Panasonic HDC-HS20 - Panasonic HDC-HS20

If the HDC-HS300 blew us away with its improved quality over Panasonic's previous HD generation, the HS20's single sensor should put it a step in the other direction. In fact, the results aren't so far behind, particularly when the lighting is favourable. Reds are shifted a little too much in the orange direction, but otherwise colour reproduction is saturated and faithful. No ghosting is evident on moving objects, either - something which the SD9 has a mild problem with. There is a small hint of grain, however, and close up the image is nowhere near as sharp as previous three-chip models.


Performance in poor illumination is assisted by the video light, which by default switches on whenever required. With the light manually off, Intelligent Auto enables Low Light Mode. Although the video light is effective in small spaces, its useful range is less than 5m. The Low Light mode drops the shutter to 1/25th, which helps a little, but colour information still disappears quite rapidly as the illumination is reduced, and a multicoloured grain permeates the image. The HS300, in comparison, retains much more colour, and the grain is finer and monochromatic, making it less intrusive.


When editing footage, the HS20's USB port allows its hard disk to act as a removable storage device. So you can simply drag off the standard AVCHD files and edit them in most popular PC editing apps. Significantly, Panasonic is now explicitly claiming direct compatibility with iMovie on the Mac. For watching on a TV without editing, a mini HDMI port is available, plus a proprietary port for component analogue and minijack for composite. Cables are provided for the latter, but no adapter is included to attach mini HDMI to the full-sized version found on HDTVs.

Verdict

With Panasonic's own HDC-HS100 now available for around £50 more, and the SD memory-based HDC-SD9 coming in at under £400, the HDC-HS20 currently sits in a bit of a no-man's land within Panasonic's growing range of HD camcorders. Its performance is a little behind even the HDC-SD9 overall, and its low light abilities are noticeably inferior. Although the AFAE and other toushcreen features add a new dimension, and its 80GB of storage is generous, the HDC-HS20 needs to drop below £500 to offer compelling value.