Panasonic's flash-based HDC-SD9 HD camcorder gets reviewed

Although Panasonic's HDC-SD9 is mighty, mighty small, reviewers over at CNET felt that it fell short in a number of key areas. For starters, Panny included a few quirky design choices; for instance, removing the battery requires the LCD cover to be open, but doing so can also turn the camera on unless you place it in a different mode. Granted, the minuscule size didn't leave the outfit too much to work with, but if you're easily flustered by these kinds of niggles, you can run far, far away right now. As for image quality, critics noted that still shots were marginally better than awful, but capturing full motion HD clips was something it did manage to do relatively well. Overall, no one handling this critter was enthusiastically shouting for joy when all was said and done, so do yourself a favor and eye the review down there before clicking that order button.

[phanbouy @ Apr 17th 2008 8:02PM]

niggles?

[Keaton @ Apr 17th 2008 8:12PM]

ftw?!?

[gfxdave99 @ Apr 17th 2008 10:20PM]

Main Entry:
niggle
Function:
noun
Date:
1886

chiefly British : a trifling doubt, objection, or complaint

Car and driver use this word all the time

[David @ Apr 17th 2008 8:54PM]

hooray for posting a new post instead clicking reply buttons!!!!!!1!!!1!

[Saad @ Apr 17th 2008 9:19PM]

Man, you guys should stop making up words

[George @ Apr 17th 2008 9:34PM]

Not to mention it doesn't work in iMovie '08 or Final Cut Pro - http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1461050&tstart=0

[Daniel @ Apr 17th 2008 9:41PM]

but that's ok because nobody uses those programs to edit movies anyway.

[Michael LaFramboise @ Apr 17th 2008 11:35PM]

Daniel, its ok, enjoy Windows Movie Maker

[Normal @ Apr 18th 2008 1:07AM]

Wait, seriously Daniel? FCP is about as mainstream as it gets for video editing… I almost feel like I shouldn't even validate your comment with a response, but you're so out of touch I can't resist.

[tbnz @ Apr 18th 2008 2:48AM]

I use Adobe Premier, works awesome with the footage. Maybe you need to use a better software package to edit the format. It's hardly like the format is new, it's been around for some time now.

[comptr @ Apr 19th 2008 9:48PM]

Well the Canon HF 10 or 100 is 100x better than the panasonic SD-9

[Indeed @ Apr 18th 2008 8:04AM]

They better be, given the price difference

[Chip @ Apr 18th 2008 1:01PM]

Trust me, they are. I personally have the HF10. The video footage is always nothing short of stunning. The HF10 is close to perfect for prosumer HD flash based video cameras.

[KC @ Apr 17th 2008 9:56PM]

This is garbage.

To download the files to your computer you must plug in the AC adapter. To plug in the AC adapter, you have to remove the battery because the the connector is in the battery compartment. You have to open the LCD to remove the battery and the camcorder naturally turns on, and removing the battery at that point leaves the electronic lens cover open.

[ASDFer @ Apr 19th 2008 4:58AM]

Use card reader. That's why it's using SDHC card.

Easier to manage and archive than hard-drive based AVCHD camcorder.

[tbnz @ Apr 17th 2008 10:44PM]

Bollocks, i have one of these and it's awesome!

For a start, why would you want to take photos with it? it's a VID,E,O camera.

You don't need to plug in the AC adapter to get your footage off, you just take out the SD card (via the easy access slot on the back) and stick it in your PC/Laptop, copy your footage off in seconds and then put the card back in. Your not in Tape / Hard Drive world now, so stop thinking you need to plug your camera into your PC.

The best thing about it being SD rather than Hard Drive, is you can effectively take multiple 'hard drives' with you and hot swap them when needed especially with the 32GB cards becoming available this month.

Not to mention much longer lasting battery, no noise, no moving parts (except the lens), it's so fricken small you can take it anywhere, the price for what you get compared to others is outstanding ... I could go on and on ...

[Porkchop Flavored Cupcake @ Apr 17th 2008 10:54PM]

The SD9 has been getting horrible reviews everywhere.
It hasn't even been out for 6 months and Panasonic has had to drop the price a couple hundred already.
Matsushita/Panasonic needs to step their game up, seriously.

[tbnz @ Apr 18th 2008 2:49AM]

The only bad reviews I have read is people complaining about pathetic things like "the buttons being to small", or "the video assist prompts are too big on the screen" or "if you leave the auto power on then it powers on when you open the lcd" um, that's why it's called 'auto power on'.

Very minor problems and hardly horrible reviews, most reviews I've read see beyond these small issues and give the camera a good rating.

[ASDFer @ Apr 17th 2008 11:07PM]

Apparently someone figured out a way to make SD9 work with Final Cut Pro.

It was in Apple Discussion Thread.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7017086

[Chip @ Apr 18th 2008 1:07PM]

Apparently not naively or consistently by reading the threads. Apple should really fix FC and FCP. FWIW, Sony Vegas works seamlessly with the new AVCHD cameras.

[starkruzr @ Apr 18th 2008 2:47AM]

VIEWFINDER.

WHY DO THEY ALWAYS LEAVE THE VIEWFINDER OUT OF HDD CAMCORDERS?!

Ugh.

[Pawel @ Apr 18th 2008 6:24AM]

How Panasonic HDC-SD9 record video in HD 1920x1080 pixels use

1/6z 3CCD image sensor
Total: 560 Kx3
Effective pixels:
Motion picture: 520 Kx3
Still picture: 520 Kx3

Please calculate:

1920 x 1080 = 2073600 piksels
520K * 3 = 1560000 piksels

Where is 513600 (24%) piksels in image sensor for capture video in Full HD 1920x1080?

