Panasonic HDC-SD100 Review
Having owned my faithful Sony Camcorder for a fair few years the hassle of transferring footage from dv tape was meaning I as filming more and more with my basic (point and shoot) still camera. The quality isn’t great but the convenience in which I can move video clips from the camera to iMovie to YouTube / Vimeo made tapes a rather unattractive proposition.
It was time to make the jump to HD. At the current cost of home HD cameras this wasn’t so much a jump but an investment so getting the right camera was essential. Professionally I have been using the Panasonic HDC-SD9, this camera won camcorder of the year in 2009 and was actually the unit I had hoped to buy but to my advantage the good just got better in the form of the HDC-SD100.
One of the biggest issues I faced was the jump to recording in AVCHD directly to SD Card. I went for the SD option as not only is it cheaper, recording to SD card rather than hard disc drive offers unlimited expandability. Given that most devices are now moving fro CF to SD cards it means storage can be shared with other cameras and phones.
This very short clip offers a very small glimpse at the colour quality offered by this camera. To be honest it hardly gives the camera justice scaled down to 450 pixels wide!
I will leave HD mode on for a few months and revert to SD video after that.
The current cost of a 16GB card is £25 (including reader) offering around two hours recording at the highest possible setting. The removal of a mechanical tape system also results in a big jump in battery life to over two hours per charge.
Importing AVCHD isn’t perhaps as instant as importing video from a still camera but it still beats the traditional tape route by a long shot. Working with iMovie was a breeze the included 30 second clip does the best I can to demo how good the picture quality is over the internet. Working with Final Cut was also very easy, although make sure you have version 4.1. Another tip if you have the HDC-SD9 if you find your clips are not importing click the little gear icon at the top of the capture window, go to preferences and change the audio from matrix to standard stereo.
Highlights
- Full High Defintion Camcorder
- Records direct to SD Card
- 1920×1080p (25P)
- New 3MOS Sensor System
- Advanced OIS to correct 95% Handshake
- 2 Lux Low Light Performance
- New iA System including Face Detection for up to 15 Faces
- Full Manual control using Manual ring including Zoom
- On screen assist for Zebra Pattern, Brightness Level and Histogram
- Headphone Input and Microphone Input
Camcorders and Batteries
This gripe has little to do with the Panasonic camera but more a personal gripe with digital camcorder. My biggest annoyance with every camcorder I have ever owned is the way they handle battery charging. I always assume that if a device is connected to the mains with the battery connected it is charging !! but this is only the case if the camera is powered off. I am sure there is a good reason for the way things work but I still find it annoying.
The Panasonic camera comes with a charging unit separate to the camera. Most the cameras I have owned charged via the camera so this is a much tidier option. To connect the camera to the computer (or any TV) the unit must be connected to the mains. This is primarily down to the fact the ports are behind the battery but is also means you don’t accidently run your battery down playing back footage.
One thing to note is as soon as you connect the camera to the mains unit the battery stops charging. It would have been great if the battery charger was completely separate to the camera power but I assume this would have added to the cost.
Pros:
As well as the listed highlights (3MOS sensors, etc) This lightweight camera offers excellent image quality in normal or exterior light. The additional focus ring and view finder make 10 much more attractive that the still available 9. The battery life is brilliant at over two hours ! The unit features and external mic option and unlike the previous version now also comes with a viewfinder. The camera is ergonomic to hold and can easily slip in and out of a coat pocket. The automatic lens protector is brilliant !
Cons:
It is still at bit on the expensive side although justifiable given the amount of features they have packed into the camera. I did criticise the previous version (despite it winning camcorder of the year) for grainy video with indoor / low light. This camera is definitely better but there are still grainy areas with dark colours in low light situations. Check this terribly produced low light video showing off my new Twitter Mug on YouTube.
Note : The camera doesn’t come with an SD card which is not a big issue if you have a still camera but just don’t be caught out if you order the camera and are excited about playing with it when it arrives.
Conclusion:
If you are looking to make the leap to HD video I really don’t think you can do far wrong with this camera. To my personal horror I found that Amazon were the cheapest retailer at £549 but a few days ago they dropped the price further to £509 ! Get it while you can.
Great review! I’m glad you are enjoying it and that for the most part, the review is positive Love the video as well… looks nice!