Panasonic X2000 4K Professional Camcorder with 24x Optical Zoom, WiFi HD Live Streaming, 3G SDI Output and VW-HU1 Detachable Handle, HC-X2000 (USA Black)

The image quality of this Panasonic HCx-1500 is incredible, in FULL DAYLIGHT.I video record wildlife in the great outdoors. But there are 2 big drawbacks with this camcorder.....1-Low lighting conditionsHowever, in those magical 10-15 minutes of dawn's first light & last evening light, the camera sensor is inferior to adjust and film in Low Light conditions. All you will view is a black screen on the camera's monitor. Auto or manual mode, no adjustments will capture quality video footage in these magic low light moments. Most animals appear in those precious first & last light minutes. At best, you get 40 minutes of the evening golden hour, the last 20 will be dark. Vice versa for the morning golden hour.Cannot use artificial lighting as this would alert and scare off the animals.2- No remote controller available from Panasonic or any other 3rd party accessory seller that can POWER-ON the camera. There are accessory 3rd supplier remotes to start/stop recording and/or zoom in/out. But not to turn OR POWER the camera ON to start with. When on tripod, reaching up to turn on the camera creates an unnatural movement detected by wild animals...game over as the animals turn or run away from perceived danger when they see this movement. Panasonic claims an APP for iPhone will remotely control the camera but only is wi-fi is available....not in the great outdoors! Downloaded the APP to my phone and was very difficult to connect even inside a wi-fi available environment.TWO improvements need to be made for my use.1-Too bad there is no Bluetooth connectivity feature to your iPhone or other device for remote controlling. Camera was released new three years ago, but it seriously needs to be updated to today's standards of Bluetooth connection ability.2-The buttons on the camera need to be more of an outward projection, so you can feel the button without looking. Similar to the record button on the camera rear. It's almost like the main control buttons are recessed. And it's difficult to tell if you indeed pushed them to the ON position.

As other reviews said, the low light performance is not the best... But I did not get this camera to film night-time cave-diving. I mostly got this camera for the impressive zoom and the unmatched stabilization. I plan to use it for making travel videos and other scenarios that will tend to have plenty of light. In that regards, the built in ND filter is absolutely essential and has already helped me adjust for shots that would normally be overexposed. Battery life is also the best I've ever seen on a camcorder.Other reviews have mentioned bad coloring or unbearable noise when using mic input. My unit has no such issues with colors not displaying correctly. It does have very minor mic noise on input, though it does not seem to be at the same unusable level others have stated. Any audio I capture will most likely have noise removal done during editing, so I do not see this as an issue. The built in mic has absolutely no noise whatsoever and is actually very good.Full auto mode is pretty decent at getting shots, but this camera really shines in manual mode. Limiting the Auto-Gain-Control to 3DB or 0DB also works wonders with reducing/eliminating noise.I've only scratched the surface of what this camera can do. I have no doubt that I will be impressed with every feature I learn in the future.

I love this camcorder. It performs amazingly well despite its small sensor size. The image is digitally optimized and the 4K 60fps is wonderful. Some complain that low light performance isn't great, and that's true, and it does have an IR mode however it really needs an invisible IR light feature to make that super usable.The camcorder has many pro features and settings so there is a bit of a learning curve. It does everything I want it to do and more.And the add on handle that is included with the X2000 (it's an add-on with the X1500) is also really nice. It allows me to record 2 different mics and match the levels on the fly and everything-no external mixer required!Yes, I wish it had a larger sensor but performance-wise, as long as you have plenty of light, no one will be able to tell this from any other pro 4K video camera on the market.If you thought camcorders were a thing of the past, think again. Highly recommended camcorder!

It gives me pleasure to provide the review for an extraordinary piece of video equipment.I've had the delightful pleasure of Panasonic products not only on the road producing video but also in my home studio Theater.The quality of the video and also the sound it's really superb as it's well laid out and is easy to navigate the camera through the beautiful display.This truly is a great piece of professional video equipment that will not disappoint it makes it possible produce outstanding seamless video productions.Thank you for taking the time to read this review as I truly hope that it will provide insight and support producing video productions.Allan G