Mayby... Panasonic HDC-SD9 Record video in 1920x1080 but not capture video in 1920x1080 piksels?

[AAKTEN @ May 30th 2008 10:26AM]

I bought it Panasonic HDCHS9... Advertised "FULL HD" and "1080p"!...
IT IS NOT 1080p !
I setup "HA" and "24p" mode... Than record... And also connect to my Mitsubishi 73833 tv... TV "info" shows signal is 1080i !
My tv shows blue-Ray dvd 1080p... My tv shows satelite broadcast 1080p because signals come from ONKYO SR-875 with HQV... It means there is no problem vith TV!
DO NOT BELEIVE IT 1080p! This is wrong announced!

[Aaron @ Apr 18th 2008 8:56AM]

Can someone recommend a hard drive based, HD video cam that is small and performs well?

[Mike @ Apr 18th 2008 9:06AM]

Nice try shill. That's $250 more than anyone else is charging and $600 more than it's worth.

[Alan Strangis @ Apr 18th 2008 9:20AM]

I don't know about hard drive based, because in that price range, the Canon HV30 (and older HV20), are much better. Sure it's using HDV which is really 1440x1080 stretched on output to 1920, but AVCHD just doesn't cut it yet - WAY too much blockiness in high-motion areas.

[Chip @ Apr 18th 2008 1:09PM]

Alan, have you seen the new Canon HF10 or HF100 footage? It's AVCHD codecs are higher bit rate which dramatically helps with that blockiness.

[tbnz @ Apr 20th 2008 6:50AM]

The SD9 has the same AVCHD max bitrate as the HF10.

[Rob @ Apr 21st 2008 2:04AM]

Check out the few video samples of the Canon HF10 and the Panasonic HDC SD9. The Canon HF may have a slight edge on the image quality because of the CMOS lense being larger thus allowing more light.

Overall though the HF10 doesn't appear to be head and shoulders above the HDC SDP.

IMO the HDC SD9 is a great deal right now. YEah the pricing is great right now but keep in mind it doesn't seem like there is alot of "internet" people using it and not many are risking buying them. However with the price drops and more people buying them I think there will be more people using it and that will help the HDC SD9 grow in popularity.

Canon's are awalys popular.

Go to http://vimeo.com to see decent movie samples of HF10 and SDP for comparisons.

[Joe T. @ Apr 21st 2008 9:42AM]

Jeez-- talk about picky. I bought one of these last week to replace my aging Sharp VL-D5000u. It's a very nice camera, even if I still prefer the handling of the relatively huge Sharp to the Panasonic.

So opening the LCD turns on the camera on is a negative? The hard off switch is next to where a user would open the LCD and next to the user's right thumb. No big deal to take out the battery. In any case, you should have a UV filter on the front of the lens which'll help protect the lens.

The annoying "intelligent" pop ups are translucent and easily turned off.

Downloading footage does not necessarily require the removal of the battery, either. You simply remove the SD card and insert it in a card reader. I don't know why anyone would want to download footage via USB.

No mic input is a bit of a bummer, but if I wanted higher-quality sound, I'd pull out my Roland DAW and condenser mics vs. plugging a different mic into a camcorder.

My wife was using this camera with fifteen seconds of tutorial where she never quite got the hang of the ancient Sharp.

At ap. $650 street, I don't see how you can beat this for a 1920x1080p consumer camcorder.

[Jepz @ Apr 27th 2008 6:50PM]

Most reviews put a negative on the SD9. But it does what it was advertised- shoot sharp AVCHD quality video. Even at the next resolution level, the videos were sharp. As to still photos, CNET was wrong in saying its awful. Remember that this Panny only takes 2.1 megapixel shots. And will not compete with current high megapixels digital camera. Always remember to lower the flash brightness as it can overpower your still shot.

Zooming from wide to telephoto was smooth. And the OIS really works! You will be amazed by the sound quality recorded by the video cam. Its crystal clear.

I have only 3 complaints- First, the software to edit vidoes is just the basic HD Writer. And you have to pay to use the Pinnacle CD. Second, you can only download videos directly to your PC with an A/C adaptor plugged to your Cam. That entails removing the battery. Third, to view HDMI videos, using a cable, you have to remove the battery. The HDMI plug is located beside the A/C plug.

Overall, I rate this cam 8/10.

[astronomer @ May 22nd 2008 5:47AM]

There is an optical problem with the HDC-SD5, and I wonder if it has been solved on the SD-9 : when shooting through a telescope or microscope, an ugly dark bar appears across the image, horizontally. It is perhaps caused by a glue line in the color separator prism. This spurious pattern also appears if an external diaphragm, a few millimeters in aperture size, is installed in front of the lens. Although not visible in ordinary condiitons, it probably degrades slightly the image quality at minimal aperture.

Another optical problem, common to most camcorders having a non-removable lens, is that the macro mode is useless for those who shoot butterflies, ants , etc... For such uses, where HD is a major progress and can provide breathtaking sequences, I bought from Melles Griot a 100mm foca-length achromat, anti-reflection coated, which I install in front of the lens, held by a home-made lens cell. The results are excellent.

Birds also are worth filming, but the zoom range is far too short. Somewhat should design a strong tele-converter, at affordable price.
Nature observers hope that small HD camcorders will become available with a removable lens. The thick tri-CCD color separator however generates some spherical aberration, and correcting optics may have to be included for compatibility with a wide range of lenses.