The new Panasonic HDC-HS100 camcorder offers a 60GB hard drive, three CMOS sensors and full-HD recording. Chris Coleman takes the HDC-HS100 and the SD-only HDC-SD100 for a spin.
Today Panasonic announced the Panasonic HDC-SD100 (gallery) and Panasonic HDC-HS100 (gallery), two ultra-compact camcorders with full-HD support. Both also support SD, but the HDC-HS100 additionally has 60-gigabytes of built-in storage.
The Panasonic HDC-SD100 and Panasonic HDC-HS100 feature AVCHD recording up to 1080p, as well as support for 24p film-mode. Panasonic has included their full suite of automation, collectively known as 'Intelligent Auto,' which includes tracked face-detection and an on-the-fly scene detector that can change gain, aperture and shutter speeds as conditions warrant.
Finally, and most importantly, the Panasonic HDC-SD100 and Panasonic HDC-HS100 are the first AVCHD camcorders to feature an array of three CMOS sensors, which Panasonic has termed "3MOS". This should give the camcorders a sizable edge over 3-CCD camcorders, as CMOS is up to 50% more sensitive to light.
We got our hands on the Panasonic HDC-HS100, and we immediately liked the camcorder's tiny, tubular design. It handled well during our test, and despite its size, Panasonic's excellent optical image-stabilizer kept our footage from shaking around too much. Controls are also nicely laid out, and it was easy to switch between the camera's modes and toggle its features. As far as design, the Panasonic HDC-HS100 and Panasonic HDC-SD100 have been streamlined to a point-and-shoot simplicity.
We also took some sample footage with the Panasonic HDC-HS100, and the results didn't surprise us. The 3MOS sensor delivered good color reproduction and low noise, but the lens is simply too small to get too excited: there was a lot of blooming and fringing from the camera, even in Panasonic's own demonstrations. So, this is intended as the next generation of easy, point-and-shoot camcorders, not the next generation in prosumer image-quality (Canon and Sony remain unchallenged).
We've provided some screen-shots from our sample footage, but please keep in mind that this isn't a full review. Also, the video was not played back through Panasonic's software (we didn't have it), and we simply screen-grabbed the shots, so they had to pass through our video hardware. In other words, these are only an baseline example of the Panasonic HDC-HS100's image quality, not a definitive representation.
Panasonic HDC-HS100 image samples (should be equal for the Panasonic HDC-SD100)
Sample #1
Sample #2
Sample #3
Price and availability
The Panasonic HDC-SD100 and Panasonic HDC-HS100 will be available in September 2008, selling for $1100 and $1300, respectively.
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