Looked OK but how much of any faults are due to the camera and how much due to YouTube. Its difficult to tell.
well on my tv it looked ok but not that sharp,my bridge cameras are sharper in hd mode,youtube degradation is over stated as long as you watch on a good monitor tv and have good broadband my films look as good on youtube as the origional film look as Nikon P1000 films in thread below show.
Thank you all for your comments, although I was really hoping someone else had noticed the VXF1 HD resolution seemed down and been able to confirm this in a similar way.
One of the biggest difficulties of evaluating a product like this before purchase nowadays, is there are no magazines around now that carry out camcorder testing, plus it is also near impossible to find a local store that stocks one, so you can’t even do your own evaluation (although I have to say that in both cases, I think it would be easy to overlook this particular problem!).So a customer is now faced with having to take a great deal of the manufactures spec info on trust.
I was most interested in the comments on the V800/808, which are basically the VXF1 without 4K, so is my VXF1faulty?I have been in touch with Panasonic Support and outlined the issue and received the following really helpful reply: “I want to thank you for your feedback on the unit and I want to let you know that we are sorry that the product does not meet your expectations.”Which is the reason why I thought it could be an idea to raise this issue on here!
I would love to be able to upload some test footage, but no chance with a (max) 2Mb/s download, 0.38Mb/s upload broadband speed!!
So, the best I can do is display the video on the TV screen (4K LG 65EF950V) and take some 8.3Mp stills off the screen and crop out a section with fine detail, which should then be a reasonable file size to upload.Note: To allow for any possible upscaling ‘funnies’, I have confirmed the result looks exactly the same visually on the TV and on my BenQ PD2710 1440p computer monitor.
There are two versions of the test:
1. A scene near home with the house name on a tree, where the cropped image demonstrates the loss of detail on the VXF1, compared with the TM700: A lower res shot of the basic scene is shown first, with the name plate at the centre attached to a tree.The 1080 cropped images are: 1-VXF1 50p, 2-TM700 50p and 3-TM700 50i. The last one ‘4’ is perhaps the most interesting as that is the VXF1 2160i downscaled to 1080 50p via Pinnacle Studio 20.
2. Using a photographic print of a 625 line Test Card, set into a background about 2.6 times the size of the print.The definition gratings are then about right size for 4K and 2K comparisons.A lower res shot of the setup is shown first.The 1080 cropped images are: 1-VXF1 50p, 2-TM700 50p, 3-VXF1 50i, 4-TM700 50i.
?
Why not just record a 1080 video for 1 minute or 2 minutes, then up load that?
You just seem to be making things hard!
also there are lots of reviews online of hardware
Videomaker - Learn video production and editing, camera reviews
Just to name one
https://www.avforums.com/attachments/vs181126-001-jpg.1089352/
Thought I would add a photo of the Morning Star
This was lifted from a "time lapse" recording of the sunrise I took on my HV-V800 this morning. It was recorded just as the light showed on the horizon, the recording continued to what passes as daylight. Unfortunately it soon clouded over so the sunrise itself was rubbish.data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I noticed that as the light increased, the silhouette of the leaves sharpened considerably.
Johnkm asked about the V800 and the sharpness. This photo was "brightened" in my video editor but there was NO increase in sharpness.
Thank you for the reference to 'Videomaker', which didn't come in my Bing/Google search.But after reading an article on the VX1, I was a bit concerned when the reviewer stated that there no manual focus facility, which there is (even better on 4K) and the level shot correction is just an indication, again not true with video recording (although it's effectiveness is limited, particularly with 4K)
Uploading: The 1080 clips that the stills were taken from are each about 10 seconds, but even then it is 33Mb/clip, which produces the enclosed error when attempting to upload.However, 0.38Mb/s upload is the maximum I have seen here, today it is down to 0.22Mb/s, so even if I could upload the files, it would still take some time (it was bad enough waiting for the stills to complete!).
