-
CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating -
Average user rating:
Write your own review
Product summary
The good: High-quality 1080i video; tiny; easy to use; tapeless; bundled card reader/backup drive.
The bad: Impractical manual controls; lacks a viewfinder, progressive video recording, and headphone jack
The bottom line: Though it delivers good video with excellent color, the Panasonic AG-HSC1U falls short of its "professional" aspirations in most other ways.
Specifications: Video input type: Camcorder ; Optical sensor type: 3CCD ; Optical zoom: 12 x ; See full specs
Price range: $1,828.29 check prices
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 02/19/2008
- Released on: 03/06/2007
Panasonic bills its AG-HSC1U, a souped-up version of its AVCHD-based consumer (and now discontinued) HDC-SD1, as the smallest available professional three-chip HD camcorder. Weighing about a pound and fitting easily in the palm, the camera certainly is small--but does it qualify as "professional?" You might say that if a camera is used for professional work, then it is a professional camera. The HSC1U's tiny size and shakeproof SD card-based recording system makes it useful for professionals in need of a high-quality 1080i stunt camera, or one that must be hidden away in the odd nook. But while the camcorder offers an interesting set of capabilities in a compact package, the unit's lack of basics, such as external manual controls and a headphone jack, render it inappropriate for any other sort of general professional use.
Panasonic's just beginning to make a push in AVCHD for professional applications. The company's P2 flash-card format has been widely adopted by the professional community, however, the cards are expensive and too large to fit in more compact devices. The HSC1U represents Panasonic's first attempt to supply that market with a relatively inexpensive alternative: it records 1080i HD video in AVCHD format onto cheap and widely available SD cards media. For pros, switching to a new format can be a bit of a risk. You're not only committing to a camera, but also to an entire work flow, including editing, archiving, and distribution. Fortunately, AVCHD has much better software support from professional editing applications than consumer applications: however, Adobe Premiere Pro remains an unsupportive holdout.
At the camera's front is a 43mm diameter Leica Dicomar 12x zoom lens, protected by nifty automatically retracting shutters--you can't lose the lens cap to this camera! Next to the lens is a tiny flash, used for taking stills.
Surprising in a camcorder this small, a generous 3-inch 16:9 560K pixel swing-out LCD covers the entire left side of the camera. Opening the LCD reveals an auto/manual focus switch, a Power LCD button to brighten the LCD for outdoor use, and a sliding door covering the slot which accommodates the SD card media. The camcorder includes one 4GB SDHC card. A small speaker adorns the camera's right side, which serves primarily as a hand grip. Atop are a microphone, a still photo button, and a zoom rocker.
While there is much to admire in the simplified control layout of the HSC1U, it suffers from the same shortcomings of most compact video cameras; namely, the controls are too small for easy manipulation by adult-size hands. Panasonic's claim to have produced a professional-level camera would gain much credibility if it could find a way to incorporate professional-quality controls.
At the heart of the HSC1U are three 1/4 inch, 560,000-pixel 16:9 chips capable of recording only 60 frames per second 1080i video. No progressive, variable frame rate, or standard definition video modes are available. The 1080i video can be recorded at three quality levels: HF (fine), HN (normal), and HE (extended), offering from 40 minutes to 90 minutes of recording time on a 4GB card. Lens-related features include macro for close-up photography and an optical image stabilizing system.
Also somewhat contradictory to its professional orientation, the HSC1U offers a full complement of exposure preset modes: Sports, Portrait, Low light, Spotlight, and Surf and Snow. Miscellaneous features accessed through the menu system include backlight compensation, fader, telemacro (for close-up shots), MagicPix (a low light mode), soft skin mode (lightly diffuses faces), Auto Ground-Directional Standby (pauses recording when camera is held upside down), guide lines, and wind noise reduction.
The mic has five elements, which enables surround-sound recording and an audio zoom capability, both of which might seem dubiously effective because of the lack of physical separation between the mics. More significant audio deficiencies include the lack of a headphone jack and full-time audio meters, both necessities for serious audio recording.
The HSC1U otherwise offers a full complement of ports: AV connector jack, component connection, mini-plug mic input, power jack, USB 2.0, and HDMI. Still photography features including flash, self-timer, red-eye reduction, PictBridge compatibility (for direct hookup via USB to appropriate printers), and the capability to snap stills while simultaneously recording video.
While there are no external manual controls, the HSC1U menu system enables access to a full array of manual functions, including iris, shutter, gain, white balance, mic levels, color bars, and zebra stripes. I will reiterate here that it is essential to make the distinction between the existence of features and their accessibility. In theory this camera has just as many manual controls as full-size professional cameras; in practice, however, it is so cumbersome to access these controls that this camera is, for all practical purposes, automatic. It's like a car with an automatic transmission that can also be shifted manually, but with the gear shift located in the glove compartment.
Fortunately, it the camcorder works pretty well on auto. The autofocus, while sometimes a bit slow, generally locks onto the appropriate subject without hunting. Auto exposure is right on, and auto white balance accurate. Those who are used to tape-based cameras will immediately appreciate the instantaneous response of the record button--there is no lag whatsoever--and it's a joy to be able to instantly summon any video clip with the ease of selecting a still photo.
The 12x zoom lens is a strong point of this camera--sharp and fast (f/1.8-2.8), with good macro capabilities and an effective optical image stabilizer. While the zoom rocker is difficult to manipulate, the zoom action itself is exquisite, offering a wide and fluid range of zoom speeds down to an almost imperceptible crawl. As is generally the case with small video cameras, it would be nice if the wide end of the zoom were wider, but at least a wide angle adapter is available.
The LCD is large, sharp, and bright, and is about as good as I've seen on a camera of this size. Unfortunately, even the best LCD will come up short on a bright sunny day, and that's where you'll really miss a viewfinder.
Considering its tiny onboard mic, audio performance is not at all bad. Sound quality certainly benefits from the flash-card recording, which has no noisy tape drive. Thanks to the HSC1U's small battery, power lasts only about an hour.
In well-lit conditions, the HSC1U produces clean, neutral images that will cut well with higher end cameras (though it should be noted that a great deal of professional HD shooting is done in progressive video, which this camera is incapable of shooting). It also deals quite well with both high contrast and low light situations, both of which are particularly challenging for small cameras. Low-light shots are remarkably noise free. Furthermore, considering how aggressively it's compressing the video, artifacts are minimal even at the lower quality settings. Only in fast pans and tilts of highly detailed scenes could I detect some slight stuttering. At a resolution of only two megapixels, the HSC1U's stills are nothing to get excited about.
Though the single-chip, consumer-oriented Sony Handycam HDR-CX7, also an SD-based AVCHD model, produces sharper video and displays better low-light sensitivity, the Panasonic AG-HSC1U delivers better color. Is that enough to justify a several-hundred-dollar price premium and a "pro" moniker? We're not so sure.
User reviews
Write your own review Be the first one to review Panasonic AG-HSC1U and share your experience with the CNET community!
Submit your review
Where to buy
Panasonic AG-HSC1U:
$1,828.29
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Amazon.com Marketplace
|
$1,828.29 | Yes |
|
