Check out these new shoot and share camcorder.  http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Cameras-Camcorders/Camcorders/Shoot-Share-Cameras/model.HM-TA1H_11002_7000000000000005702

I actually have one with me right now and its amazing... Slim design.. It's like holding a small thing cell phone.. It's unreal that it can record in Full HD... great product

I'm curious - Does anyone have one of the new HM-TA1H cameras?  We're looking at possibly buying a few for a project we're doing at work (I work for a public access station).  Let me explain a bit of what we're planning to do so that hopefully someone out there might be able to give me their thoughts on using these cameras for this particular project.

We're trying to start a journalism project which would consist of our interns and members going out into the town and covering topics that are of interest to them.  We're not limiting this to just film, as we're expanding to all forms of media (print, film, audio, etc.), so we're trying to find a compact camera that can do film and photos in one with good quality, that way we can send them out and people can film interviews or take photos of a particular location, etc.

This camera looks like it has great quality video, but does anyone know how well the pictures come out?  How do the photo features compare to a regular point and shoot camera?  Right now, it's between the HM-TA1H or a point and shoot camera that can do good quality film.

Hopefully that made sense.  If anyone has any input, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Kayla 

Awesome!  Thanks so much for the info, Kairy!    All very good thoughts/suggestions that I'll definitely be passing along to the Executive Director.  He'll be making the ultimate decision, but I was kind of pushing toward this option earlier today and he seemed pretty interested in checking it out.

We had a meeting with the people who are going to be involved with the project tonight and I know one of the things that someone brought up was to make sure that whatever we get has an input for an external mic.  Does anyone know if this has one?

Aug 6, 2010 -- 1:48AM, Kayla wrote:

Awesome!  Thanks so much for the info, Kairy!    All very good thoughts/suggestions that I'll definitely be passing along to the Executive Director.  He'll be making the ultimate decision, but I was kind of pushing toward this option earlier today and he seemed pretty interested in checking it out.

We had a meeting with the people who are going to be involved with the project tonight and I know one of the things that someone brought up was to make sure that whatever we get has an input for an external mic.  Does anyone know if this has one?

Kayla, you're quite welcome. Happy to help. As for the external mic I scrutinized the photos and i see where the battery and SD card goes but I didn't see a mic input, and it's not in the tech specs. I hope that's not a dealbreaker. I would call Panasonic and ask if they have a model that does. It does have an AV output. My camcorder has a built in mic (and speakers) and an input for an external mic. It's handy, light takes photos and video.

That model is HDC-HS100. It's a part of the 3MOS family and that price point would be prohibitive for your project I think. The HM audio is monoaural so if that's another dealbreaker then a call to Panasonic would be the way to go. Not sure if other manufacturers even have a HM like contender you could consider an option.

 

Kayla, you're quite welcome. Happy to help. As for the external mic I scrutinized the photos and i see where the battery and SD card goes but I didn't see a mic input, and it's not in the tech specs. I hope that's not a dealbreaker. I would call Panasonic and ask if they have a model that does. It does have an AV output. My camcorder has a built in mic (and speakers) and an input for an external mic. It's handy, light takes photos and video.

That model is HDC-HS100. It's a part of the 3MOS family and that price point would be prohibitive for your project I think. The HM audio is monoaural so if that's another dealbreaker then a call to Panasonic would be the way to go. Not sure if other manufacturers even have a HM like contender you could consider an option.

Thanks again, Kairy!  I appreciate the research you've been putting into this.  I know good sound quality is going to be a big deal for this project, and all of the projects we do at the station, so I think an external mic input is something the Executive Director is going to really be pushing for.  I'm not sure if anyone really makes anything like this that has one, so we may not have much of a choice.  I'll definitely be going over all of this with him tomorrow and will probably get in touch with Panasonic for some more details.

- Kayla