Panasonic HS700 and TM700 HD camcorders

1080 60P

14.2 megapixel still images (and 13.3 megapixel images from recorded video).

28MB h264

Large-diameter F1.5 (46mm) Leica Dicomor lens with 12x optical zoom

Good price too at $1000.

Sigh... CamcorderInfo did a review. No full manual control. 14MB per frame at 60p (28mb per frame at 30p), no native 24p mode (not a big deal for me) and only a 1/4 size sensor.

So, do you think that this camera can produce clips that Pond5 buyers will be interested in? Is it a better choice than the GH1? It looks like a good camera when you want to blend into a crowd or shoot in a place where a hmc150 or NX5 would not be allowed. I would like to know your opinions before I go out an buy a JVC HM100. I am looking for a camera to use in places crowded by tourist and I do not want to give the impresion that I am from the press, discovery channel or a paparazzi.

Ideally, you want a camera that gives you the ability to set as many features manually as possible. The new Panasonic camera mentioned has very few manual controls, so you are at the mercy of what it *thinks* is best. Most of the time that's fine, but in weird lighting conditions you'll get funky results. Also, when shooting in 1080x60p mode with the Panasonic it does not record at the highest bit rate, in fact it records each frame at HALF its highest bit rate.

For me, personally, that is enough to keep be from upgrading to it from my HF11.

If you are looking for small form factor that shoots good footage and still allows you to look like a tourist, take a look at the Canon HFS20. It records at the max bitrate possible for H264 and has tons of manual control (although not everything is manual). It records to internal flash memory and has a slot for an additional SDHC card.

If you like recording to tape, take a look at the HV40 which has tons of manual controls and is used by a lot of indie film makers.

The GH1 and the Canon T2i/550D are great if you want something that does stills and footage. I have the T2i and it's fantastic.

That sucks. I thought this camera was going to be awesome... I would go with the t2i for this price.

I was going to jump from my hv30 to this, just to have an extra camera, but don't' think I will.

My 10 cents - T2i - it's awesome!

Thanks for the advice. I will go and test the T2i. The T2i records in MOV files but it doesn't specify the video quality in mbs. Does it records at 35 mbps just like the JVC HM-100?

The T2i records at 42mbps (the max rate for the spec is 48mbps). So make sure you get enough SDHC cards because they can fill up fast... :)

t2i is a great deal! And would be a first choice if I didn't have the mark ii. I wanted this one to do 60fps at 1080p, but not worth it now. Hopefully new batches of cameras will start pushing the fps higher.