Panasonic ag hmc40 manual

For Operating Instructions details, see page 5. For details, see page 5. Operating Instructions. Memory Card Camera-Recorder. Model No. FU0 -P. Operation flow chart after replacement of major parts.

See our Privacy Policy and User Agreement for details. Published on Jan 16,. Published on Jul 11, Panasonic ag hmc40 instruction manual. SlideShare Explore Search You. Most useful pages: More Adjusting the mic input level Updating the firmware Adjusting the shutter speed Cleaning Error displays Shooting in manual mode Shooting techniques for different targets Main warning displays Adjusting white balance and black balance Maximum number of photos Thumbnail operations.

Page of Go. Page 43 - Using presets Page 44 - Shooting techniques for different target Before operating this product, please read the instructions carefully and save this manual.

Show quick links. This auction is for a digitally delivered Service Manual!. Within 24 hours after your payment. If you are interested but just not quite familiar with downloading via a link or the terms. Safety and Precautions. The camcorder focuses quickly, exposure levels are adjusted with accuracy, and the auto white balance isn't bad although we would have liked to see more white balance presets.

If you venture into the camcorder's menu, which is accessible in auto mode, you can set the auto iris level like an auto exposure shift and you can register a user button to control backlight compensation. Unlike the other pro models we've reviewed, the AG-HMC40 does offer face detection, but it is only available in auto mode. The only feature you could consider to be a 'low light mode' on the HMC40 is its high sensitivity gain option.

Engaging high sensitivity, which can only be done by applying the option to one of the user buttons, allows the camcorder to use up to 34dB gain instead of the normal 24dB limit. There are no scene modes on the Panasonic AG-HMC40, although there is a spotlight setting that can be applied to one of the user buttons. Of these three methods, we found the zoom rocker to be the most comfortable to use, although the lens ring was an intriguing choice.

The thing is, the lens ring is really better suited for focus or iris adjustment. There's also a slight delay when you use the zoom ring to adjust zoom, which can be frustrating to deal with. Strangely, the HMC40 does not have any zoom speed preset controls, but you can adjust zoom variably by applying more or less pressure on the zoom rocker or by rotating the lens ring at various speeds. The camcorder does have a feature called Smooth Zoom Stop that creates a gradual, smooth stop to your zooms when you release the zoom rocker.

If you turn the Smooth Zoom Stop function off, then the camcorder's zoom will stop abruptly when you cease zooming. It is an interesting feature, but it is one that is easily overlooked.

The zoom buttons on the LCD panel don't do much good—especially when you consider the quality of the zoom rocker on the camcorder's right side. The zoom buttons are hard to press, don't offer variable speed control, and they aren't very easy to reach.

We strongly recommend sticking with the zoom rocker or lens ring for adjusting zoom. In fact, the lens on the HMC40 appears to be identical to Panasonic's consumer line. There are three digital zoom options on the HMC40—one increases the zoom by 2x, the other by 5x, and the last by 10x making the max digital zoom x if you include the 12x optical. Using any of these digital zoom settings will result in a loss of image quality, so we recommend sticking with the optical zoom if you can.

Focus is set manually on the HMC40 by rotating the camcorder's large lens ring. The camcorder only has one lens ring unlike the Canon and Sony pro models that have three , so it shouldn't be confusing as to what ring we're talking about.

The ring is definitely comfortable and easy to grip, but it is a bit too loose for making precise focus adjustments. We prefer a ring with more resistance when adjusting focus. The camcorder has a few interesting focus assist features, but neither of them are the traditional 'peaking' systems found on many pro cams.

The first focus assist is a simple digital zoom that magnifies the image so you can focus easier. The second assist is a strange bar system where a line appears on the LCD that gets longer the more in focus your subject is the line shrinks when everything is out of focus. It is a strange system and we're not convinced of its effectiveness. Still, if you're not a fan of peaking, then Panasonic's bar system may be a good alternative.

Nowhere in the camcorder's manual is an explanation for a plain old exposure adjustment not even in auto mode. That doesn't mean exposure cannot be adjusted, however. When the iris is set to auto you can still rotate the adjustment dial to alter the exposure.

