Panasonic HC X2 Walk n Quick Waffle 

Yes, I think there is an additional digital stabiliser as well as the physical ones. We're never as stable as a good tripod, unfortunately :-). Thanks for watching and commenting. Appreciated.

The reason your ISS (image stabilization system) was jumping around is because you probably had your camera mounted on a tripod. Camcorder Image stabilizers struggles with and have conflicts if the camera is already stable. To use your camcorder on a tripod, disable and turn off the Image Stabilizer before filming. The issue of jitter and jumpiness should go away. It could also be that the stabilizer appeared to be jumpy because your lens setting auto-focus feature was enabled when you were filming your shallow depth of field shots. Setting your lens focus to manual will eliminate this problem if that's the case. When shooting macro, or shallow depth of field, auto-focus struggles because its focal point is moving, so the auto-focus is automatically adjusting to compensate for the lens movement on your topic or subject. This sometimes creates image stutter and jitter issues, thus making the footage appear jumpy. Turning off the auto-focus is the best and only way to correct auto-focus issues. When filming shallow depth of field, or filming macro, or close-up shots it's always best to shoot or film in manual mode anyway. To ensure your subject is in perfect focus as you film, manually zoom in and focus on your subject until it, she, he, or they are in clear sharp focus 'before filming' begins. This way you are in focus for the duration of your shoot. Some camcorders has a "Focus Assist" feature builtin to the lens barrel. The Focus Assist can be activated even in manual mode and will ensure that the camera's lens is properly and correctly focused on your target and subject matter of your shoots. Once in focus, the moment you release the focus assist button the lens reverts back to full manual mode. The focus won't change until you decide to change it. Often times a camcorder will have serious imaging issues because of the combined image stabilizer and the auto-focus feature, especially if a camcorder is mounted to a tripod. By using those features in manual mode (focus and stabilizer), the camera has a better chance of producing clear and sharp, steady images without issues of stutter, jittering or jumpiness.

Thanks. I'm trying to set up so many things all at once including a streaming setup and as with all these things being completely out of practice for years, I'm fixing one bug after another. Hopefully will keep playing until I have the hang of it and then focus on generating some content worth watching, maybe :-). Thanks for dropping by and commenting!

@@wafflingwherever Your're welcome. Yes, it takes some time and practice, including things go not so well - but every trial will bring you further. BTW, I was also looking for this machine - but still struggling to make a decision.

Yes, even when I used to know more about this stuff, exposure was/is one to judge best with zebras on a larger monitor. Thanks for watching and commenting. Appreciated.

Thanks. I agree, the menus are somewhat counter-intuitive. And thanks for the suggestion. I will probably need to use it more before I can add any value in trying to explain them :-)

Sorry, I don't. I've not done much video work in recent years and getting back up to speed with it myself. Thanks for watching.

yes, I also like to know the different usage for the CX3 50 and this HC X2... have you perhaps now 4 months later as I just found this video found out what the pros and cons between these two models are and why choose one over the other in 2023? hope to hear from you! am in process to purchase one as well.. kind regards from Sweden!

It did look a bit over-rich but I didn't use a log features. Having used it a few times since, I'm probably going to have to start with a less desaturated format and modify in post. Thanks for watching and commenting.

Yeah. I think the stark contrasts from woods to sky overcame the ND.

Yeah, I agree :-). Maybe I should change my channel name to P___Poor Demos :-D