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Panasonic HDC-SD1 AVCHD 3CCD Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom |
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| Size is not a sacrifice |
Before I start my review I would like to note that I'm more a photography person, rather than a video person. But after my daughter got born things changed. Watching her do all the crazy baby stuff quickly changed my mind and made me browse for a decent camcorder.
After reading a few web sites about current video technology it was a native decision to go for the 3CCD technology because it provides the most natural colors and that's what I wanted for my baby. Having in mind that she will be able to watch those movies in a few years, and having in mind how quick the size and the resolution of the LCD TVs changed in the last 5 years, choosing HD was by default. Next very important option for me was to receive good picture in low light because in winter most of the video shooting will be indoors. I didn't want to bother with the DV or the miniDVD because in my opinion these are now out of date. One can now easily buy big SD card for no money and having no moving parts in your camera is definitely an advantage.
So having my requests, I filtered the camcorders on the market and Panasonic came out with some other brands. I went for Panasonic because I have a digital camera from them and I'm very satisfied, not to mention that Panasonic is maybe one of the few companies that haven't outsourced production to China and is assembling in Japan.
The next question was if I should go with the HDC-SD1, HDC-SD5 or HDC-SD9. I went for the HDC-SD1 because it has the biggest sensors, which means best picture quality in low light conditions. I also found some videos taken by the camera on [..] . I liked the quality and did the purchase.
I am now filming for a few days and can say that the picture quality is fantastic. I was especially impressed when I filmed a few clips in very low light and also against the light source (it has a backlight option). The picture was with vivid colors and good light balance. On a big screen one can see some grain, but this is more like a limit of the digital technology, rather than a camera malfunction. The macro function is also doing pretty good job.
The sound taken by the 5 microphones was very clear and sharp. I tested the videos on a 2 speaker Harmon Kardon system with Dolby Sound Room technology and I can say that the sounds came out very real.
The only drawback that I saw so far is that the camera heats up very fast (this is not a malfunction according to the manual). After a few minutes this starts the internal fan to cool it. The problem is that later on, when you play the video and turn the volume up you can hear the fan in the background. It would have been good if they have implemented a filter for this noise but they didn't. It's not that big of a deal, but if you are a sound maniac you may not be very happy. I will later on try to filter it digitally, but I'm not sure that the results will be good. |
| Dec 22, 2008 |
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| Great picture |
| Nice camera, picture is perfect, bit clumsy with the button design, but once you get the hang of it works great. |
| May 08, 2008 |
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| Awesome Cam, still the best out there |
Before I get to the main review, I have to mention that, contrary to misinformed reviews, there has already, for months now, been software out there to edit the HDC-SD1's AVCHD footage. (Pinnacle Studio Plus or Ultimate and Ulead's software come to mind; I use the former).
And not only is there software to edit it, but with a simple download of a codec pack, you can copy the individual movies straight off the SDHC card on to your computer, and watch them INSTANTLY with no rendering needed.
So this camcorder is really as versatile as you could want.
Review:
First, I have used my SD1 for almost a year and it has never let me down.
The SD1 takes high-quality 1440x1080 (1080i) HD video using the AVCHD codec. This is a very efficient codec, but requires a modern nicely-equipped computer to edit or even watch in its native resolution. Figure a Core 2 Duo 2+ gHz with at least 128 MB video RAM and 2 or 4+ GB of system RAM.
The lens features optical image-stabilization, which means the lens will compensate for any slight shaking, so the picture remains steady and focused. This is crucial for hand-held shooting if you want a semi-professional "look" to your videos.
The 12x zoom is really a great zoom length, especially when compared to the 10x of the new models; that last 2x can mean the difference between seeing someone's face, and only seeing their upper-half. Unlike some others, the digital zoom does not necessarily degrade the image quality too much so you can use that, too, but if you want the best possible image quality, you only want to use Optical Zoom.
While on the topic of Digital Zoom, Panasonic provides 3 options - off, 30x, and 400x. This is a nice touch, because, even at 30x, the picture will be usable if you happen to need to get an image from that far.
Storage - The SD1 uses SD/SDHC cards only. Since SD cards are so small, the camcorder is easily held and weighs mere ounces. I have used 4 GB and 8 GB SDHC cards without issue. Although I did not attempt to record 8 GB straight, I was able to use all 8 GB, broken up into a number of clips, which, I think, is a more typical use than one long 8 GB clip.
SDHC cards keep coming down in price. I recently purchased an 8 GB card for around [...]. At that price, you basically have unlimited footage. The battery, though, is $[...], which is annoying.
