Panasonic HC-V700 Camcorder Review

3D Lens

Just so no one is still confused we should clarify: the Panasonic HC-V700 does not come with a 3D conversion lens. It's an accessory, called the VW-CLT2, that must be purchased separately (although you may be able to find it packaged with the V700 from certain retailers). So, for most of you, shooting 3D video with the V700 is only a possibility, not something that you can do right out of the box.

If you do purchase the VW-CLT2 3D lens converter, you'll find that its capabilities aren't all that fantastic. The converter allows you to shoot low-quality 3D video using a special side-by-side 3D record mode. This recording option has a lower bitrate and produces lower-quality 3D video than the AVCHD 3D setting available on the Panasonic HC-X900 camcorder.

One of the downsides of using a 3D lens converter, as opposed to a built-in dual-lens 3D system, is that the attached lens requires calibration. With the VW-CLT2 lens converter this means you must go through a series of calibration steps before you can shoot good 3D convent with the camcorder. The calibration isn't difficult, but it's strange. It's an odd mix of rotating dials and using the lens cap to align things properly. Lose the lens cap for the 3D lens converter, and you lose the ability to calibrate the lens properly (and that sucks).

3D Controls

With the 3D conversion lens attached, controls are limited. There's no optical zoom available, the aperture of the lens locks at f/2.4, and the camcorder requires a lot of light to record a usable image. The V700 also gets a lot heavier (the conversion lens alone weighs 189g), and it ads a couple of inches to the front of the camcorder, which makes handling the V700 very unbalanced with the VW-CLT2 attached.