Panasonic’s HDC-SD9 dominated 2008, despite some excellent new models from competing brands, particularly Canon. And even Panasonic’s next generation couldn’t prevent the keenly priced SD9 being the best-selling HD camcorder of last year.
So now we have the HDC-HS300, which represents yet another Panasonic generation. But whereas the SD9 is now a value option, the new model aims to set a new benchmark for HD camcorders.
Sensory overload
The first revelation is the HS300’s image quality. Panasonic switched from three CCDs to three CMOSes with the previous range, but kept the same small 1/6in size.
The HS300 moves up to a trio of larger 1/4.1in CMOS sensors, each with 3.05MP. Even if that means nothing to you, the results will: this is the best HD video performance we’ve seen in a sub-£1,000 consumer camcorder.
Colour and detail are amazing in good lighting, and quality is better than any other model we’ve tested in darker environments. It takes pretty decent 7.95MP still images, too.
High capacity
On top of this, the HS300 is rich in features. It records to a built-in 120GB hard disk, which is enough for 15 hours of footage even at the top video quality setting.
But the enthusiast options are what set this camcorder apart. It sports a lens ring, which can be used for manual focusing or zooming, and the LCD is touch controlled - enabling another of the HS300’s unique innovations.
Simply touch a point on the screen to set focusing and exposure, both of which can also be controlled manually. But if the point you touch is a human face, this will be tracked as it moves across the frame, keeping it always in focus and exposed correctly.
For the particularly serious camcorder user, the HS300 has minijacks for an external microphone and headphones. A standard-sized accessory shoe is integrated, too.
Should the conditions make the LCD hard to see, there’s even a viewfinder – a rare inclusion in camcorders these days, and nice touch.
Best of breed
So this is a truly stunning new release from Panasonic, with the best HD image quality currently available and a comprehensive set of features for the videomaking enthusiast.
The only real downside is the price. At close to a grand, the HDC-HS300 is in a different league to the sub-£400 HDC-SD9.
So the SD9, or Canon’s £500 HF100, are still the value options. But if you’ve got deeper pockets the HDC-HS300 is the most accomplished consumer HD camcorder on the market right now.
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