Panasonic HDC-SD100 review

While I generally like the ring--it feels smooth and responsive, though it does operate in the infinite circle which makes servoelectronic controls annoying--it can get confusing jumping back and forth between manual focus, manual zoom, shutter speed, iris, and so on all on that single control. I tried to zoom, only to discover I was accidentally changing the white balance. I usually like joysticks, but had mixed feelings about this one. As with the older HDC-SD9, the joystick is in an especially odd place that requires some getting used to; for instance, pressing the joystick toward you produces the same result as moving it to the right in a traditional orientation, while pressing it away will navigate to the left. It's also fairly recessed, making it a bit hard to manipulate precisely.

Performance isn't bad. Unlike the hard-disk model, it starts up pretty quickly, though it too has a standby Quick Start mode to power on when you open the LCD. (It's fairly power hungry, however, using 60 percent of the power as when fully operational.) At 2.7 inches, the LCD is a typical size for this class, but it has a slightly higher resolution; overall, it's pretty good. And the EVF, while coarse and not particularly color accurate, is far better than nothing, which is what you get on most competitors. And the options for shutter speed and iris are as broad and flexible as you'll get on an entry level pro model. For instance, the iris opens as wide as 18dB in 3dB increments and closes to F16 in half stops. Although the shutter speeds start at a rather high 1/60 second (in auto modes they'll drop lower), they go as high as 1/8,000.

The zoom, both the ring and the switch, both feel relatively precise and easy to control, and the camcorder focuses reasonably quickly in all but the lowest light. The audio sounds a tad thin, but acceptable. And Panasonic's optical stabilization works solidly out to the end of the zoom range.

Though this is a photo taken with the HS100 (cropped at 100 percent), not a frame grab, it shows the types of artifacts which appear in the video.

Disappointingly, though, the video just doesn't stand up to the competition. The camcorder renders good color and a fairly broad dynamic range--there are some blown-out whites but nothing too severe. Unfortunately, thanks to the low-resolution sensors--even as a trio they don't have enough pixels for native 1080p HD resolution and barely enough for 720p--edges are soft and smeary with some ghosting, and there simply isn't enough sharp detail. It does produce quite noise-free low-light video, but I'd sacrifice just a little more noise for increased sharpness.

For the price, the Panasonic HDC-SD100 offers a relatively high-end feature set, and it's one of the few models in this price class to offer an EVF. Too bad the video quality can't match the camcorder's other attractions.