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Panasonic

Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Video Camera Camcorder HC-VX981K, 20X Optical Zoom, 1/2.3-Inch BSI Sensor, HDR Capture, Wi-Fi Smartphone Multi Scene Video Capture (Black)

    • Based on 503 reviews
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Availability: Only 2 left in stock, order soon!
Fulfilled by Amazon
Arrives Saturday, May 11
Order within 12 hours and 8 minutes
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Style: 4K


Features

  • Get in Close and Detail: 18.91 Megapixel MOS sensor plus 20x Zoom LEICA Decomar Lens (4.08-81.6 millimeter), plus 5-axis Hybrid O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)
  • 1/2.3-Inch BSI Sensor: The Back Side Illumination Sensor has a large effective area with 8.29M effective pixels, suppressing noise even when shooting in dimly lit conditions. Image Sensor is 1/2.3-inch BSI MOS Sensor
  • 4K Recording and In-Camera Editing: Ultra-sharp 4K Ultra HD recording, plus in-camera editing for 1080p displays; Total Pixels 18.91 megapixels, still image 7.00 megapixels [3:2], 8.29 megapixels [16:9], 6.22 megapixels [4:3]
  • HDR Movie Feature: Exclusive high-dynamic range feature suppresses blown highlights and blocked shadows for crisper and clearer videos
  • Wireless Twin Camera: Wirelessly connect your smartphone's video camera as a sub-camera for a picture-in-picture video effect.Recording Format:JPEG (DCF/Exif2.2)

Description

Equipped with a 20x Optical Zoom LEICA Dicomar lens and 5-axis Hybrid Optical Image Stabilization function, the Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Camcorder HC-VX981K brings simplicity to the 4K recording experience. It adds in-camera editing solutions such as cropping, panning, zooming and subject tracking stabilization that can enable anyone to capture and produce content without the need for complex software. An innovative HDR mode captures clear shots with excellent detail in both bright and dark areas. The Wi-Fi functions make the camcorder competent in a variety of tasks: remote shooting and view via the Panasonic smartphone app, picture-in-picture style video recording with your smartphone as a sub camera. For those without a 4K display option, the HC-VX981K offers in-camera down sampling to 1080p displays for convenient playback. Connectivity technology: USB: 2.0 Hi-Speed, HDMI: Micro, Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11b/g/n. Motion Image 4K: 8.29 megapixels [16:9], Full-HD: 6.10 megapixels [16:9] (Level Shot Function OFF or Normal).

Brand: Panasonic


Connectivity Technology: Wi-Fi


Flash Memory Type: SDXC


Color: Black


Special Feature: Wireless


Screen Size: 3 Inches


Optical Zoom: 20 x


Photo Sensor Technology: CMOS


Camcorder type: Video Camera


Model Name: HC-VX981K


Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 2.6 x 2.9 inches


Item Weight: 12.3 ounces


Item model number: HC-VX981K


Batteries: 1 Lithium Ion batteries required. (included)


Is Discontinued By Manufacturer: No


Date First Available: January 5, 2016


Manufacturer: Panasonic


Frequently asked questions

If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Saturday, May 11

Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.

To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.

View our full returns policy here.

