Panasonic HC-V500M Camcorder Review

COMP 3

The HC-V500M has some strong improvements over its predecessor, the HDC-TM40, particularly in terms of sharpness and motion performance. There's also the added design elements of a touchscreen LCD (that is larger than the screen on the TM40) and a 1080/60p record mode. Overall, the V500M is a far better camcorder than the TM40, but we were disappointed that Panasonic left some elements without improvement.

Both Panasonic models produced so-so results in our low light testing, but the HC-V500M managed a worse sensitivity score than its predecessor. This is something we were clearly not enthused about, especially since the V500M offered a good deal of improvement elsewhere in our performance tests.

The HC-V500M is definitely the better camcorder here, but if you're looking to save some cash then you may want to consider the TM40. It retails currently for less than $200, and that's a heck of a deal for a camcorder of its class. If you don't mind using a d-pad instead of a touchscreen, and you don't care about optimizing your image quality, then the HDC-TM40 can be a worthy alternative to the HC-V500M in the entry-level market. For comparison, the HC-V500M costs between $400 - $500, so we're talking about a huge price difference.