As for the file structure, I believe it mimics a BluRay DVD file structure. The actual video is in the stream sub-folder, but you could, I would guess, burn your footage as is straight from the card (from the BDMV folder and in) and have a home-made BluRay Disc.
Playback - you can play back the video, in HD, either on the computer, or from the video camera itself, using any HDMI cable. The picture is stunning.
Performance - The SD1's built-in battery lasts for only about an hour of shooting. This is fine for small events and quick family outings, but what I usually do is find a location with an outlet, and record, on a tripod, from there, with the SD1 plugged into the wall. That way, my recording time is limited only by the card capacity.
I found that the camcorder handles light changes very well. I recently zoomed in from a room with one type of lighting into a room with sunlight flooding into it. The camera adjusted its lighting within a second's time so that the picture was viewable under both lighting conditions. In other words, the autofocus and related parts work very well.
The Still-image feature is not bad, and 2 MP images are certainly usable for 4x6 prints, but a dedicated camera will do a bit better. I can tell which picture was taken with my camcorder, and which was taken with my Canon camera, though, as I wrote, the picture is very usable.
The only con I can think of is the resolution is 1440x1080 (1080i), not 1920x1080 (1080p, "Full HD"), but this is mitigated by the improved image quality that you get from the sensors not needing to produce more pixels on the same size sensor.
Overall, I highly recommend this camcorder, despite it not being "Full HD", because its native 1440x1080 is already quite stunning, and its implementation is really quite well done, and is a great cam to own and use. |
| Apr 23, 2008 |
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| Great pics - the worst software |
Others have extolled the very good picture quality of this camera, but you can't do much of anything with them. For now you have to be content looking at the unedited video played back from the camera directly to your HD TV. Your computer is reduced to a mere storage device, as for older footage you have to load it back onto the camera for HD playback, which takes 6-8 minutes for about a full 4GB disk's worth of HD video (a little less than an hour's worth).
The software is inexcusably awful. The first thing I did with the bundled HDwriter "EZ-Edit" crapware was accidentally delete my first hour of footage, thinking I was getting rid of the first 5 second "scene" (shot) of the ground and my feet. The manual appears to be correct in that deleted footage cannot be recovered: the program doesn't put the files in the recycle bin as would be appropriately civilized. After a few hours with an Undelete program, and with the help of another computer to figure out the inexplicably complicated directory structure (it's about five levels deep, and its creator should be shot), I was able to restore everything exactly the way it should be. But HDwriter refused to read the footage, giving a cryptic error message (just a number) for which there seems to be no reference in either the manual or at Panasonic's website. The files are all there, but I'm guessing there's some time stamp or hash code which is causing it to choke.
The program is also littered with annoying and useless nags in broken Engrish which you have to click through to do anything, and you can only play footage back in the program in reduced resolution mode -- no HD playback on your computer. And the playback capabilities are very limited. No single frame stepping, for example. About all I've figured out how to do with the software is delete unwanted scenes and merge multiple scenes into one scene. In other words, the editing capabilities are very limited.
And as of this writing there's still no third party software which can read the files and edit them properly in the native AVCHD format. Some of this software has plug-ins to convert into some other format for editing, but reports are quite mixed as to how well all this works. It sounds like it's very computer and system dependent. Meaning that if you want to do anything with your great shots you may not be able to, and if you are they likely won't look nearly as good as is possible. If all you want to do is post to YouTube, that's maybe okay. But then why would you spend this kind of money on an HD camera? It's really a shame because the camera does take nice pictures and was rather easy to get the hang of. Even if an extra battery seemed to cost an arm and a leg - twice as much as an extra memory chip. I'm also somewhat annoyed that there's no shoe for attaching an external microphone, as the one onboard is only barely tolerable for a lot of shooting.
In sum, I would stay away until it's clear that either Panasonic can include some decent software with the camera or until there's a good third party solution that lots of people using the AVCHD format seem happy with. The latter has been promised for the better part of a year now but has yet to materialize. I've had my SD1 for seven months and it's spent all but the first month or so in the closet waiting for the ability to actually work with its pictures. |
| Feb 15, 2008 |
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| Great camcorder - editing software scarce |
I've had this camera for just under a year and have enjoyed it very much. Like other reviewers have mentioned, finding editing software for the AVCHD format used is a challenge. I use Adobe Premiere CS3 for editing but have to first convert any footage using Nero or other software.
The camera is lightweight easy to use and has many great presets as well as offering great image quality. Recording to SD is a great option if you don't want to buy a hard disk camcorder as carrying extra SD cards is much more convenient than the extra bulk of blank tapes.
One side note, for recording indoors consider using manual settings for white balance (an easy to find menu option) as full auto can look a little yellow. |
| Jan 17, 2008 |
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