Panasonic HC-V500M Camcorder Review

Motion

The HC-V500M did quite well in our motion test, and we were impressed by the smoothness of the video when we shot with camcorder's 1080/60p record mode. There was some artifacting noticeable, as well as color bleeding in our motion test video, but the overall results were positive. The camcorder's 50i record mode produced slightly less smooth video, but the results weren't that much different than the 50p setting overall. The HC-V500M also represented a significant improvement over the TM40 in this test, and much of this improvement stems from the addition of the 1080/60p record mode.

We did notice some focus popping during our motion test, which is an issue we've seen on numerous budget models. The train in our test would pop in and out of focus, often as it came around the tracks from the back of the waterfall (see the test video below). The focus popping didn't always happen, and sometimes it was barely noticeable, but it is worth mentioning nonetheless. More on how we test motion.