The newest line of Panasonic camcorders announced at CES are a step forward in the codec department with up to 50mbps at 60p but the feature that caught our attention is that both the HC-W850 and HC-V750 can record 120 frames at 1080p plus interpolate to 240p by using pixel motion algorithms.
Main Specs:
- 20x Optical zoom F1.8 (WIDE) / F3.6 (TELE)
- HD 120p 1080 with 240p* 1080 interpolated
- HD 1080 60p mode at 50 megabits / sec.
- Latest generation O.I.S. with 5 axis stabilizer
- 1/8000 shutter with 2 lux minimum illumination.
Seems that the trend for over-cranking in cameras of all types is accelerating. While the slow motion quality is still up for grabs it could be a solution for a low budget.
The W850 at MSRP $799.99 has an extra camera to do selfie video which records at the same time to the memory card and that is where the price difference above the V750 MSRP $599.99 is justified.
For high speed the cameras seem identically suited which means you could go for the cheaper option if you don’t need a selfie rotational camera on your setup.
There are a few manual controls but both of these cameras are a hybrid of auto and manual modes. You don’t get the full manual control of more expensive cameras.
Looking at the Panasonic videos showing the 120p and 240p interpolated modes we can see that the quality is a little aliased and the 240p mode interpolation looks decent but there is no substituting the real thing “capturing full hi-speed progressive frames”. However Youtube videos can’t be judged as the final arbiter of quality compared to raw camera footage.
We welcome any camera users to submit your samples from these cameras in slow motion!
Slow Mo Sample Videos from Panasonic:
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>>>You can Pre Order the Cameras and Support HSC from Amazon Here : W850 and V750 <<<
Here’s a video I shot with the Panasonic v750 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ-BtdFLe_o A lot of it done in low light indoors.
I’m curious as to what makes the FZ1000 receive a higher score? The v750 has some great features like auto focus, ability to zoom 20x, and other settings like shutter speed can be adjusted.
With the fz1000 lacking a lot of those features, is it’s image quality much better? And does it crop less? v750 crops like half the image away!
The FZ1000 has a larger sensor, better low light, better lens and slightly better codec. If you own a v750 or w850 the quality difference is minor. You do not need an FZ1000. Nice video we will share it on twitter. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! I actually took the v750 back. I was thinking about the fz1000 instead, because in addition to doing everything the v750 does, it also takes great photos.
Do you think the new Panasonic vx870 will be improved in any way over the v750 for slow motion or video quality besides the obvious 4k addition?
It will be wait and see. The sensor seems improved for low light so that may be a plus. It is unclear what the quality will be until we get some real samples. We don’t think getting the FZ1000 today is a good bet for slow motion. Since they axed the 240fps spec from it it is really not as promised initially. We expect much better offerings regarding slow motion with the fps1000 and phones this year. As a regular consumer do it all camera the fz1000 is a pretty good one just the slow motion could have been better.
Ok, thanks for the advice 😉