Panasonic HDC-HS300

As a very satisfied previous owner of an NV-GS400, I had been looking for an HD replacement for quite a while. I initially bought a Canon HF10, but found the video quality lacking, particularly in terms of its ability to handle high contrast situations. I have now bought an HDC-HS300 and have to say, I am very pleased with it. The video quality is excellent. I beleive the 3 sensor technology provides an additional level of depth and realism to colours. My only gripes with the camera were the truly horrible plasticy covers over the accessory shoe and the headphone/mic ports. The one over the accessory shoe threatened to rattle against my permanently mounted MKE400 and the other one is just nasty. So they both got pulled off, and good riddance to them. I use the MKE400 because the onboard mics are very prone to wind noise. Besides the MKE400, (sporting a custom made dead mouse), the cam has now been fitted with a UV filter and a decent lens hood. A couple of heavy duty VBG260 batteries allow me to shoot pretty well all day, but still allow the viewfinder to be used. Mine is a 60i model, which is OK, as I have 20% more fps to play with. But it would be nice to have the choice of 30p! Some of the features I like: built in time-lapse function; pre-record; reasonable manual focus; nice ergonomics and weight. The auto focus is very good as well. All in all, this is a great camera which is capable of punching well above its weight. I think I will be keeping this until I can afford to go AVC Intra.
4.5 stars, Panasonic!

I need a Hi Def camcorder that will record OFF the Computer OONTO the camera Harddrive, then back again for making animated cartoons. Can anyone tell me if this can be done. I could do it with my Sd camcorder via the firewire (i-link) cable. Thanks

Hi James, I allready bought a HS300 in Summer this Year. Your review tell us all the benefits, they all true and I'm happy with the HS300, but I like to mention some cons:
Audio recording in stereo not possible (with internal Micro's).
External micro input deliver 2,6V DC, so a dynamic micro can not be used.
The optional Panasonic stereomic is an electret type, but need a battery to work, why not use the 2,6V DC from the ext. mic connector?
Video stream and pictures are only on the same storage (HDD or SD-card), it is not possible to store pictures on SD-card, video stream on HDD (Sony can do it).
If you do pictures, they will be stored each day in a new folder started with picture number 01. After 2 week vacation you have 14 folders containing pictures with same numbers. Hard to convert them into one folder with increasing numbers.
HDD is FAT32 formated not NTFS, causing new stream after the 4GB limit. Combining this in an editing software causes a 4 frame long sound interuption.

Sorry for this con's, but I think everbody who want to buy this great camera should know some limitations.
Has anybody else similar experiece?
Jack from Vienna