Panasonic HDC-HS100 HD review

The Panasonic HDC-HS100 HD camcorder is a better camera than it's predecessor the Panasonic HDC-HS9, with improved image quality and great usability.

However, the £799 Panasonic HDC-HS100 has only narrowed, not closed, the image-quality gap between its own video and that of the top HD camcorders in its class. If you disregard image quality, the HS100 is a clear winner - but it's hard to ignore a "small" thing such as image quality, especially at this model's price.

The Panasonic HDC-HS100 HD records HD video as AVCHD files on to a 60GB hard drive at four quality settings. The highest-quality setting records 17mbps, 1920-by-1080 images at either 60 interlaced frames per second (60i, which definitely looks like video) or 24 progressive frames per second (24p, which looks more like film). The hard drive holds about 7.5 hours of 17mbps video.

The Panasonic HDC-HS100 HD can also record to user-supplied SD/SDHC cards. In our testing, we evaluated 17-mbps video files.

While the HS9 had three underperforming 1/6-inch CCDs, the Panasonic HDC-HS100 HD senses images on three higher-quality 1/6-inch CMOS chips. Under typical lighting conditions, HD image quality looked good - with noticeably better contrast and resolution than what the HS9 produced - but showed some extraneous noise.

Colours appeared oversaturated, a hyped-up look that may appeal to some users but not to those looking for very accurate colour reproduction. The Panasonic HDC-HS100 HD's low-light video was fair (about the same as the HS9's low-light performance), with a noticeable amount of visual noise and a lack of sharpness.

Still images lack the colour, exposure, and distortion performance of some other HD camcorders. Overall, video and stills from the Panasonic HDC-HS100 HD showed a bit less resolution and colour accuracy than imagery from top-rated HD camcorders, but remain acceptable.

Image drawbacks aside, the Panasonic HDC-HS100 HD is a pleasure to use. Beginners will quickly take to the automatic mode, which does an excellent job of optimising the camera settings for the shooting environment. The menus are also very helpful for novices, as they include concise explanations of how and when to use the camera's features.

Experienced users will enjoy the broad array of manual controls, including zoom, focus, white balance, shutter, and aperture settings. They'll probably also appreciate the manual-control ring encircling the lens; it's like a lens-focus ring that you can turn to adjust other settings, too. Sounds odd, but it works great. Those on the professional end of the user spectrum will value the Panasonic HDC-HS100 HD's viewfinder, headphone, and microphone jacks, as well as the accessory shoe.

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Total reviews: 4,313

• www.panasonic.co.uk
• 08705 357 357
• Panasonic
• £799 inc VAT

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