Hi all, I'd like to share my experience with the ZS10.
I am a guy who loves going to rock concerts and casually taking videos. Up until now I have not used separate mics/audio recording devices, and have been relying on the built-in mic on my cameras. I bought a ZS7 back in December and took it with me to a concert. These are a couple of videos I took:
1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw-75lG68-Y 2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JehAFnvsqLUI was very impressed with the zoom, the video quality, and especially the
sound with the ZS7. However I really hated the vertical streaks/blooms, which had always been a problem with my previous cameras. When Panasonic announced the ZS10 in January, I was thrilled. The MOS sensor was like an answer to my prayers no more blooming. I got my hands on the ZS10 at the end of March, just in time for a couple of eagerly anticipated concerts at Madison Square Garden. The following is from April 1:
3.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCothDZn3584.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siWrsNk_YpEIn addition to being happy with the sound quality, I felt that both the zoom (which was powerful and smooth) and the continuous autofocus during recording worked even better than on the ZS7. I do not think any other pocket-sized P&S camera on the market could have achieved this level of picture and audio quality, from where I was sitting in the venue.
However, last night I went to another concert at an arena (UIC Pavilion in Chicago), this time standing up front and center. And the sound quality of my videos really came as a blow:
5.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSjus9Jbs6c6.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VeNEWf2l9UNot only was there a lot of clipping, the overall sound was suppressed and muffled. Granted, I dont think the acoustics of the venue was great. The sound was not good where I was standing and in fact impeded my enjoyment of the concert. Still, the quality of the recordings was much worse than I expected, and I wonder what could be the explanation.
Thanks a lot for reading the post. I am very curious whether people here would have some (relatively) good experience/recommendation of cameras that have exceptional built-in mics and audio recording capability. To me the ZS10 is very strong in video quality, the autofocus and active image stabilization works considerably well. I have just ordered the CA 11s and a digital recorder so I dont have to rely on the internal mics. Still if anyone has recommendations of cameras with decent audio recording quality (while also having a powerful zoom), it would be much appreciated!