Panasonic HDC-HS100 has great video quality, ease of use and some ‘innovative’ features that make it one of the best HD camcorders released this year.
Intro:
Panasonic HDC-HS100 has 12 x optical zoom, built-in 60 GB hard drive, powerful battery and an interesting feature called multi function ring. It was last seen in consumer camcorders years ago when they were a lot bigger. Nowadays it is a refreshing idea and in Panasonic HDC-HS100 it works almost perfectly allowing you to change settings, but it also has some drawbacks.
Panasonic HDC-HS100 pros:
+ 12x optical zoom
+ Built-in 60GB hard drive
+ Good colors and sharpness
+ Excellent menus with explanations
+ Good battery life
+ Value for money
+ Perfect for non-professionals
+ Multi function ring
+ Cold accessory shoe
Panasonic HDC-HS100 cons:
- Built-in flash is to the left of the lens
- Only 2 megapixel stills
- Average OIS – Optical Image Stabilization
The design:
Panasonic HDC-HS100 measures 74mm x 76mm x 138mm (2.95 x 2.9 x 4.96-inches) and weights 482g (0.997 lbs.) so it is not the most portable camcorder ever, but still it is smaller than DVD camcorders. The front of the camcorder is dominated by the 12x zoom lens with its multi function ring which allows you to control Focus, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Gain, Zoom and Exposure. To the left of the lens is the built in flash, but as it is not in the centre it might result in uneven lighting. On the right side of the camcorder is the handgrip and a hand strap. Both of them are well designed and comfortable even after several hours of shooting. At the back of the camera is the battery and all the ports in the battery chamber, so every time you want to connect the camcorder to a TV or a PC you will have to remove the battery and plug in the power cord. On the left side fo the Panasonic HDC-HS100 in the 2.7 inch LCD screen with a joystick and a few buttons along the top: OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), Delete and Menu. The minute joystick is between the Delete and Menu buttons. At the topo of Panasonic HDC-HS100 is the cold accessory shoe and a at the top back the viewfinder.
Performance:
At the first glance Panasonic HDC-HS100 performs similarly to the last generation camcorder Panasonic HDC-HS9, but it is just the first impression. In fact Panasonic HDC-HS100 produces vivid colors, not bad resolution and good details in shadow areas. Sometimes the colors are a bit oversaturated and as the camcorder does not have any saturation adjustment tools it practically excludes it from the professional market. But for the rest of it it should not matter so much and if fact apart from that the video quality is just perfect for amateurs. In low light Panasonic HDC-HS100 performs better than Panasonic HDC-HS9, yet still a bit worse than Canon HF10. Panasonic HDC-HS100 disappointed me with its OIS – Optical Image Stabilization. Somehow I have the impression that Panasonic did a better job in some other camcorders so I don’t know why they failed here.
There are four quality settings on the Panasonic HDC-HS100 which correspond to a maximum bitrate and a resolution. The HA setting (17Mbps) and HG setting (13Mbps) record in full 1920 x 1080 at either 60i or 24p frame rates. The HX setting (9 Mbps) records full 1920 x 1080, but only at the 60i frame rate. The lowest setting, HE (6 Mbps), has a resolution of 1440 x 1080.
Panasonic HDC-HS100 is of course takes still pictures as well, but as I mentioned before when you use flash the photos may be lit unevenly. The camcorder can take photos in 1920 x 1080 resolution which is about 2 megapixels, so it will most probably not replace your digital camera.
The battery of Panasonic HDC-HS100 runs for almost two hours which is quite not bad.
Menus / ease of use:
Panasonic HDC-HS100 has one of the best menu systems on the market right now. Apart from the logical grouping settings in small sets it also provides a small scrolling-text explanations of all the different Modes, Scened, and various settings. It is, I think, the best way to learn how to deal with the abundance of features in a modern digital camcorder. Of course there is also the easy mode but I think that in this case it is only for those more lazy users who do not wish to know what the Panasonic HDC-HS100 is capable of.
All in all, Panasonic HDC-HS100 has few small drawbacks and I think it is the best camcorder for amateurs as they may learn a lot with it at the same time making great home movies in excellent quality.
Along with the camcorder in the box you get:
VW-VBG130 Battery Pack
- AC Adapter
- AC Cable
- DC Cable
- Remote Control
- Button-type battery
- AV Cable
- Component Cable
- USB Cable
- CD-ROM: HD Writer 2.6 for HDC
The selected Panasonic HDC-HS100 specifications:
Lens Section
Image Sensor
1/6”MOS x 3
Effective pixels
520k x 3 [16:9] (Motion Image / Still Image)
Total pixels
610 k x 3
F Value
F1.8 (WIDE)/F2.8 (TELE)
Optical Zoom
12x Variable Speed Zoom
Focal Length
2.95—35.4 mm
Filter Diameter [mm]
37.0
35mm Film Camera Equivalent
42.1—505 mm [16:9] (Motion Image / Still Picture）
Lens Brand
Leica Dicomar
Camera Section
Minimum Illumination_
2 Lux (1/25 Low Light Mode) / 1 Lux (Colour Night View Mode)
Focus
AF/Manual
White Balance
Auto/Indoor1/Indoor2/Sunny/Cloudy/White Set
Shutter Speed
Motion Image/ Auto Slow Shutter ON :1/25—1/8000, OFF : 1/50—1/8000 / Still Picture/ Auto Slow Shutter ON : 1/25—1/8000, OFF : 1/50—1/8000 (Progressive : 1/25—)
Iris
Auto/Manual
Backlight Compensation
yes
Electronic View Finder
Yes
LCD
2.7” Wide LCD (300,252 dots)
Microphone
Dolby Digital /5.1ch, Zoom Microphone
On-Screen Display Language
English/ German/ French/ Italian /Spanish/ Dutch/ Swedish/ Polish/ Czech/ Turkish
Image Stabilizer
Advanced O.I.S.
Digital Zoom
30x – 700x
Flash
1 m—2.5 m (approx.)
Card Section
Card Slot
SDHC
yes
SD
yes
Still Picture
JPEG Picture Size: 1920x 1080 (16:9) 2.1 Megapixels
DPOF
Max.999 stills
PictBridge
yes
Other recently reviewed camcorders:
Sony HDR-CX12, Canon Vixia HF11, Samsung SC-HMX20, Panasonic SDR-H60, Sony DCR-DVD910, Canon DC330.