Comment on Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 3CCD AVCHD 24fps Camcorder by Random Acts man.
I don’t think you’ll be disappointed,
It does what it says, basically. Some of my rechargeable batts will work with it and others won’t. That may be related to the shape of the battery contacts.
Having constant illumination is great for focusing, plus it allows you to choose higher shutter speeds instead of aperture if that suits your purpose.
The battery life is decent, but as you shoot if you’re tracking insects etc. you may leave it on to be ready at a moment’s notice. You may not notice your batteries are draining and you’re not getting much out of it. But gee, they included an AC adapter and if you’re doing indoor macro stuff, that’s a fantastic accessory to have. That more than offsets the downside IMO.
Being so lightweight, it doesn’t seem to tax my kit lens’s AF motor at all. The only real downside I have seen is that reflections of the ring light may be broken or jagged. That is, instead of a clean circle of light reflecting off a water droplet, you may see individual LEDs. I’ve been using it at very close range, though, and I think as you move farther from the subject that’s less noticeable or nonexistent.
The other issue TBD would be longevity. For my purposes it’s fine and I don’t beat up my equipment. If you’re a pro…well, why wouldn’t you invest the money on a serious ringflash setup if you’re a pro, right?
This gets the job done for me with little fuss or fanfare; it’s well worth the ~$50 I paid for it, easily. I’m very very pleased with it so far.
Update 5/28: I retested my AAs that wouldn’t work before. They work now. It could be that the battery compartment is just a bit fussy. I’m a little tempted to rubberband the back cover to the unit because it can come off. I do like the fact that the batteries are separate from the ring because there’s no point in adding extra weight to the lens if you don’t have to. Also I had a slight issue where the light was weak and I’d just put in fresh batteries. Either the cord is starting to short or the cord at the battery unit wasn’t making good contact but that was easily fixed. I’ve made hundreds (maybe a thousand by now) of shots with the unit though and remain very satisfied.
Update 6/5: I might start by saying that I use this 3-4x a week. Although I’ve had it about five or six weeks, I have probably used it 25x and made at least 1000 pictures with it.
I’m starting to have problems with it. Sometimes the cord from battery to light doesn’t want to seat properly; now I think the cord itself may be thin and not conducting the electricity well. I’ll try a quick fix of wrapping the “elbows” with electrical tape or something like that, à la Roger Daltrey and his microphone. If it continues to fail, I’d probably buy another and wrap it from the gitgo, treat it more carefully.
One thing I meant to do and haven’t: run a pencil on both sides of the adapter, the idea being to “lubricate with graphite.” Sometimes as the lens twists etc. it may strain the cord b/c it doesn’t rotate as freely on the front as I’d like (not that it alters picture quality or becomes a hassle—just that it may be what’s causing the wire to short). Were it to move freely, maybe I wouldn’t have the issue I seem to be encountering.
Should I end up getting a 2nd one, I guess it wouldn’t be a total loss. I’d have an “extra” battery holder. Also I haven’t used the AC cord much…that may be a tool to see where it’s failing, by process of elimination.
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