Now, when you change the exposure in this manner there are no incremental EV steps that appear on the screen—the exposure simply changes and you can see it in the brightness of the image. Now, if you're willing to go into the camcorder's Scene File menu you can make adjustments to the auto iris level, which is somewhat like setting exposure manually. This is rather time consuming, however, and it would be much easier to simply adjust the aperture to change the brightness of the image.

Panasonic calls aperture adjustment iris on all its camcorders, so if you're looking for a setting that says aperture on the HMC40, you won't find it. You can control the iris by using the small dial on the left side of the camcorder labeled as the iris dial , or you can set the lens ring to adjust iris. All these options make controlling the aperture on the HMC40 one of the best processes on the camcorder.

We recommend using the iris dial for controlling aperture and leaving the lens ring for manual focus. The iris dial is easy to reach on the fly and you can switch things back to an auto aperture setting by simply pushing in on the dial.

There are plenty of shutter speed options on the camcorder, but we can't really imagine pros taking to kindly to using a touchscreen to set them. The touchscreen specifically makes shutter speed very annoying to change while you are recording. If you forget about the wonky touchscreen interface, the AG-HMC40 has a decent offering of shutter speed options. Panasonic also throws in a synchro scan feature that lets you fine tune the shutter speed to match the frequency of a monitor or television so you don't get noise when you shoot those screens.

This isn't a huge feature unless you find yourself recording screens or monitors a lot , but it is a good thing for Panasonic to include. Just like setting the shutter speed regularly, the synchro scan option also must be set using the touchscreen. White balance options are limited on the AG-HMC40 and even simple settings—like conducting a manual white balance—can be very confusing the first few times you use the camcorder.

We don't understand why Panasonic made setting the white balance on the HMC40 so difficult. It is almost as if Panasonic decided to make the white balance system more difficult to use just because the HMC40 is a pro camcorder. To pick a white balance setting, you must press the white balance button on the left side of the camcorder.

Continual pressing of this button lets you cycle through the white balance options. You cannot view the options as a list or set of icons, so if you go by the option you want you must continue pressing until you get back to it again. This is just lazy design on Panasonic's part. If all these names sound extremely confusing that's because they are extremely confusing.

ATW stands for Auto Tracking White, and it is essentially the camcorder's auto white balance setting. The ATW Lock is also an auto setting, but it won't continually adjust the white balance when you move to a different light source it will 'lock' the white balance. AWB P3. The AWB P5. The Ach and Bch setting are the most confusing names, and they are also the most important. Each is a manual white balance option that can be saved and switched between using the function menu on the LCD touchscreen.

By naming the manual modes 'Ach' and 'Bch,' Panasonic seems like they are trying to confuse us. Why not just call them 'Manual A' and 'Manual B?

Setting the Ach and Bch is a bit confusing and it is definitely something that requires a quick read of the instruction manual. You must press the white balance button until Ach or Bch comes up, then point the camcorder at a white target, then hold the white balance button not the Ach or Bch button until the screen goes black and a message pops up to say the calibration worked.

We found this system unnecessarily complex compared to the one-push system used on Canon's consumer camcorders. You must open the aperture iris fully before you can boost the gain levels—a silly limitation that restricts the versatility of the HMC This makes it nearly impossible to control depth of field unless you're shooting under ideal lighting conditions. The Panasonic AG-HMC40 has something most other pro camcorders don't—a generous amount of still features and strong photo specs.

The HMC40 can capture native 8-megapixel still images, offers three different aspect ratio options, and includes ten separate choices for still image resolution. Even with these impressive specs, we're left wondering why anyone would actually use the HMC40 as a still camera. Yes, there are benefits of using still photos for reference, but why does the camcorder need to capture high-resolution images for this purpose?

Still, even if they aren't that useful, the HMC40's still features do represent an advantage over the other pro models we've tested. Switching to photo mode on the HMC40 is harder than it needs to be. You must slide the mode switch over and hold it down until the camcorder switches to photo mode to get back to video mode you need to repeat this process. There is no Scene File menu in photo mode, but you can set the detail level, chroma level, auto iris level, and turn on skin tone detail.

There are also a few features that are only available in photo mode like a waveform monitor, guide lines for framing , and a histogram. Manual controls like shutter speed, aperture, and gain can all be set in photo mode, although some of the increments and ranges for adjustment are slightly different.

