Description
Equipped with a 20x Optical Zoom LEICA Dicomar lens and 5-axis Hybrid Optical Image Stabilization function, the Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Camcorder HC-VX981K brings simplicity to the 4K recording experience. It adds in-camera editing solutions such as cropping, panning, zooming and subject tracking stabilization that can enable anyone to capture and produce content without the need for complex software. An innovative HDR mode captures clear shots with excellent detail in both bright and dark areas. The Wi-Fi functions make the camcorder competent in a variety of tasks: remote shooting and view via the Panasonic smartphone app, picture-in-picture style video recording with your smartphone as a sub camera. For those without a 4K display option, the HC-VX981K offers in-camera down sampling to 1080p displays for convenient playback. Connectivity technology: USB: 2.0 Hi-Speed, HDMI: Micro, Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11b/g/n. Motion Image 4K: 8.29 megapixels [16:9], Full-HD: 6.10 megapixels [16:9] (Level Shot Function OFF or Normal).
From the manufacturer
Panasonic 4K HD Camcorder
With 20X LEICA DICOMAR Stabilized Lens and Wi-Fi Twin Video Camera – HC-VX981K
- 4K Ultra HD recording, plus in-camera editing for 1080p displays.
- LEICA Dicomar Lens optical 20x zoom, 5-axis Hybrid Optical Image Stabilization.
- 4K in-camera post cropping, panning, zooming and subject tracking stabilization features.
- Wi-Fi connected mobile device ‘Twin Camera’ adds multi-camera scene picture in recording.
- 4K Photo captures high-quality photos from 4K video frames.
- High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode reduces high-contrast look created by overexposed and underexposed shooting conditions.
Ken –
Side camera is over hyped, just my opinionBought it, spent a week evaluating it, and returned it.For about 3 years I’ve used a pair of Canon HD cameras, the SX 710 HS (pocket camera with 30X optical zoom) and the SX 60 HS Powershot Bridge camera (65X Optical zoom, resembles a small DSLR). I bought the SX 710 to be a complete replacement for a much earlier Canon slightly smaller in size to the SX 60. I learned quickly that the LCD screen on the 710 gets washed out in sunlight and can’t be tilted. It’s very useful for much of my needs and the pocket size is convenient. But it can’t be counted on during daylight, so I bought the SX 60. I never thought I’d need two cameras but I’m very happy toting both when needed using each camera where it works best.I say all this only to explain my environment as I began looking into upgrading to 4k video and photo technology. I’m very much a point and shooter generally using everything set to automatic. The Canons I own now and whatever I purchase will provide much more technology and capability that I will ever use.As I got familiar with what’s available today my desirable features became1.) 4K video/photo technology2.) better image stabilization although my Canons are very good at that3.) 1.0 image sensor to get more detail and better low light results4.) and at least 15X Optical Zoom (for my purposes anything over about 12X optical generates nothing more than bragging rights!).Now, on to the HC-WXF991K. I rated the camera overall higher than my comment would suggest. That probably is fair as some of what made me return it had to with personal preference as opposed to product deficiencies. Here we go:1. The owner’s manual drones on about the dangers of leaving the battery installed when the camera is not in use indicating that there is always a minimal battery drain that could result in permanent damage to the battery. I don’t know if there is anything unique about this camera that warrants the ominous warnings, and I get not leaving a battery in a camera long term unattended. But the way it was worded made me wonder if I should remove the battery when walking away from the camera overnight. If that’s the case then Panasonic needs to resolve that.2. The camera has two low light technologies: Very Low Light and Infrared. Very Low Light mode produces a noticeably brighter image on the LCD and might be useable to take photos without a flash where one would expect to use a flash. But when taking movies in Very Low Light mode it produces movies with most of the frames missing creating very jerky (unuseable) movies. The owner’s manual describes this as missing a few frames, but that’s a great understatement. Infrared turns the image green as you would expect. But part of the lens hood is directly in front of the infrared lamp preventing the lamp from reaching part of what the camera can see. The resultant shadow is very obvious in the infrared image on the LCD screen.3. The video light comes on as the ambient light gets lower REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE ACTUALLY RECORDING A VIDEO. Being behind the camera you may not know that it’s on wasting battery charge and irritating people in front of it. The video light can be set to ON/AUTO/OFF but that setting is not user friendly. First if you use the camera in Auto mode, as I would most of the time, the video light is forced to AUTO and can’t be changed! Second, the Owner’s Manual leads you through the menu screens to where this setting is SUPPOSED TO BE, but it isn’t there. I did stumble onto it while rummaging around through the menu structure, but it was nowhere near where the Manual sent me. I suspect this is a case of the manual not keeping up with changes made to the logic inside the camera.4. I frequently use my SX 60 HS while walking holding it in front of me about belly button height with the LCD screen angled to avoid direct sunlight. When I try this with the HC-WXF991K I find that the wrist strap can’t be used because of the wrist angle that would be required if you held the camera as I just described. So I cradle the camera in my right hand, hold the LCD in my left hand to offer some stability. With my hands in these positions the record start stop button is impossible to reach. To me this says that I’m just not suited for a camera in a camcorder configuration as the record button is correctly positioned