Panasonic HDC-TM300

James,
Watched & absorbed a multitude of your precise & informative reviews. I am very glad to have found your web site. Put in an order for the TM300 largely based on your reviews over the last four months..
Thanks, and I know I won't be disappointed!

CANON HFS10 v. PANASONIC TM300. IN SEARCH OF THE HOLY GRAIL. To JAMES MORRIS,
Many thanks for your great reviews. I am trying to decide between these 2 excellent cameras (HFS10 and TM300). I have done hours of research and swayed both ways. I have a CANON HV20 producing excellent results. Time for upgrade. INFOSYNC rates the Canon HFS10 at 86% and is their winner. They rate Pan HS300(TM300) as 74% in 8th position! They slate the HS300/TM300 and suggest they should scap the 3-chip sensors. They say the manual controls on the Touchscreen crashed and the camera could not perform. SLASHCAM (Germany) produced extremely informative review and comparison. They rate the Panasonic HS300/TM300 at 372/570. They rate Canon HFS10 at 344/70. Their published review can be seen at www.slashcam.com/slashcom/cam-test.html. 3 Camcorders can be analysed simultaneously. It was incredible to see the 1200 lux and 12 lux picture comparison. Both cameras were excellent in good light (1200 lux). The Canon suffered terribly in lowlight (12 lux). Their analysis covers 13 categories and some of those categories can involve up to 37 parameters! TRUSTED REVIEWS (James Morris) also produce a fantastic comparison/review and I have read your articles with great interest. At the end of the day, some guys may prefer greener grass or paler skin or bluer sky. As SLASHCAM states, the Panasonic HS300/TM300 has excellent Focus Ring etc. They state that the image quality is FLAWLESS and even adjustable. Canon is equally praised in most areas. DIGITAL TRENDS states HFS10 needs better wind noise reduction (not a problem with directional mic attached?). Other cons for the HFS10 is 2 channel stereo, LCD should be bigger. They say that the CANON HFS10 has outstanding video quality but it is not the HOLY GRAIL. The search for the HOLY GRAIL continues. My research findings are that the HFS10 and TM300 are fantastic cameras and perhaps the CANON has the slight edge over the PANASONIC in image quality. Most of the camcorder ratings show that the HS300/TM300 has better numbers CAMCORDERINFO gives the Panason HS300/TM300 268.43 (1st) and the Canon HFS100 (HFS10 sister) 253.91 (3rd). My overall conclusion is that I would prefer the PANASONIC TM300 at the moment (£300 cheaper and within a cats-whisker of quality). Now that the PANASONIC TM350(and the CANON HFS11) has been launched in Japan (and the CANON HFS11) it will be interesting to compare these 2. I think I will reserve my choice (probably TM350, or is the HOLY GRAIL TM350?). ANY COMMENTS would be appreciated. To JAMES, please, please, please give us a review of the TM350 and HS11 as soon as you can, plus any comments of my other observations.








I hope this evidence is helpful to readers in this dilemma of searching for the Holy Grail

@ abbeydale - Funny. I've just spent the last few hours going through those exact reviews you mention. Great summary, by the way..

I'm also torn between the Canon and the Panny, although I'm leaning toward the TM350, rather than the HF S11. (I live in Japan). I like the manual controls, focus ring, and slightly longer optical zoom. I also bought a Lumix TZ7 a few months ago, and love it.. Maybe I'll be as happy with the TM350.

A couple videos that helped me decide:

An extensive video review/sample of the TM300 on Vimeo - http://www.vimeo.com/5434462

I opened these two videos and compared side by side:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG0ppUCa2t0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfsoEa72NxM

I'm still not sure.. Happy hunting!

Doh! It's me again.. Since I have to wait for moderation, I think I made a mistake in one of my URLs..

One of the YouTube links should've been for the TM300, NOT the TM30.. Correct URL should be:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO7A5F8moWs