Panasonic HDC-HS9 Camcorder
Review

The HDC-HS9 delivers a decent image in bright light, but it’s nothing to hold a parade for. Inside are three 1/6-inch CCDs, which is a downgrade from Panasonic’s first-generation HDC-SD1, which had larger chips. Sharpness, color detail, and overall resolution lack with the HDC-HS9 compared to the Canon HF10 and Sony HDR-SR12. In low lighting situations, the HDC-HS9’s video performance is simply too dark. Color information dwindles significantly, and noise levels shoot off the charts. Overall, the picture quality will still look good on your HDTV, but as we said before, there are better choices out there.

The HDC-HS9’s Auto mode suits most well-lit shooting environments. However, in lower light settings we noticed the auto focus faltering. For shooters who want a modicum of interaction with their camcorder but may not have a lot of shooting experience, there are a slew of auto settings including Low Light Mode, Intelligent Contrast, and Backlight Compensation. Based on the setting, the HDC-HS9 can be set to a custom Scene Mode preset, which includes Sports, Portrait, Spotlight, and Surf & Snow. There are all one-touch manual controls that can help your picture.

A comprehensive manual control set used to be Panasonic’s claim to fame, but recently Sony and Canon have excelled beyond, offering more useful controls and better access to them. The HDC-HS9 includes manual focus, white balance, and independent aperture and shutter speed – a classic set of options for the knowledgeable, but that’s the problem. Most consumers would be bewildered if asked to adjust the f-stop on their camcorder. While all Canon, Sony, and JVC camcorders include an easy-to-understand exposure up/down tool, Panasonic fails to offer a simple recourse for this basic task.

In hand, the HDC-HS9 is petit—you can slip it in a coat pocket or fanny pack with ease. Unfortunately, the rest of the HDC-HS9’s architecture is downhill from there. The microphone interferes with the top fingers, the hand strap is cheap, ports are few and hard to reach, and the camcorder has an overall flimsy feel to it. Worst of all, designers moved the joystick – the point of access for nearly all interface – from the back of the body to inside the LCD cavity, completely out of sight.

You may find some relief knowing capacity is not a problem. If the 60GB internal hard drive fills up, you can expand with SD/SDHC/MMC memory cards. There’s no need to fuss over tapes or DVDs. The AVCHD codec might be a bit of a bump in the road for editing, as it requires a powerful computer and compatible editing software.

Overall, the Panasonic HDC-HS9 is a decent all-around camcorder, and has proved popular in the market, but fails to best address the needs of any particular audience. Better video performance can be found from the Canon HF10 and HF100 or Sony HDR-SR11 / HDR-SR12. All of those camcorders are also easier to use and offer more consumer friendly manual controls. The HDC-HS9’s price tag is one of its redeeming qualities, though the Canon HF10 is a mere $100 more. Our advice? For a bargain, look to the Canon HF100. More advanced users should hold out for the recently announced Panasonic HDC-HS100.

For a more in-depth review, visit the Panasonic HDC-HS9 Review at our partner CamcorderInfo.com