Panasonic HDC-TM900 user reviews

Pros The quality of the build of this video camera is very very nice. Looks & feels good in your hands. It has Amazing HD Picture quality, Easy to use, Outstanding Image stabilization. The HD video is amazingly sharp and crisp. Bright vivid colors are exce

Cons Simplistic archaic menu compared to their competitors.. BUT very very functional.. so some people may think as this as a CON, but I think it is fine.

Summary Just a quick note: I had the previous version of this camcorder. It was the TM700. It was a great camcorder. I ran into an issue with the optical stabilization not working properly with the zoom. I was within the warranty period and Panasonic did a FULL replacement. They took my defective TM700 and gave me a NEW TM900 as a replacement. So for that.. Panasonic is awesome for warranty replacements. I want to touch upon some ISSUES that people claim to have / see. First one is FAN NOISE. You will find hundreds of posts about this supposed cooling fan noise. You will see these people do video in an empty room and then turn up the speakers to look for the fan noise. In both the TM700 I had and TM900 that I currently have, I have not heard any fan noise in any of my videos... Hmmmmmm maybe that's because I use it for the purpose it was designed for.. like video recordings of my sons hockey games, birthday parties, Christmas dinners, family functions... So the questions is: Do I hear a fan noise from the camcorder?? Yes I can when I stick my ear right on the fan. BUT do I heard any fan noise in any of my recordings? NONE!! If you plan to use the camcorder like it was designed for and not so ridiculous testing for fan noise in and empty room... then this camcorder will work for you. Ignore any comments about fan noise. Second issue that you may see people complain about is the "selector switch" that is found on the top right side of the camcorder. This is the selector switch to go between video recording, picture taking and review your video footage. Some claim that the switch is loose and when you try to use the zoom switch just beside it, you will rub up against the switch and a clicking noise can be heard. I personally do not have this issue. Maybe it is because I hold the camcorder. Every video I have seen demonstrating this issue shows a guy "white knuckling" the camcorder and wrapping his fingers completely around the switch. This is not the way most people will hold this camcorder. Again, I do not have this issue. So if you see any comments about the above issues, I would ignore it. One PRO that I wanted to add is the LOW LIGHT recording capabilities. Recording the dark and in extremely low light is awesome. ONE catch.. You need to take it out of AUTO mode to get the best results. For some reason Panasonic felt it necessary to have this camcorder slow down the frame rate when in low light in the AUTO mode function. This results in a "slow motion" affect to the video footage. Which is OK, but you can avoid this by simply pushing the AUTO / MANUAL button to put the camcorder in MANUAL MODE. This gets rid of the grain and slow motion affect. You can then fool around with the iris setting to make the footage even clearer. Very easy to do and the footage that you will get in the dark and low light will be swesome. Bottom line is that this camcorder is rated one of the best in consumer camcorders. It is very easy to use, HD video is crisp and sharp. I highly recommend this camcorder.