Thankyou very much for your message. I don't know how to send you a video but if you go into my videos a typical example would be The Helm, Kendal, posted 2nd Dec., or Windermere and Grasmere, 1st Dec., I have very recently removed the lens protector for keeping the sun out on my camcorder as I had a feeling it may be acting as a reflector. The two films I have made since doing this have proved to be an improvement. Thanks again, Hazel
I have this camera but most of the videos that I film outside are spoiled by masses of light blobs. It is very annoying and seems to be getting worse. I bought a special lens which is supposed to stop the light from getting in but it is useless. Can you suggest anything. Thankyou very much.
What editing program do you use? i cant upload my files from my sd-20 the files are mts. adobe prem pro or final cut pro do support then. any convertors suggested/
@AL3XHIAM I use Sony Vegas Pro 9.0e, a professional editing program. If that's too costly for you, Sony also offer much cheaper - and quite fully-featured - consumer versions called Vegas Movie Studio HD. I recommend the Platinum 10 Production Suite which costs around 80 UK Pounds because it has the most features.
Nice test. I have this camera too, and although I think its a great camera it eats light. I bought a external LED-light that I can screw underneath the camera just so I can get a better shot, but its still a bit grainy.
I also think that the files on the camera (mk2 or something) are a bitch to edit. I had to torrent a program called Voltaic HD just to render my footage to AVI so I can edit it properly. Aside from those few issues, its a quality camera like you would expect from Panasonic.
@Agentbromsnor yes it definitely loves a lot of light. Any AVCHD files (usually .m2t) will prove hard to edit unless your PC is very high spec, with a fast chip in it, that's just the way they're encoded.
Very true. But like I said, this program Voltaic HD converts it to AVI which makes the whole editing process alot easier, although it can take a little while to convert.
@Agentbromsnor another popular option for transcoding is the Cineform codec. Or, some people have use Sony's MXF (XDCAM) 35Mbps format; I tried it once just for interest and it worked well.
The video was just output as a 25p, 1920x1080 resolution file, using mp4 at around 5Mbps, and uploaded. YouTube then converts automatically to a range of resolutions.
sorry to bother you again - what do you mean exactly by this? normally on SD card I have AVCHD files and when I try to upload them to YouTube I'm getting something like this one: v=ptacKmebhzw
@westentor Ah, sorry. I have never uploaded video files direct from the camera, I always edit them on the PC first using Sony Vegas Pro. Then they are rendered as described and it's that file that's uploaded. That works! Don't know why YouTube doesn't like your source files.
I have gone out an dpurchased this camera and found it great during the day...and rather poor at night. Could you please tell me what settings you used for the 9 pm shots. They looked practically grain free and I haven't managed such a feat yet.
It is poor in low light, like all small camcorders. The shots in my film above were taken in standard "intelligent auto" mode using best quality video setting. Nothing else!
After some more playing around I see what you mean. Incidentally, I found that the best way to avoid grain is to set the iris on 0-3db. The fireworks scene mode also kills all grain, but also makes the picture really dark.
hey, I'm thinking about buying this camera but am a bit worried about low light performance - what are your experiences with this?
I've read in some reviews that this is a great camera for outdoors, but sucks indoors. As I'm mainly looking for a camera to shoot family occasions and my baby niece who's growing up, most of my filming would be indoors...what do you think?
For outdoor filming (in good light), it provides decent pictures. But indoors (and this is common to most small high-def cameras) it's poor. Images are grainy, especially if it's evening with only overhead bulb light around.
You may need to spend substantially more if you want good low-light performance in a compact high-def camera. eg I read that the Panasonic TM300 (3 chip, 1/4 inch) is comparatively 'good' in low light - but it costs about £800, compared to £400 for the HDC-SD20
Okay, thanks a lot for your answer. What about the Canon HF200? I read a lot of stories by people who bought either the Panasonic HDC-SD20 or the Samsung HMX-H100, but winded up returning it to buy a Canon HF200 which supposedly has better low light performance. Plus, it would only cost me about €100-150 more than the SD20.
Do you know anything about the Canon? Sorry to bother you but you seem to know more about it than I do, especially regarding the relation between chip amount/size. Thanks!
thanks for these vids man, im about to buy one of these cameras and its good to see how well they work iyo whats it like not having a HDD is it a real pain or are SD cards alright?
It's not a pain at all. In fact, I'd stay well away from hard discs - they're far too prone to failure and you can't swap them out when they're full either! In comparison, an SD card is tiny and lightweight so it's easy to carry a whole heap of storage with you. Hugely reliable too as there are no moving parts. And no need to connect the camera to the PC to download files for editing - just take the card out and put straight into the PC (assuming you have a card reader - they're very cheap)
yeah i have this camera and an SD card is so much better - better still, when ive filmed what i want, i put the SD card in my ps3 and play the files straight away before editing etc!
Thankyou very much for your message. I don't know how to send you a video but if you go into my videos a typical example would be The Helm, Kendal, posted 2nd Dec., or Windermere and Grasmere, 1st Dec., I have very recently removed the lens protector for keeping the sun out on my camcorder as I had a feeling it may be acting as a reflector. The two films I have made since doing this have proved to be an improvement. Thanks again, Hazel
HazelAgnes48 1 year ago
I have this camera but most of the videos that I film outside are spoiled by masses of light blobs. It is very annoying and seems to be getting worse. I bought a special lens which is supposed to stop the light from getting in but it is useless. Can you suggest anything. Thankyou very much.