For completeness I also enclose the 4K test card crop (I was over the max limit of 10 files last time)
You do get manual focussing with LCD icons on the screen. (same in the 800 and works fine) The item focussed on suddenly gets a blue halo when it is in focus. People like knobs to twiddle but with today's equipment it becomes unnecessary. True, level shot is just an indication and you can tip the camera to any angle, the level shot indicator is just a good reminder and it can be switched off.
The 4K manual focusing goes one better, with a PIP at the centre of the screen with a enlargement of the image, which can be moved around to set the focus at a particular point. The enlargement can also be increased up to 10X.
Re the level shot function on the VXF1: I initially found this a little confusing, as there is the comprehensive 'Level Gauge' that I think you are referring to, which provides horizontal and vertical tilt indication in both video and photo mode (page 105 of the manual), or in video mode only, there is the alternative 'Level Shot Function' (page 98) with a small 'see-saw' indicator, which provides some measure of automatic correction in 'Normal' mode (4K and 2K), with much more effective correction in 'Strong' mode (but unfortunately in 2K only).
This is a most interesting thread, thanks johnkm from someone with their own money invested!.
Could I ask a couple of "potential user" questions ?1) In stills-mode: max resolution, User Manual pdf shows 25Mpx - what is the file-size and does this look substantially better than taking a 8Mpx off a 4K shoot?
Perhaps you can compare too, your older camcorder "best stills" isby comparison.
2) In 4K mode: You said MF is possible ( and that "halo" Terfyn mentioned indicates the object that is sharpest, by contrast I suspect ).... If you add a ND filter in outdoor daylight, does the iris open-up to provide shallow DoF ( as one would expect)... or what...?
Secretly I'm hoping Pana will bring out another model with built-in ND filters, so I don't need to screw them in, with the risk of thread-damage, or dropping/losing when in the heat of a Shoot, etc.
Also, I wonder that Terfyn is right [Post#8], to suggest it's the same sensor, as progress in sensors is always with us - to the extent that performance is better and chip-price lower.... so Mfr (Like Pana) will be using the latest-version. Frankly I'd be surprised they are the same sensor from a few years ago, although I accept 4K is a "new fad" - the possible reason for the degrade you have seen( all other things being equal, we assume ), is that the newer sensor pixels being scanned are smaller, since this is optimised for 4K. . . . so they are less-concerned with HD performance. Another possible explanation is the camcorder is really down-scaling the 4K image and as this is done on the fly, it doesn't do such a good job.
It may never be known as Pana Sony and Canon are keen to keep their secrets.
* I think 4K has improved lens resolution, as few Mfrs offer long Zooms. Your VXF is 24x which is way less than most HD camcorders.That we should "move closer" is not always possible, so having an "extended zoom" is sometimes acceptable. My own CX410 (Sony) is capable of hand-held filming at c.800mm (35 equiv), provided I have something to act as support, like a tree. Modern lenses are a far cry from those of many years ago and if an HD lens was "OK" for 4K then there would be no reason to restrict the Zoom-range. Cynics might suggest it's so they can make us buy the next-longer version - but for my money having built-in ND filters is the way to go - but what do I know?
And . . . . Pana haven't yet asked my Opinion.Recently I read that Sony Camcorder ( sorry, Model unknown, probably Pro. ) incorporated "electronic ND filters" - which I take to mean the Gain is in "Stops" - making it easier to Setup again if a shot needs to be repeated.
I'm interested in the VXF "Stills-Mode" so I can use the camcorder instead of my Stills camera (14Mpx), which has a3x zoom. BUT - it needs to be substantially "better" - esp. if the filesize is significantly larger.
Another issue is buying a new Computer to take 64-bit software - as 4K appears to have forced Upgrade- upon us all. If I can put that off until 2019, ( when CPU's become available ), I may be able to get rendering even faster.
.....Cheers.....
There is always tinypic.com video hosting
Or load you video into a video editor and save individual stills
Loads of digital photography reviews around
Digital Photography Review
DigitalCameraReview - Just another TechnologyGuide.com Sites site
Camera reviews, best buys and photography tips
Latest Reviews & Tests - Amateur Photographer
Camera Reviews, Gear Reviews | Digital Camera World
Also
VideoHelp - Forum and Software downloads