with the wrist strap in use and the camcorder held up to the eye. So this is a personal preference issue and not a product deficiency issue. Nonetheless, it’s part of the reason I returned the item.5. The rotatable side camera built into the LCD screen was supposed to be a big plus for this camera. I envisioned being able to take candid photos or movies of people next to me. The amount of screen space on the LCD (and thus the recorded PIP video) can be set to two sizes…very small and very, very small. You can’t make the side camera image the main image on the screen, and you have no zoom in/out capability with it. When the side camera is pointed at the camera operator the camera needs to be held well forward of the operator (uncomfortably so) in order to get his entire face into the side camera image (no zoom out). When the side camera is pointed at the person next to you the camera needs to be move so close to that person as to invade his/her personal space (no zoom in). I’d suggest that if this is an important feature to prospective buyers they should experience the usability before buying, or at least be prepared to be disappointed. For my purposes the side camera added no value.Along the way in making the purchase/return decisions I stumbled onto a YouTube video that was making the point that you probably can’t tell the difference between 1080P and 4K videos by watching them. The viewer didn’t know until later that pieces of the introduction to that video were shot in intermingled segments recorded at 1080P. 4K, and even 720P resolution. Armed with that knowledge the intro was replayed and the speaker identified which pieces were recorded at which resolution. I still couldn’t tell the difference! I’ll tell you that I watch football game replays using NFL GAMEPASS on a 75” television that is 4K capable. GAMEPASS streams games at 720P resolution. Those games to my eye look as good as the original HD broadcasts.You may THINK you can tell the difference by looking… and maybe you can. In my case the value of 4K recording is that I can crop down to maybe 20% of a 4K video, zoom in to blow that crop up to full screen. That crop will have enough pixels to approach HD resolution.Considering the downers noted above, and what little the HC-WXF991K added to my movie/photo tool bag, I felt that the $800 price tag was just too high to justify keeping it. Having returned it I bought the Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200 which I am currently evaluating. It is more or less pocket size but slightly larger than the Canon SX 710 HS I’ve been using. What it offers over the SX 710 HS is: 4K resolution, TOUCH LCD screen, Electronic View Finder, much larger image sensor, better stabilization. At $700 it’s pricey and lacks some of the features of the HC-WXF991K that I probably would find useful. But if it survives my evaluation I don’t mind paying for what I get. And with the EVF included I may be back to one camera. We’ll see.
Zachary Walters –
Excellent Camera crisp pictureThis camera surpassed my expectations. Great in filming 720p, 1080p and 4k. I tested all of them with great results. Films great in low light settings as well. Short battery life is the only draw back. I did purchase a spare battery to have on hand.
glennmatthew –
Great Camcorder but doesn’t have a Physical RemoteOverall, I think this is a great camcorder, great size, easy to use and the video quality has been awesome (thus the 5-stars in the separate categories). I am definitely not a pro and really just use it for recreation, so please make sure you read other reviews which will give you a better assessment on the video quality.The main reason I am writing this review is to “give someone a heads up” on a couple of things which is the reason why I only gave it 4-stars.I mainly use this camcorder to record my daughter’s soccer games. Again, the video quality looks great. The issue that I am dealing with has to do with my current setup which may or may not apply to you. I decided to purchase a Hague Camera Support Aerial Mast System that has a “manual pan & tilt head” and extends about 20′ in height. This will help get a better angle & coverage of the soccer field but requires you to use either wireless camcorder which this is or a field monitor with physical remote or LANC jack.Unfortunately, this camcorder doesn’t come or have the ability of using a physical remote. Nor does it have a LANC Jack. Thus, you have to use the wireless link to your cell phone for you to use it remotely, which is extremely lagging and the delay from the camera to the phone makes this camcorder useless to record sports.I thought I could use field monitors like the Atomos Ninja and Atomos Shinobi, some of which can cost just as much as the camcorder itself but it still doesn’t solve the issue. That brings up another issue but it sounds like this maybe an issue with most camcorders that shoot 4k. If you plan on using an external field monitor, this camcorder will not record/output 4k and will only allow you to record/output HD or 1080p.Last issue….Panasonic hasn’t updated the firmware since it’s release and that’s truly unfortunate.As I stated, this camcorder is only an issue when I record soccer games using the aerial mast. It’s great for all other things and truly think it’s a great value. However, if I knew about this before; I would have gone with another camcorder that comes with either a physical remote or LANC jack. I would also make sure this is a product that gets it firmware updated as well.Hope that helps,Glenn
Ezra Bufford –
Great Camcorder!‘You get what you pay for!’ Before I was going the cheaper route buying two foreign cams which I sent both of them back. With those two foreign cams the film quality was good, but their zoom was jumpy, and their live recording mono sound was terrible! With this cam I have no problem except the battery life could be better than about an hour. In my music field I really wanted a remote to avoid keep getting up or reaching to turn the record button on & off but in trade with the fantastic stereo sound and awesome clear, sharp picture I will live with it! -Awesome camcorder!
