I'm an editor by trade, so for me the work flow and support for this format was very important. If you work with iMovie use of this footage is fast and seamless. And if you prefer Final Cut Pro (as I do) it works flawlessly with that as well now, providing you have the current FCP 6 (which is part of the Studio 2 release). So where some have complained about being able to edit with this format, I don't see that as a problem anymore.
The included battery powered HD works great (it's larger then it looks in the picture though). It's a great way to download your footage while you shoot. It works well.
The image quality is amazing. Really amazing. My previous camera was a Sony DV Camera (just a consumer model) and it was great but this is so much better.
The camera is very easy to use and you get used to just having it with you. I take it to more locations then I normally would, which means I actually shoot more footage.
One thing to consider in the big picture is where you will store all of this footage. Because I already work with tapeless footage at my office I have the necessary hardware to not only edit with the footage, but also back it up for long term archival purposes. If you don't have this, you will probably want to get the optional DVD burner that allows you to burn a card directly to a DVD. But even DVD is not a good long term solution. Personally I use LTO-3 tapes because they have a 30 year shelf life, but this is not something most consumers will have. Blue-ray is probably another good format to back up to. The point being, don't just think about how easy it is to shoot, think about the whole process from editing to final long term storage of your footage. This way of working does require a little more work along the way to stay organized and to be able to find your footage.
I purchased this model over the 5 or 1 model (I can't remember the rest of the letters but if you've been looking at this camera you probably know what i"m talking about) mainly because of two reasons. One is that it has a line in for a wireless mic, which was important to me even if I don't use a wireless mic all the time. Also, the gamma of this camera is better matched to Panasonic P2 cameras, making it a slightly (and I do mean slightly) better choice if you need to match this footage to a more professional camera.
I hope this information has been helpful to you.
Update Saturday; January 26, 2008 If you would like to see a sample video that was cut from the footage shot with this camera, use the link below. Keep in mind this is not the full quality, but you'll see how sharp the picture actually is. It also shows how weak the camera is in low light situations.
Having previous extensive experience with other panasonic professional camcorders, I knew this one would be no less than amazing. I rate it a full five stars. It has outstanding image quality, ease of editing with iMovie '09 and FCP, small form factor, and it uses SDHC cards which are readily available. This camcorder does not disappoint. The outstanding image quality is nothing short of fantastic. There is fineness in detail. When shooting into bright light, it compensates very effectively so everything is naturally exposed. Using standard cinematography techniques, there is a film-like quality that looks fabulous. Hint: in bright sunlight always use ND and polarizer filters. This camera turns on instantly and is ready to shoot. It has a good selection of manual controls. Sadly, there is no manual focusing ring. I use a step up ring to use readily available 49mm and larger filters. Battery life is a little over an hour but get another two or threethat goes without saying better safe than sorry when you are in the wild. This camcorder is small, lightweight and easy to operate. I use it handheld with a flash bracket or bean bag. For the best image quality use a smooth fluid head on top of a heavy tripod. The built in OIS works great for handheld use. I like the variable speed zoom servo. I can get silky slow motion zooms and fast ones if needed. It is still photo capable and I have used it but it's of lesser importance to me. It's small enough to tape outside on a car, truck, motorcycle or ATV for getting great camera angles.
Perhaps the best part is that it records 1080i/60 directly onto SDHC cards. No tape mechanism to jam. Check footage in camera and delete instantly what you don't like. Place the card in your laptop for fast and easy transfer. As previously mentioned iMovie '08 and '09, Final Cut Express 4, Final Cut Studio 3, Adobe Premiere CS3, and other software titles work flawlessly in handling the AVCHD footage. Editing is quick and easy. The package comes with a handy self-powered 40gb HD for transferring footage in the field from the SDHC card. Very thoughtful of Panasonic to include this. It means you only need one or two cards to shoot with. An 8gb card will hold 83 minutes of HD footage or a 16gb card will allow you to shoot for two hours and twenty minutes. And you can use 32gb SDHC cards as well for even longer shoots. Again, don't forget spare batteries! The 3" LCD viewfinder is large and bright. I have no trouble using it on the brightest of sunlit days. The 5.1 audio is a bonus and does an excellent job when shooting interviews and outdoor nature footage. Using this camcorder is a pleasure.
Buy Panasonic Pro AG-HSC1U AVCHD 3CCD Flash Memory Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom Now
The AG-HSC1U is a VERY small camcorder, for my particular use the size and solid-state recording was a big part of the choice.