HazelAgnes48 1 year ago
@HazelAgnes48 Can you show me an example of what you mean - have you uploaded something I can take a look at to see the problem?
UKAirscape 1 year ago
What editing program do you use? i cant upload my files from my sd-20 the files are mts. adobe prem pro or final cut pro do support then. any convertors suggested/
thanks in advance
AL3XHIAM 1 year ago
@AL3XHIAM I use Sony Vegas Pro 9.0e, a professional editing program. If that's too costly for you, Sony also offer much cheaper - and quite fully-featured - consumer versions called Vegas Movie Studio HD. I recommend the Platinum 10 Production Suite which costs around 80 UK Pounds because it has the most features.
UKAirscape 1 year ago
Nice test. I have this camera too, and although I think its a great camera it eats light. I bought a external LED-light that I can screw underneath the camera just so I can get a better shot, but its still a bit grainy.
I also think that the files on the camera (mk2 or something) are a bitch to edit. I had to torrent a program called Voltaic HD just to render my footage to AVI so I can edit it properly. Aside from those few issues, its a quality camera like you would expect from Panasonic.
Agentbromsnor 1 year ago
@Agentbromsnor yes it definitely loves a lot of light. Any AVCHD files (usually .m2t) will prove hard to edit unless your PC is very high spec, with a fast chip in it, that's just the way they're encoded.
UKAirscape 1 year ago
Very true. But like I said, this program Voltaic HD converts it to AVI which makes the whole editing process alot easier, although it can take a little while to convert.
Agentbromsnor 1 year ago
@Agentbromsnor another popular option for transcoding is the Cineform codec. Or, some people have use Sony's MXF (XDCAM) 35Mbps format; I tried it once just for interest and it worked well.
UKAirscape 1 year ago
Hmm. Thanks for the tip!
Agentbromsnor 1 year ago
could you please describe how did you convert AVCHD movie for youtube to get 1080p resolution/quality?
westentor 1 year ago
The video was just output as a 25p, 1920x1080 resolution file, using mp4 at around 5Mbps, and uploaded. YouTube then converts automatically to a range of resolutions.
UKAirscape 1 year ago
@UKAirscape
sorry to bother you again - what do you mean exactly by this? normally on SD card I have AVCHD files and when I try to upload them to YouTube I'm getting something like this one: v=ptacKmebhzw
westentor 1 year ago
@westentor Ah, sorry. I have never uploaded video files direct from the camera, I always edit them on the PC first using Sony Vegas Pro. Then they are rendered as described and it's that file that's uploaded. That works! Don't know why YouTube doesn't like your source files.
UKAirscape 1 year ago
I have gone out an dpurchased this camera and found it great during the day...and rather poor at night. Could you please tell me what settings you used for the 9 pm shots. They looked practically grain free and I haven't managed such a feat yet.
NicendYT 2 years ago
It is poor in low light, like all small camcorders. The shots in my film above were taken in standard "intelligent auto" mode using best quality video setting. Nothing else!
UKAirscape 2 years ago
After some more playing around I see what you mean. Incidentally, I found that the best way to avoid grain is to set the iris on 0-3db. The fireworks scene mode also kills all grain, but also makes the picture really dark.
Anyway, thanks for responding to me
NicendYT 2 years ago
Good tips, thanks!
UKAirscape 2 years ago
hey, I'm thinking about buying this camera but am a bit worried about low light performance - what are your experiences with this?
I've read in some reviews that this is a great camera for outdoors, but sucks indoors. As I'm mainly looking for a camera to shoot family occasions and my baby niece who's growing up, most of my filming would be indoors...what do you think?
THANKS FOR YOUR ANSWER!
Jovac7 2 years ago
For outdoor filming (in good light), it provides decent pictures. But indoors (and this is common to most small high-def cameras) it's poor. Images are grainy, especially if it's evening with only overhead bulb light around.
You may need to spend substantially more if you want good low-light performance in a compact high-def camera. eg I read that the Panasonic TM300 (3 chip, 1/4 inch) is comparatively 'good' in low light - but it costs about £800, compared to £400 for the HDC-SD20
UKAirscape 2 years ago
Okay, thanks a lot for your answer. What about the Canon HF200? I read a lot of stories by people who bought either the Panasonic HDC-SD20 or the Samsung HMX-H100, but winded up returning it to buy a Canon HF200 which supposedly has better low light performance. Plus, it would only cost me about €100-150 more than the SD20.
Do you know anything about the Canon? Sorry to bother you but you seem to know more about it than I do, especially regarding the relation between chip amount/size. Thanks!
Jovac7 2 years ago
thanks for these vids man, im about to buy one of these cameras and its good to see how well they work iyo whats it like not having a HDD is it a real pain or are SD cards alright?
nzguy1924 2 years ago
It's not a pain at all. In fact, I'd stay well away from hard discs - they're far too prone to failure and you can't swap them out when they're full either! In comparison, an SD card is tiny and lightweight so it's easy to carry a whole heap of storage with you. Hugely reliable too as there are no moving parts. And no need to connect the camera to the PC to download files for editing - just take the card out and put straight into the PC (assuming you have a card reader - they're very cheap)
UKAirscape 2 years ago
Sweet as, yeah my comps got a card reader so should be no problem thanks! :)
nzguy1924 2 years ago
yeah i have this camera and an SD card is so much better - better still, when ive filmed what i want, i put the SD card in my ps3 and play the files straight away before editing etc!
dannyday58218195 2 years ago