A few weeks ago we were invited to Panasonic’s imaging event in London to test the latest cameras and camcorders Panasonic has to offer. Today we attended the event at the perfect venue to test cameras, the Dali universe (which is next to the London eye, houses of parliament, near tower bridge etc). So there was plenty to snap away at.
I reviewed the Panasonic HDC-SD9 camcorder and today I am going to show you some of the stills that were taken whilst speeding along on a boat – this was the perfect test for the Panasonic’s OIS camera system which automatically reduces shakes caused by a wobbly hand! First of all I would like to tell you some facts and my thoughts on this camcorder.
The Panasonic HDC-SD9 the smallest and lightest full High Definition camcorder in the world. It records in 1920×1080 at 25P. In layman’s terms that means it records in the same true to life format as you would see on Emerdale or Eastender’s compared to the standard movie format of 24P.
Another neat feature is the face detection and intelligent shooting guide which makes filming as simple as pie. Here is some blurb from the Panasonic site that explains what technologies the camera offers “It also offers Panasonic’s original 3CCD camera system, Advanced O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer), and a Leica Dicomar lens – three technologies that team up to deliver full-HD images of exquisite beauty. Viewed on today’s high-quality large-screen TVs, video clips shot with the HDC-SD9 are simply breathtaking”. This means you can record professional looking movies in full HD at the click of a button.
Another feature that I like is the fact that the HDC-SD9 uses dual memory of a SD card and an internal 60 GB hard-drive. This means you can easily upgrade the memory in the future and you also gain all the benefits of having SD memory (easy to share, easy to transfer and more versatile when you come to print and SD cards are now cheap as chips).
As I mentioned earlier I took quite a few still pictures with the camcorder. The reason for this was that I believe this type of camcorder is a great replacement for a standard digital camera. The photos were sharp and as clear as the video, this is a great point and click camera as well as a camcorder. One nice feature (which has become standard on most camcorders now) is that the HDC-SD9 has a dedicated photo button at the top back of the camera, this can be quickly used between filming without having to change filming modes. All you have to do is pause filming and take the photo – it’s so simple but extremely effective.
The camera records in 5.1 channel sound and one thing I noticed from the dismantled demo they had on show was it also has five microphones. This sound quality is great and when matched to the picture quality makes a really decent film on the simplist point and click settings.
In summary I feel this is a great little camcorder with some outstanding features, I love the compact size and ease of use and the HD film it delivers is amazing.
Here are some digital stills taken with the Panasonic HDC-SD9 camcorder:
Here are the links to the images if you want them in 1920×1080:
Big Ben and houses of parliament | London eye photo | Tower Bridge Photo | Views From The River Thames | Tower Bridge Full Size Photo | The Carrot Building in London | Big Ben London | Houses of parliament | Royal Naval War Memorial London