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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Good Camera. Good Video Quality.
Style: 4K
This is an all around great camera. Easy to use with great picture quality especially when shooting mp4 50mbps. 4K is good as well, but I mostly shoot in 1080p then upscale to 4K in post production. Battery life is pretty good. You can charge the battery as you use the camera. Open the flip out screen and it's ready to record. So convenient. The touch screen is not s responsive as I would like, but it is still good enough. Overall, great little camera. I read reviews and weighted my options over a month before I bought it. Best camera out of about 5 that I compared it to at about the same price. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2024 by Chris Holcombe
    • A Case for an Awesome Camcorder
Style: 4K
Review Image by George Hooper George Hooper
This is a great camcorder many pros as well as for family home videos love as with the auto functions it turns on opening the monitor then with decent light will takes great videos. Going pro it has additional options per manual control and some many interesting pre-post editing effects before transferring the files to whatever video editing software on your computer. With cinematic effects Panasonic added the dolly zoom effect. Think the movie 'Jaws' with Brody on the beach seeing a kid on a raft getting eaten by a shark and the camera sees his face never changing in distance while the background is zooming in. This dolly shot is built into the camcorder. This is a sturdy hard case I'm using for the Panasonic HV-VX981K camcorder which is a little larger than many small camcorders so not easy to find a case that fits especially with the wider lens hood for 16:9 recording. It holds the camera and supplied accessories, a second fast wall charger with two of the larger 390 batteries, additional 128Gb SD cards, a case with three 49mm UV, CPL, ND filters and a lens cap to protect them. There is still room for the excellent Sony ICD-UX570 recorder for secondary audio when video recording. In place of filters one could store a Ulanzi RGB Video light for special effects. Overall a compact case offering options for your gear. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BY36RJNH?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2024 by George Hooper George Hooper
    • Quality product
Style: 4K
Works well, easily used, easily stored Quality friendly manufacturer
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2024 by DJ
    • This camcorder is great
Style: 4K
Just love this camcorder so many cool features great videos great pictures a bit pricey but worth it definitely a great buy. Very happy with this camcorder. Plan to use this for vacation and personal home use... delivered early and it looks awesome
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2024 by D-Dub
    • Side camera is over hyped, just my opinion
Style: 4K + Viewfinder
Bought it, spent a week evaluating it, and returned it. For about 3 years I've used a pair of Canon HD cameras, the SX 710 HS (pocket camera with 30X optical zoom) and the SX 60 HS Powershot Bridge camera (65X Optical zoom, resembles a small DSLR). I bought the SX 710 to be a complete replacement for a much earlier Canon slightly smaller in size to the SX 60. I learned quickly that the LCD screen on the 710 gets washed out in sunlight and can't be tilted. It's very useful for much of my needs and the pocket size is convenient. But it can't be counted on during daylight, so I bought the SX 60. I never thought I'd need two cameras but I'm very happy toting both when needed using each camera where it works best. I say all this only to explain my environment as I began looking into upgrading to 4k video and photo technology. I’m very much a point and shooter generally using everything set to automatic. The Canons I own now and whatever I purchase will provide much more technology and capability that I will ever use. As I got familiar with what's available today my desirable features became 1.) 4K video/photo technology 2.) better image stabilization although my Canons are very good at that 3.) 1.0 image sensor to get more detail and better low light results 4.) and at least 15X Optical Zoom (for my purposes anything over about 12X optical generates nothing more than bragging rights!). Now, on to the HC-WXF991K. I rated the camera overall higher than my comment would suggest. That probably is fair as some of what made me return it had to with personal preference as opposed to product deficiencies. Here we go: 1. The owner’s manual drones on about the dangers of leaving the battery installed when the camera is not in use indicating that there is always a minimal battery drain that could result in permanent damage to the battery. I don’t know if there is anything unique about this camera that warrants the ominous warnings, and I get not leaving a battery in a camera long term unattended. But the way it was worded made me wonder if I should remove the battery when walking away from the camera overnight. If that’s the case then Panasonic needs to resolve that. 2. The camera has two low light technologies: Very Low Light and Infrared. Very Low Light mode produces a noticeably brighter image on the LCD and might be useable to take photos without a flash where one would expect to use a flash. But when taking movies in Very Low Light mode it produces movies with most of the frames missing creating very jerky (unuseable) movies. The owner’s manual describes this as missing a few frames, but that’s a great understatement. Infrared turns the image green as you would expect. But part of the lens hood is directly in front of the infrared lamp preventing the lamp from reaching part of what the camera can see. The resultant shadow is very obvious in the infrared image on the LCD screen. 