Shooting Video using Lumix FX9
Today, I read this article from pcmag.com about the best still camera for shooting video.
Initially, I think the article is about “the best still camera for shooting video” but it is about what could be the best specification of a digital camera to shoot a video.
So, I just quickly compare it with my the one and only digital camera, Panasonic Lumix FX9.
Most todays’ digital cameras give you VGA-sized (640-by-480) clips at 30 fps, resulting in nice, fluid motion, even when panning. Lumix FX9 could give 640×480, 320×240, 30/10 fps. I always using 640×480 30fps when shooting video. The video is wonderful when shot in a bright day light, but the result is also not so bad when shot in a dim light room.
I would like to offer my video clips for you to download and view it yourself, but unfortunately I cannot, because of the limit of my web host bandwith.
For your information, Lumix FX9 video are in Motion JPEGs format and saved as QuickTime .MOV file. The file is very large. 15 seconds of video could take about 50MB of the SD (Secure Digital) card. That is why, when I bought this digital camera, I also bought a 1GB Kingston SD Card and throwed away the free 16MB(!!!) SD Card.
The downside is, where I did not aware of, the normal 1GB Kingston do not allow Lumix FX9 to shoot video longer than 78 seconds. It need an ultra fast memory card. If I knew it, I would buy faster memory card. What a waste!
Nevermind, IÂ do not always shoot a long video. 
The MOV format, I think is not nice when played in a PC like mine, Pentium 3 866MHz 256MB. It play beautiful and nice when I connect the digital camera to my TV set directly, but not in my PC. So, I converted the .MOV file to .MPG. The file size is smaller and it also make it easier to burn on a CD-R and play it on DVD player.
I do not know why Panasonic choose MOV. If they use AVI, I would not consider any other digital camera at all. 
June 8th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
[…] In my old post, about shooting video using Lumix FX9, I had mentioned that I could not shoot video longer than 78 seconds. This problem was caused by the memory card. The camera could not write data to the memory card above the rate that the card could accept. It only occur when I use VGA (640×480) at 30 fps video quality. […]