AG-DVC30 « Videomaker Community Forums

zax
Member

okey. I got a pretty high buget for a camera. I dont no much about cameras, but i shoot videos of mountainbiking and skits for school, will this camera do?

PS: I need a camera with a good mic to 8)

Posted 6 years ago #
tpainter
Member

I have that camera and I love it. However, the onboard mic is not all that great. (but, I am not aware of any camera that has a stellar onboard mic)
I would definately go with an external mic anyway. I think it would do well for your needs.

Posted 6 years ago #
SFChuck
Member

Panasonic touts it as a broadcast -quality camcorder and many of the vendors sell it thru their pro/prosumer divisions. The specs are good, the reviews have been fairly complimentary. Side-by-side image tests would seem to put it in the same league as the Sony DSR-PD170. The frame is titanium so it should be durable.

I just ordered a DVC30 with external XLR adapter and mic based on all of the foregoing. We'll see if it lives up to expectations.

Posted 6 years ago #
frombrandon
Member

I bought the DVC30 this summer and love every minute of using it. There is a great article about a show on cable that uses only the DVC30 and you can find it by going to the Panasonic site, tracking down the DVC30's page, then one of the tabs there has the story.

Posted 6 years ago #
SFChuck
Member

After using my new AG-DVC30 extensively for a couple weeks, I have good news and bad news:

The good news - the video quality compares very favorably with other prosumer camcorders in its class (Sony DSR PD170, etc.), the optical image stabilization works very well, the 16x Leica lens is magnificent, it works well in low light situations and it's pretty hard to fool the auto focus, auto iris, auto white balance, etc.

I was doing some taping for a RailFan video producer and had the tripod set right next to the tracks. A heavy freight rolled by shaking the ground but upon playback, the OIS had removed any trace. I even accidentally kicked the leg of the tripod a couple times and the OIS took that out, too.

The bad news - there is an intermittent buzz in the audio, the source of which I have not found yet. I read something about this condition early in the production run but thought they'd have had it corrected by now. Apparently, opening the swing-out monitor was being blamed for the buzz. In my case, however, it happened when I was using the viewfinder. I guess I'll have to call the vendor and see what can be done about it. I won't be able to use the unit professionally until I am assured it will function properly every time.

Watch this space...I'll post updates as warranted.

Posted 6 years ago #
SFChuck
Member

I called Panasonic customer service about my audio buzz and described it and the circumstances surrounding it to the technician. He seemed to think it may have been a stray RF problem.

He asked me to try playing back the tape on the camcorder and listening to it with headsets. I did that and could not duplicate the problem.

This is still an open issue, however, and I'm watching it closely.

Posted 6 years ago #