3. The video light comes on as the ambient light gets lower REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE ACTUALLY RECORDING A VIDEO. Being behind the camera you may not know that it’s on wasting battery charge and irritating people in front of it. The video light can be set to ON/AUTO/OFF but that setting is not user friendly. First if you use the camera in Auto mode, as I would most of the time, the video light is forced to AUTO and can’t be changed! Second, the Owner’s Manual leads you through the menu screens to where this setting is SUPPOSED TO BE, but it isn’t there. I did stumble onto it while rummaging around through the menu structure, but it was nowhere near where the Manual sent me. I suspect this is a case of the manual not keeping up with changes made to the logic inside the camera. 4. I frequently use my SX 60 HS while walking holding it in front of me about belly button height with the LCD screen angled to avoid direct sunlight. When I try this with the HC-WXF991K I find that the wrist strap can’t be used because of the wrist angle that would be required if you held the camera as I just described. So I cradle the camera in my right hand, hold the LCD in my left hand to offer some stability. With my hands in these positions the record start stop button is impossible to reach. To me this says that I’m just not suited for a camera in a camcorder configuration as the record button is correctly positioned with the wrist strap in use and the camcorder held up to the eye. So this is a personal preference issue and not a product deficiency issue. Nonetheless, it’s part of the reason I returned the item. 5. The rotatable side camera built into the LCD screen was supposed to be a big plus for this camera. I envisioned being able to take candid photos or movies of people next to me. The amount of screen space on the LCD (and thus the recorded PIP video) can be set to two sizes…very small and very, very small. You can’t make the side camera image the main image on the screen, and you have no zoom in/out capability with it. When the side camera is pointed at the camera operator the camera needs to be held well forward of the operator (uncomfortably so) in order to get his entire face into the side camera image (no zoom out). When the side camera is pointed at the person next to you the camera needs to be move so close to that person as to invade his/her personal space (no zoom in). I’d suggest that if this is an important feature to prospective buyers they should experience the usability before buying, or at least be prepared to be disappointed. For my purposes the side camera added no value. Along the way in making the purchase/return decisions I stumbled onto a YouTube video that was making the point that you probably can’t tell the difference between 1080P and 4K videos by watching them. The viewer didn’t know until later that pieces of the introduction to that video were shot in intermingled segments recorded at 1080P. 4K, and even 720P resolution. Armed with that knowledge the intro was replayed and the speaker identified which pieces were recorded at which resolution. I still couldn’t tell the difference! I’ll tell you that I watch football game replays using NFL GAMEPASS on a 75” television that is 4K capable. GAMEPASS streams games at 720P resolution. Those games to my eye look as good as the original HD broadcasts. You may THINK you can tell the difference by looking… and maybe you can. In my case the value of 4K recording is that I can crop down to maybe 20% of a 4K video, zoom in to blow that crop up to full screen. That crop will have enough pixels to approach HD resolution. Considering the downers noted above, and what little the HC-WXF991K added to my movie/photo tool bag, I felt that the $800 price tag was just too high to justify keeping it. Having returned it I bought the Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200 which I am currently evaluating. It is more or less pocket size but slightly larger than the Canon SX 710 HS I’ve been using. What it offers over the SX 710 HS is: 4K resolution, TOUCH LCD screen, Electronic View Finder, much larger image sensor, better stabilization. At $700 it’s pricey and lacks some of the features of the HC-WXF991K that I probably would find useful. But if it survives my evaluation I don’t mind paying for what I get. And with the EVF included I may be back to one camera. We’ll see. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2019 by Ken
    • quality product
Style: 4K
I liked everything about this camera, great video, easy to navigate menue
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2024 by Allan P.
    • Best 4k camera for this price
Style: 4K
I love the simplicity of the zoom function and stability, works so well for the relatively low price
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2024 by Nate Schlabach
    • I'm quite pleased with these cameras.
Style: 4K
I'm pretty happy with this camcorder. We bought two of them and they, like most consumer cameras, are a little clunky out of the box. Features like auto light on/off, auto horizon level, and demo mode, can make it finicky to get your shot the way you want it, but a quick few minutes in the menu, got this camera in good working order. It has a great zoom lens with optics that allow the image to be sharp even at the tele end of the lens. I have noticed that the edges of the picture aren't super sharp when the camera is zoomed all the way out wide. For our application this isn't an issue as we'll be using this as a close up camera 99% of the time. This camera cannot record in 4K and output video via HDMI at the same time (HDMI will go out when you start recording), it can output and record to 1080P at the same time, however. The 4K is a little soft, as you would expect with a consumer camcorder, however the footage looks fantastic when scaled down to 1080p. The built in microphone is hands down the best quality I've ever heard from a built in camcorder mic. It sounds as if I'm using an external recorder. I'm also glad it has a built in video light and nightvision, however as I mentioned earlier, the built in light turns on and off constantly in auto mode, so I recommend disabling auto and switching it on/off manually when needed. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2017 by Cameron H.

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