quality so if there is a setting it would be on that.

Of course. Why would you do anything different?

To fit more on your card? Also, I had a theory (not necessarily correct) that if you only author/transfer to regular DVD5/DVD9, as opposed to Blu-ray, then recording at the higher bitrate (SH:17Mbps or H:13Mbps) would be unnecessary as it would need to be reduced to a max of 9.8Mb/s for DVD? I could be wrong though.

[exxile]

Personal flash favorite is Sandisk Extreme class 6 cards.   These seem to have the highest continuous write/read ratings, and proven to be the most consistent over many production runs of any brand.  They do cost a bit more, but I feel worth the extra cost.

Thanks for the info, I'd heard good things about the Sandisk cards too, I thinks it's worth paying a bit extra for reliability/quality. Cheers

BTW Digging the 'pendant rig' looks pretty cool.

[carbine000]

I didn't think there was any settings to video other than avchd. I alwasys set my cameras to the highest quality so if there is a setting it would be on that.

Of course. Why would you do anything different?

To fit more on your card? Also, I had a theory (not necessarily correct) that if you only author/transfer to regular DVD5/DVD9, as opposed to Blu-ray, then recording at the higher bitrate (SH:17Mbps or H:13Mbps) would be unnecessary as it would need to be reduced to a max of 9.8Mb/s for DVD? I could be wrong though.

Well yeah but I was being facetious because recording in a lesser format just seems silly to me if you have the capability to do better. And I think that is the point of this thread because the AVCHD format is HD but also good at saving space (or that is what I read somewhere).

I've read that the AVCHD format could be authored on a DVD5 maintaining the high bitrate but you just wouldn't be able to fit as much video on the disc as you would a blu-ray. I have yet to try this though because I don't have a program that can author/burn dvds from AVCHD files.

And this got me thinking...what mode should I be recording in? SH?

[guysonic]

I have CyperLink PowerDirector 8 finding it will directly edit and then give option to burn at least 1440/900 HD quality on regular DVD disc  also as AVCHD playing at least on my Samsung BD disc player with better than usual MPEG video quality.

[guysonic]

Here's another photo showing both camera + proto-pendant mount, my headworn DSSM windscreened mics, and (not visible) pants-pocketed MT1 deck with PA-24XP preamp velcro'd together.
This is the rig configuration used for the Umpqua Valley Arts Festival videos linked in the prevous posts.