hdc-sd100
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Panasonic's HDC-SD100 HD camcorder does the review thing
Surely you remember Panny's new duo of camcorders that featured the so-called 3MOS technology. No? At any rate, Panasonic's HDC-SD100 has just been reviewed by the cool cats over at TrustedReviews, and while we're not sure if all that MOS was the reason for its success, critics were generally pleased with the performance (at least in good lighting). They noted that point-and-shoot fans would likely be thrilled, but the professionals in the crowd will probably wish for a few more manual controls. Still, at the end of the day, reviewers proclaimed that if you've been "holding out for an AVCHD camcorder with the full gamut of professional features, this could be your dream come true at last." You hear that? Dream come true, son.
Panasonic's HDC-SD100 and HDC-HS100 AVCHD camcorders, now with extra MOS
Ready for some new terminology? Good, try on "3MOS" -- Panasonic's newest sensor adaptation which, judging by machine translated text, is a trio sensors capturing twice the light of a single CMOS of the same 1/6-inch size. Think 3CCD applied to CMOS sensors. The result is said to be superior image quality and impressive low-light recording capability -- twice the sensitivity of its own 3CCD camcorders thanks to what Panny calls its new "heavy lifting iA" enabling them to shoot in a mere 2 lux of available lighting. That's just a glimpse at what you'll find inside the solid state HDC-SD100 (supporting up to 32GB of SDHC) and the HDC-HS100 hybrid offering both SDHC and a 60GB hard disk for storage. These 1080i AVCHD camcorders also features Panasonic's improved optical image stabilization, a 12x optical zoom, 5.1-surround mic, and HDMI-out.The ¥130,000 (about $1,205) SD100 and ¥150,000 (about $1,390) HS100 should hit the Japanese retail block on July 12th.Update: English press release now available.
