The requirements for the camcorders I wanted were slightly different from many other cases.
I think I finally figured out what I wanted and what to do in the very end of the season. As mentioned previously, I had two HD camcorders and one 4K camcorder in the beginning of the season, and I now have three 4K camcorders and use one camera as the fourth camcorder.
Here is a list of the criteria I had.
- Not too expensive
- Good video quality
- Lens diameter to be small enough
- Camcorders from the same manufacture
Please let me go through each of them in a bit details one by one.
Not too expensive
I, of course, have a limited budget and I cannot afford to spend too much money on this. I sold a bunch of camera equipment such as Nikon lenses, a battery pack, etc. to fund this. So it had no real impact on my overall expense or allowance.
In addition I really didn’t want to leave an expensive camcorder unattended even though I am almost always within 300+ feet radius from all of my camcorders. The number 300+ comes from the typical size of a baseball field as you might recognize. It’s still a big deal if any of my camcorders is missing after a game, but there is no way I can leave an equipment worth over $1000 unattended.
Luckily, a consumer 4K camcorder is not that expensive at all, even though the term “expensive” is all relative, and even a lower end model gives an excellent video quality as far as I am concerned.
Good video quality
I was okay with the HD quality initially, but it wasn’t difficult to notice the differences between HD and 4K as I spent more time on watching the feeds. The low quality of my HD camcorders might still be due to the particular type of HD camcorder I have, but it didn’t allow me to crop a scene when needed. In the middle of the season I started using a Sony 4K action camera to capture the entire field, or at least an field view that covers between the first base and the third base. However the video quality with the action camera wasn’t as good as the other camcorders, and I got a Lumix camera to do the job at the end of the season.
Lens diameter to be small enough
I typically can and do set up a camera on the fence behind the catcher to capture the whole baseball field. However a typical 4K camcorder has a lens with its diameter too big to fit between the fence link. I really don’t like a corner of the screen to show some black, or sometimes green, section which is caused by the fence link right in front of the lens. To avoid it, I was using the action camera with a lens in a tiny diameter. I then realized a micro four third camera offered some lenses with its diameter being small enough to fit well. If you zoom enough, a typical 4K camcorder shows no black corner in the screen, so they are typically fine when they are used anywhere else.
Camcorders from the same manufacture
I wanted to be sure I would get camcorders from the same manufacture even if they are not the same model. I didn’t want to get into the nightmare of battery management by needing different kinds of batteries including backups. In addition, having a similar user interface is very helpful. If I had to remember what to do differently on what camera, it can cause errors or take time. Even though it’s attempting to try something new, the benefit is huge to have consistency on this.
So here are what I have:
Panasonic HC-WXF991K 4K: This was the first 4K camcorder I had. I chose this particular model in case I’d need the view finder. I made a good use of the feature, and I am very happy with the camcorder. I don’t have a big preference in Panasonic, but it happened to fit in my needs including the price at that moment.
Panasonic HC-VX981K 4K: It’s almost identical to HC-WXF991K, but without the viewfinder. A viewfinder is more useful when you hold the camera and track shooting target, but not so much when a camera is set at a fixed location and position. It’s less expensive than HC-WXF991K, and I felt I made the right decision to get this as my second camcorder.
Panasonic HC-VX1 4K: I picked this one as my third camcorder with my hope to use as the camera to capture the whole field since it has a wider zoom. It’s also a newer mode than the other two above. However, I found 2 major issues with this one. One is that the diameter of the lens is too big, and using the widest zoom of 25mm (35mm camera equivalent) will pretty much guarantee to capture the dark part on the corner of the screen. Another issue is that this newer model doesn’t work with an alternate battery made by someone other than Panasonic. The standard battery that comes with these camcorders , VW-VBT190, is not big enough to last for the entire game. So, I am using VW-VBT380 for all the other Panasonic camcorders, and that’s big enough to last more than 3 hours I think. However, this particular model doesn’t work with these aftermarket batteries, and also it’s not clear to me if the genuine Panasonic original version of VW-VBT380 works or not. The genuine version is very expensive, and I just don’t want to give it a try to see if it works or not. Anyway, because of these two reasons, I am using this camera to capture a pitcher/batter view from behind the back net, and with an external battery. This camcorder might be delivering a video with slightly better quality than the other 2 old models, but I really cannot tell.
Panasonic Lumix GX85 with 12-32mm zoom lens: I am very happy to have found this camera. The diameter of the standard lens is small enough to fit in the fence link, and 12mm, which is equivalent of 24mm in 35mm camera format, is wide enough to capture most of the actions on the field. This camera does not have the video length restrictions of 30 minutes, and it keeps going although I understand the same model sold in different counties may have the restriction. One big surprise was that the internal battery cannot be charged through the USB port while the camera is turned on. You cannot just use the external power through the USB to operate the camera, either. I was going to give up and sell this camera when I found that out, but then I found there is a coupler with a DC-DC converter sold and it allows the camera to operate longer than what the internal battery can support. It’s still a pain as the coupler sits in the battery case with a cord coming out of it, but I am fine with that. Another issue with this camera is that it’s quite heat sensitive, and it shuts down when it’s overheated. I am now making sure to put a shade on top of the camera, so that there is no direct sunlight onto the camera. It works most of the time, but in the final game, it got too hot, and it shut down a couple of times even with the shade. After the game I ordered a USB fan, and I will see if it’d work the next time. The fan would cause some noise, but I don’t use the sound captured with this camera much anyway. Talking about the sound this camera doesn’t have a jack for an external microphone, and it might mean this camera might not work well for more serious filming.