Jake –
Upgrade from the Panasonic X900MKBought the X900MK back in 2012 have loved it since. The 1080p quality on that camcorder is still great, but I’ve been wanting to get into 4k video.The camcorder is very light, and to some, may feel cheap. However, I personally like how light it feels as it makes holding it in your hand easier and won’t get tiring. The quality is a big upgrade compared to my X900MK and the 4k video quality overall is excellent, even when viewing on a Full HD monitor after I edit and render my videos out in 4k quality and upload them to YouTube.The only issue I have is when panning the camcorder. There seems to be some sort of lag when panning which makes the image look choppy almost and not smooth at all. You have to be really slow when panning the camcorder, which could be an issue with stabilization trying to do too much and keep up. I don’t pan my camcorder too much for the videos I shoot so not a major issue, but something to consider if you’re looking at this camcorder.Zoom on this camcorder is pretty good as well. It may take a quick second or two for the stabilization to get set when all the way zoomed, but when I zoomed all the way while handheld, it did a great job at keeping the video pretty steady on subjects that were several hundred yards away.There is a built in windscreen, which does an okay job, but it would be worth looking into getting an additional windscreen if you plan on shooting a lot of video outdoors.I bought this over the Sony AX53 due to cost and knowing no matter what, the quality would be better than the camcorder I am shooting with now. I’ve used this camcorder multiple times now without any issues.
Guy Murray –
Highly Recommended and Not DisappointedSuper impressed by this camera. It’s lightweight and yet so beautifully designed to look bulky. It has image stabilization which is a huge plus. The touchscreen features come in hand during operation. Replacing the Panasonic VC-770s we use for broadcast in the church. The controls are so similar that we were able to get up and shooting right away.
D. Stephens –
Krazy good camera, but not if you need professional audio input.I would have kept this camera if would have suited my purposes of getting professional sound out it, and it came SO CLOSE, but not close enough. I need to plug my mixer into a camcorder as I am doing Youtube demos of guitar pickups, using 2 XLR microphones into a stereo mixing board. I did get really great sound, but not at higher amplifier volume levels. The audio meter in the camera is just about worthless, very crude. I had to turn my mixer down literally almost to nothing or the camera’s audio board would clip in a real ugly way. I have to use manual settings because auto gain control wouldn’t give true sound for what I need to do. Otherwise, its an excellent walk around camcorder with a ton of great features. Battery life wasn’t all that great, barely an hour, but most of them are like that anyway. I am sending it back and rather sad about it, but I ordered a JVC professional camcorder that has XLR inputs and a line input and a big level meter in the display, so its costing me double money to get that, but I need what I need and this camera just doesn’t go there. So, if you read people plugging mixers into this camera, forget it. It can work but is just too primitive and hard to get it right. There was no level that I set that would stop the audio from peaking and distorting. But buy one if you want great 4K and aren’t recording loud concerts of need to do pro audio.
Amazon Customer –
This is THE camera for shooting entire concertsThis is unbelievable. At first, I was a little annoyed that you have to pay so much for a camera that lets you set manual iris/focus/sound etc. But I finally but the bullet and paid 4x as much as a regular fully auto HD cam. I’m so glad I did. I just tested all of the fancy bells and whistles that I was skeptical about. Holy crap, they all work! I got this camera for recording my own concerts. The audio is on par with some of the field recorders out there. The 4k resolution means that I can leave this at a wide angle from across the venue and later in editing, zoom into my bandmates it as if it were a second and third camera. On top off all that, I don;t have to run out into the audience to press record right before the show and then run out after the show. I can control it from my phone (this is what I was sure wouldn’t work properly but it did)! The wifi range isn’t long enough for a large venue or festival, but you can tap into a wifi router which I already have on stage for our sound gear.I only got this camera because of it’s manual control. Don’t try shooting concerts with an automatic camera. The cameras don’t understand stage lighting and it will look horrible unless it’s a well lit outdoor show (of if the stage lights never change). Plus, they alway automatically focus on the stupid little toys and signs and beach balls that pop up from the audience. Manual settings solve all of that. You can get that with several different Cannon and sony cams for around the same price. But this camera absolutely CRUSHES it with the extra stuff. I am amazed.Tip: don’t bother buying the expensive larger battery. Get a usb backup charger. The kind that you can use to power a phone or tablet. I have a heavy duty one that will outlast any camera battery. If you’re using a tripod, you just rig up a place to put it and you’re gold.
High Top Sports –
Use it for live streamingGreat piece of equipment. For the price, not sure you can beat it with anything in that same ballpark. Will likely buy more.
Mike Agustin –
Great picture but lacks in other areasThis camera generally pretty good but may not be for everyone. The most impressive feature is the quality of the video/picture when playing on your big screen TV at home. Second is its zoom quality. If you are filming things like kids sports you’ll need a tripod to keep the picture steady. The feel of the camera is kinda like a plastic toy not a high end camera if that matters to you. You’ll want to buy an additional battery because the filming time with multiple pause and recordings is approximately 45 minutes on the battery it comes with. The worst feature is the touch screen. It’s very frustrating scrolling through your clips.