Panasonic HC-VXF990EBK 4K Camcorder with Wireless Multi Camera Function - Black

I am now retired but for some years I was a professional video camera operator. That was in the days of 4 X 3 video (wide screen just coming), recording on tape and 1 hour batteries that cost me £400 each(at 1990s prices). While appreciating the ever smaller hobby cameras I was a firm believer in the only way to get good steady hand held results was a heavy camera firmly seated on the right shoulder. I am now changing my mind.Recently I was looking for something small and easy to carry in flight hand baggage and after being amazed at how cheap everything was I chose this little beauty which compared with the costs years back was almost free and boy am I impressed.Clearly this little camera does not have the bomb proof build quality of my old cameras but it would have been impossible to take them in hand baggage or walk around all day with them in a shoulder bag so it is very much having the tool for the job. For ease of use plus the quality of the 4K and 1080 video plus pretty good audio I guess this camera will be hard to beat. Even the stills are impressive.With my old pro history one essential was a proper eye level viewfinder as I still prefer to record with the camera firmly pressed against by body rather than waving around in the air looking at a screen. Additional advantages of the viewfinder is dioptre adjustment and no problems with viewing in bright sunshine but so many cameras seem to think a fold out screen is enough. This leads to one of the ease of use features. To turn on simply pull out the viewfinder (or screen if you prefer).One must have is an extra battery and I added the larger size which is still tiny and will probably last long enough for a days shooting. Add that to hours of video on an SD card and this tiny camera gives everything needed for a day's shooting in a jacket pocket.Another plus is the wi-fi. As far as I am concerned using it as a baby monitor or a security camera is a joke but the remote operation via a smartphone is really impressive and very easy to set up. Much easier than other action and still cameras I have used.When auto this that and the other fail to deliver (as is the case sometimes with all cameras) this camera's manual options come to the fore. It is possible to manual adjust focus, shutter, white balance and aperture via the touch screen or a small multipurpose button/wheel by the screen. This is not nearly as easy to use as a pro camera's controls. For example a nice big mechanical focus ring is a lot easier and quicker to set than this little button but at least it is possible which is not the case with all small consumer camcorders. Many won't use them but try, for example, recording a nice white bride's dress in an old church with a mixture of tungsten, halogen, fluorescent and LED lighting with a few candles added to the mix. Being able to set the white balance makes a massive difference. Setting the aperture can really help mixed lighting levels as well and locking the focus stops all that focus hunting when an unwanted stranger moves into the shot. I am not sure about setting via the touch screen as I prefer the viewfinder and think it would be hard to adjust the touch screen while shooting without disturbing the shot so the button/wheel is a better option.I do however have a couple of small criticisms. First the lack of a charger. To charge the battery the camera needs to be plugged into a USB power source so once you are charging the camera cannot be used so if you get another battery you need to get a charger. Another small point is that if the lens hood is left off to make the camera really pocketable the automatic shutter cover is very vulnerable to damage in the pocket. A 49mm still camera lens cap solved that problem.Finally the manual. The one supplied gets you going OK but the full manual is a 200 page download. I have seen criticism of this but for me it is ideal. It means I hold the complete manual on my iPhone (and Kindle) so if I do need some obscure feature the manual its always with me.I read reviews to help my buying decisions. If this helps you please click the helpful button so I know I am not wasting my time.

addendum: The eyeball style lens cover now jams half open after 3 mths and 17 days. Off to DK AV... mechanical lens cover. Umph.About 2 weeks out: Im not sure where camcorders are in today's fast moving market. This is an older unit as in 'not the latest' .I would have spent more if I had the spare money but there was a big hole in my kit bag. I 'downgraded expectations ' to the small sensor having mulled three times the price plus. Pic quality is good and 'point and shoot' seems very useable compared to dragging a Nik D850 on a tripodThe days of having a 'super 8' night are gone and I think post-prod edits and easy search and store is part of the user needs. See below.Build feels OK. The manual takes many readings: the different record file types take a lot of figuring out - the manual extols the many magic features of the cam. but is a pretty light on file variants and other core stuff. Looks like a generic 'its in there somwhere' job. If you understand all this fine but you need to know the consequence of using each file type. I thought we were past this but its worse than before! Panasonic are not alone in this though. Eg: i tried to find the 'backlight' : after some serious study this has to be programmed into the menu. Small sensor so big zoom ranges and the IR light is a bonus though at 2160p its not very crisp... hey its there. A few controls button wise most are touch screen and make sense with some use.The software... HDWriter ... um. This has to be seen as part of the package: getting the image to your eyes. The cam. stores files of different types in a mass of individual folders for each type. It then downloads to by eg: date mode, etc but you have to use the software. Direct copy is a mess of 999AAAAA folders. Im not sure how long term archiving is going to work.UHD thumbnails not showing on W7 so back to the old 'I wonder what this one is'. HDWriter 5.4AE does help: its quite useful but the 'file type > storage folders > playback and 'update systems and edit software' I was hoping to avoid.backing up to second drives and 'teaching the software where to look needs some continuing ed.1080 variants are all good for sure though.Im using Vegas 12 and the UHD's load but are not playing or coding out. I think V12 was pre h264. The HDWriter software plays back keyframe or the like: one in four frames so its OK to check out content but not watch. Happily JRiver plays back without any issuesIts very possible all the current stuff is this way but its not quite plug 'n playOverall its doing what I hoped for and has all the pretty features Im not going to use this class of kit does well.Hope this helps

Purchased this for recording music tutorials for Youtube. The mic input states it is stereo so I plugged in the audio output of my RME audio interface. The audio on the camcorder had strange swirling noises on that were not present in the input. I contacted Panasonic and asked for advice about impedance mismatches or any other issue that might cause these noises. Essentially I wanted to know if the camcorder was faulty or if connecting it some other way would remove the problem. Panasonic gave me a vague answer of "we cannot guarantee the camcorder working in those circumstances". When I said this wasn't very helpful they responded with "If you don't like it make a complaint."Actually Panasonic, if you cannot be bothered providing technical support then I can't be bothered being a Panasonic customer. Returned, presumed faulty. I will buy another brand since Panasonic clearly don't need the business.