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Bazza
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08-06-12, 11:53 PM
#1

Panasonic AG-AC160 (camcorder) any thoughts?

I now have the go ahead to buy a new camcorder.

link

http://www.alexandertrent.com/acatal...FSghtAodbGnlmg

any thoughts?

Bazza


     
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09-06-12, 03:03 PM
#2

Re: Panasonic AG-AC160 (camcorder) any thoughts?

Looks nice Bazza, but do you really need to spend that much? What do you use it for?
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09-06-12, 03:59 PM
#3

Re: Panasonic AG-AC160 (camcorder) any thoughts?

I don't know a great deal about video as it's of little interest to me, but what I have noticed is how fast everything is changing and improving at the moment.

I think if I had a working cam at the moment, then I would wait a while as the face of videography is changing so fast at the moment, or you could find what you buy now may be old hat in another 18 months.

Just my thoughts Bazza.
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Bazza
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09-06-12, 05:48 PM
#4

Re: Panasonic AG-AC160 (camcorder) any thoughts?

To answer you first Azz

As you may or may not know I should have retired over 2 years ago and definately not prepared to "work" for another 2 year,s so hopefully the business will be sold before then. So what to do instead? photography of course both still and movie. Ok I have a good camcorder at the moment but like every bit of photography equipment there is better more professional kit available and within my reach. The stills market is saturated with photographers trying to grab bits of the shall we say " events " market
even those who don't have a clue are at it. There is less competition in the movie field for the same "events" so hopefully I might be able to indulge myself and this kind of photography in some small way mainly to please myself not for out and out commercial reasons. Sorry professional photographers but thats the way of the world now.

Ken
You are quite right the face of all types of photography are rapidly changing, but you can spend an eternity just waiting and getting nowhere, you have to make a decision at some time. i am in no rush as in got get this camera now, and in actual fact having contacted a few of the retailers in this country I have come to the conclusion they know less than the research I have done via youtube and writeups. there seems to be a lack of knowledge about which computer program will accept info from this Panasonic camera. One retailer suggested I traveller to Malvern with an SDHC card, tried doing a video and then going home to see if my panasonic writer ae2.1 uses the same codec for this camera, ( useful is that from a professional camera retailer) so I can download onto my computer.
Another refuses to do anything over the phone and wants everything done via e-mail ,so asking questions is useless. yet another admitted he was only there to basically answer the phone and knew nothing technical but did say he would find out from panasonic and call back next week. I even tried a couple of so called Panasonic high street retailers who both said they don't deal with professional equipment.

So after all that it seems to me that as a prospective purchaser of reasonably expensive camcorder, there is a tremendous lack of either knowledge or couldn't care less attitude.
Its a shame because what that camera offers is more or less what I am looking for but seems hard to get and the retailers havn't had proper training in the product. I spent the whole of this morning trying to get answers.

Bazza


     
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09-06-12, 09:21 PM
#5

Re: Panasonic AG-AC160 (camcorder) any thoughts?

If you're thinking of doing it professionally, then I would invest the money in a good quality accredited course instead, either in photography or cinematography
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Bazza
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09-06-12, 11:40 PM
#6

Re: Panasonic AG-AC160 (camcorder) any thoughts?

Azz

Not doing it professionally as such maybe to cover my costs that is about it may not even do that.
As for accredited courses no way. You only learn how others do things not as an individual. Bit like a biscuit factory every one turned out the same apart from a few broken ones.

Photography to me is producing your own style and technique . Take the famous painters, they didn't copy anyone and their pictures are worth a fortune because they did it their way. Those that copied never got anywhere.

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12-06-12, 09:19 PM
#7

new camcorder purchased

Re: Panasonic AG-AC160 (camcorder) any thoughts?

See new posting.

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12-06-12, 09:37 PM
#8

New camcorder decision made and purchased

Re: Panasonic AG-AC160 (camcorder) any thoughts?

Right made up my mind and yes thinking seriously about it that camcorder in
the previous posting was not really practical for what I wanted.

It didn't come with a few things like an editing suit -microphone etc etc which I would have expected for that price, Also had a quick look as the Sony equivilant but the reviews for sony in that price range often came back with poor focus and not sharp pictures. Maybe the higher spec ones are better who knows.

So decided on this one instead , the Panasonic HC-X900M

Link

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/...4079/show.html



Why you may ask, well for several reasons apart from price which wasn't an issue.

If anyone is considering buying a camcorder here are my reasons

1 It has internal 32gig memory and can take SD cards as well

1a Therefore recording wise I can shoot on both-or seperately one for stills and the other for video or any combo. This is a huge advantage over just having one SD card to record everything on. Just throw the switch on the camera and you are recording on the other memory bank depending on how its set up. Also if you do run out of SD card space the inboard 32gig memory will get you out of trouble.

2 can be fitted with external mike ( I have ordered one and a furry muffler, no not a dead rat) Wind noise is a terrible problem I discovered from experience with my existing sd600 version, so a muffler is really a must

3 16meg for stills

4 One of the main reasons is its easy to carry about.

5 earphones can be attached

6 better OIS (optical image stablisation)




Now like everything there is a minus as well and I would be remiss not to point them out

1 It doesn't come with a battery charge charging is done via pugging into camera. Absolutely useless if you have a spare battery and want to charge one while using the other

2 Panasonic batteries are expensive but found genuine panasonic higher rated battery on e-bay from a company called forest.tone (oops name dropping) from the Far East. Also ordered a battery charger as well non panasonic but should be ok fingers crossed.

3 the mike Jessops recommend can be found a lot cheaper elsewhere (£60 less) also ordered extn cable for the mike as it is directional and may be useful.

4 Mike and earphones don't come with the camera ( think it should have come as a package as extra)

5 The 3D gimmic is just that, as far as I can tell, after doing a lot of research and not worth buying.

One of the questions I asked myself is why didn't panasonic use the same batteries as in my 600 camera version? the only reason I can come up with is so they can sell more gear.

So what am I going to do with my existing Panasonic HDC-SD600? like a lot of photographers I shall keep it as a backup, its too good not to.

Later on when I have everything here (as I have placed orders all over the place) if anyone is interested I will do my best to give a hands on review of the camcorder. Think thats about it for the time being but any questions please ask and save time doing what I have done to come to this decision after several weeks of do I or Don't I type of thing.

Hope this might be of some interest please let me know.

Bazza


     
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14-06-12, 11:04 AM
#9

Re: Panasonic AG-AC160 (camcorder) any thoughts?

First item arrived



A directional mike with long and short range together with a fitted furry cover. Another cover on way just incase this doesn't completely cut out wind noise. It can also be switched for different uses depending on camera and distance. (Stand for display only, its for a flashgun).

Just arrived an extn mike cable and a furry wind sock


Bazza


     
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