Once in use the camcorder impressed with beautiful pictures, however for interviews one need to mount a bracket to hold the microphone, I got one with 2 shoe mounts for a video light to pop the faces and also a microphone, it would be nice to have a headphone jack, but there is no such thing, instead there is a recording level indicator on the screen, I was a bit apprehensive about this starting out, but in practical everyday use this works well.
This camcorder is a "Pro" version of the older Panasonic SD1 camera, the colors have been tweaked to match the look of other professional cameras, this works well and I find the shots to play nicely with much more expensive panasonic pro cameras.
Unlike most serious camcorders this camera is mostly menu driven, there is no exposure-compensation. however there is a small joystick which makes it easy to adjust the lighting. the most common used adjustments are accessed by sliding the mode slider to Manual and then pressing the joystick once, this will let you toggle through the settings one at a time, you can select a option by moving the cursor sideways once selected you can move sideways to increase or decrease a setting such as aperture, gain, or shutter speed, press downwards to exit a option. in practical use this works easy and are simple to figure out, I use the aperture all the time and it is the first option when I turn on manual because it was used last. The camera have zebra stripes so it is easy to judge exposure.
The camera could possible have a bit more dynamic range, but I have not found it being a problem, I typically shoot outdoors interviews with a graduated ND filter to control the sky and use a reflector to pop some light in the top of the face which also is in the ND filter, the result look great and do not look like something from a cheap camcorder.
The lens is longer than the other SD cameras with 12x zoom, which really is about as long as you can hold still any way, I use this camera mostly on monopod or handheld in the cockpit of airplanes. The lens is sharp and with no vignetting.
The AVCHD files edits well with Vegas Pro 8, I have not tried the economy compression and only use the best quality setting which looks beautiful on the screen. A added bonus is the 40gig portable harddrive which ships with this camera model, the drive is battery powered and I have successfully dumped 5 days worth of cards to the drive with no recharge required.
Generally the camera performs well and overall I am very pleased with this purchase, it plays well with other cameras and I am about to pick up a second for the company. In my personal opinion this camera is highly recommended as long as you realize that have have some limitations it will serve you well and deliver images you can use for production. Ultimately, only you can determine if this camera will "do the trick" for you, based on your needs and the performance vs price of the camera, you can find larger cameras with more features at the same price, but they are pretty darn hard to stuff in the pocket in the cockpit.
Read Best Reviews of Panasonic Pro AG-HSC1U AVCHD 3CCD Flash Memory Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom Here
The AG-HSC1UP is easy to use, light and compact, and takes great video. Transferring AVCHD footage from the camcorder itself to a Mac is a breeze. Do note that if you transfer video from the camcorder to the included portable Hard Disk Drive (VW-PT2), and then try to transfer those clips from the HDD to a Mac for editing in Final Cut, it can be confusing. Here's a solution:
Connect the portable hard disk drive to computer using USB cable and turn on the HDD. Icon "untitled" will appear on desktop.
Open Final Cut. Click Final Cut in menu bar > System Settings > Scratch Disks. Click "Set". Then select destination folder (for example user name > document > Final Cut Documents > new folder (and name the new folder). Then also click "Set" for Waveform Cache, Thumbnail Cache, and Autosave Cache.
Then on the menu bar, click File > Log and Transfer. When new screen appears, click icon "Add Folder" in upper left corner. then click "Untitled" icon > Pana > 080311_1 (or whatever number appears). Click Open. Drag clip from "Name" to "Untitled Project 1" where it says "Drag Media Here".
The next time you open Final Cut, click File > Import Files > Documents > Final Cut Documents > Capture Scratch > Untitled Project 1 > and there, by golly, will be Clip #1.mov. Click on Clip #1 (et al) and it will appear in the browser window.
It's easier just to get some extra SDHC cards and forget the HDD.
Want Panasonic Pro AG-HSC1U AVCHD 3CCD Flash Memory Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom Discount?
This camera is EXACTLY the same guts as the HDC-SD1 which costs half as much. Panasonic originally came out with the SD1, then replaced it with a camera with a smaller image sensor and then re-introduced the SD1 with a different color body as the AG-HSC1U. It is a great camera, and I really like it, but if you are thinking of getting this model, first look for the HDC-SD1 and save yourself some dough.
Panasonic HDC-SD1 AVCHD 3CCD Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
1st off.. due to Sandy the Storm, it took a little longer to get my product. With that said, setting up this cam was faster than light.. ok it wasn't that fast but with the included ( lacks paper manual) CD and PDF user/setup manual even you could set this up pretty damn fast.