The AG-HMC40 did a very good job in our still color test, but all of the pro camcorders we've tested have performed strongly here. The HMC40 earned a color error of 3. More on how we test still color. The AG-HMC40 is the only one of the pro cams shown below that can take photos in various aspect ratios the rest only shoot Since the HMC40 takes its highest-quality photos at , that's the aspect ratio we used in our testing—it is also why the Panasonic's image is a different size than the rest shown below.

In photo mode on the AG-HMC40 you don't have access the the same amount of image adjustment controls as you do in video mode, but you can still manipulate chroma level, detail level, and skin tone detail. This is roughly twice the amount of noise measured on the photos taken by the XH A1S. This test isn't all that important, however, because most pros aren't likely to use still photos with the HMC40 for anything other than reference files.

More on how we test still noise. While HDV pro camcorders usually top out with a x still image resolution, the HMC40 is capable of snapping native 8-megapixel photos x resolution. This is a huge difference and it allows the HMC40 to take much larger photos.

Despite all this, the camcorder was a bit of a disappointment when it came to still sharpness. It is these huge oversharpening values that are most disconcerting because it means the camcorder is applying loads of internal processing in order to make its still photos sharper. More on how we test still sharpness. Even though the AG-HMC40 didn't impress us with its still sharpness results, it did end up producing much sharper still images than the other pro camcorders we've tested which have all been HDV models.

So, even though it is a somewhat insignificant category, we must say the advantage here clearly goes to the Panasonic. There are very few buttons and dials on the camcorder compared to most pro models and the touchscreen menu system is easy to read and simple to navigate. The thing is, the touchscreen is also horrendous for making precise manual adjustments, or for quickly altering controls. So, it really depends what you are used to. The dedicated auto mode on the HMC40 provides users with an easy-to-use system, but the lack of a shutter-priority or aperture-priority setting can make manual mode a bit too confusing.

If you want to set the aperture on the camcorder you must also set the shutter speed manually, and the fact that you don't have control over gain unless you also open the aperture fully is also strange.

This makes it more difficult to figure out what different menu functions do unless you read the instruction manual which, by the way, is decent but not as in-depth as most pro camcorder manuals.

We found many of the AG-HMC40's menu options to be very confusing, particularly the options that can only be accessed when they are assigned to one of the three customizable user buttons.

Panasonic uses abbreviations for certain features that are very difficult to understand unless you've used the HMC40 or a similar camcorder from Panasonic before. When you come to realize this, you'll start to understand why it is limited in its ability as a professional camcorder and why its body design feels so cheap, hollow, and poorly constructed.

Still, there are things we liked about the way the HMC40 handled. It's lighter and compact—by a huge margin—than any of the tape-based pro models we've reviewed, and it is a fairly simple camcorder to use.

We also like the AG-HMC40's detachable handlebar that can be removed with ease no screwdriver or special tools required. What we didn't like was its cheap construction, frustrating touchscreen interface, and a severe lack of nifty buttons or dials to make manual controls more easily adjustable. If you like using a touchscreen to operate a camcorder then you'll probably be fine with the AG-HMC We, however, think it is downright silly to incorporate a touchscreen interface on a pro model.

The screen is tiny and consistently coated with fingerprints, plus it means you have to have the LCD open whenever you want to access the camcorder's menu—even if you're using the electronic viewfinder for your shooting. It is poor design on Panasonic's part that the only way you can adjust shutter speed on the HMC40 is by using the touchscreen—no dials, no rings, no switches.

Focus and aperture are the only manual controls on the HMC40 that are truly well-implemented. The HMC40 may appear to have a simpler design than other pro models, but its body is still coated with confusing buttons and one or two switches. We're unsure about some of Panasonic's decisions about button placement and implementation. Are dedicated timecode counter and reset buttons really necessary? What about a button reserved for color bars?

Wouldn't it have been more useful to employ a button or dial that could be used to control shutter speed or gain instead? Look at the design on the other pro models we've tested in comparison. Each of them has a menu system that is fully accessible with the LCD panel closed, and all of them have extra dials and switches for quickly adjusting shutter speed, white balance, gain, and aperture.

The HMC40's lone dial is used for iris adjustment aperture and it has an okay design, although it isn't great. The dial is a bit too small and loose for making precise adjustments and we hate—absolutely hate—that you must open the aperture all the way before you can set the gain levels on the camcorder.