Performance

The Panasonic HDC-SD9 has three 1/6-inch CCD sensors. Each has a gross pixel count of 560,000 and an effective pixel count of 520,000, which is the same as the Panasonic HDC-SD5 and smaller than the HDC-SD1, which had three 1/4-inch chips. The newfound ability to record in full 1920 x 1080 will likely increase sharpness as long as the light is adequate, but expect to see a drop off in low light performance. Full 1920 x 1080 recording was also available on the HDC-SD5, but we never got a chance to get one into our labs. It’s just as well, because Panasonic did a great job of yanking them off the shelves after about six months.

Low Light Performance

The low light performance of the Panasonic HDC-SD9 will be very interesting once we get it in the testing lab. The imaging chips shrunk since the first generation HDC-SD1, but the capture and output resolution has increased. Does this just mean that we’ll be able to see the noise more clearly? We’re not sure, but it’s our job to remain skeptical. In the past, Panasonic AVCHD camcorders have done an admirable job at keeping noise to a minimum (comparatively), but even when it was working with 1/4-inch chips, the sensitivity in low light was not very good. Now that the chips are an even smaller 1/6-inch, this can only decrease further.

 

 

 

 

Format

Compression

Like the Panasonic HDC-SD1 and HDC-SD5 before it, the Panasonic HDC-SD9 captured video in the AVCHD format. While Sony and Canon are just rolling out full HD (1920 x 1080) recording at the 2008 CES trade show, the Panasonic HDC-SD5 (the HDC-SD9’s predecessor) was upgraded to 1920 x 1080 about six months ago. Of course, the HDC-SD9 retains this upgrade.

The Panasonic HDC-SD9 is only capable of capturing in high definition. The highest compression options is HA, which captures at 1920 x 1080 at 17Mbps, which is slightly higher than the 15Mbps bit rate we saw on the HDC-SD5. Ever so slowly, we’re witnessing manufacturers inching towards AVCHD’s maximum bit rate of 24Mbps.

Other compression options include HG at 13Mbps and HX at 9Mbps, both of which captured in 1920 x 1080. The lowest options is HE, which captured 1440 x 1080 at 6Mbps. When we tested the Panasonic HDC-SD1 we saw a lot of compression artifacts that made the footage look blocky and caused motion trailing. We’ll be interested to get the Panasonic HDC-SD9 into our labs to see if this issue has been addressed with the resolution and bit rate increase.

Media

The Panasonic HDC-SD9 is one of a growing number of flash (or solid-state) based camcorders, recording exclusively to SDHC memory cards. In this case it’s the third generation of Panasonic’s flash camcorders, preceded by the HDC-SD1 and HDC-SD5, all within the past year. We like that SDHC is an open format that is used in many devices, unlike Sony’s MemoryStick format that will only work with Sony devices. Flash card based storage also provides you with the convenience of simply pulling out the card and plugging it into a card reader attached to your computer to transfer content. It’s also small and easily portable, much more so than MiniDV tapes or even Mini DVDs.

Unlike Canon’s HF10, which gets you ready to roll with 16GB of internal memory, you’ll have to purchase an SDHC card before you start recording with the Panasonic HDC-SD9. SDHC cards are currently available at a maximum of 16GB, with 32GB cards available later this year. Panasonic only quoted a six hour recording time for the lowest HE quality setting, which captures at 6Mbps and 1440 x 1080 resolution, using a 16GB SDHC card. On the CES show floor, we were able to get approximate numbers using a 1GB card for the other quality settings. All these quality settings capture at 1920 x 1080. We got about 6 minutes per gigabyte at HA (17Mbps), 8 minutes per gigabyte at HG (13Mbps) and 13 minutes per gigabyte at HX (9Mbps). These are all approximate times however, even Panasonic’s estimate for HE, because the Panasonic HDC-SD9 records at a variable bitrate, which means it goes up or down depending upon how much information is in the scene.

Editing

A year and a half after the AVCHD format was announced, your editing options have expanded considerably. Unfortunately these options may be constrained a bit because even though AVCHD is an open format the different manufacturers tweak it just enough that software from one manufacturer can have problems with video captured from a rival’s camcorder. This means that you may not be able to use Sony Vegas 8.0 for non-Sony AVCHD camcorders. Ulead Video Studio 11 and Pinnacle Studio 11 are pretty safe bets for universal AVCHD compatibility, but double-check first. On the Mac side you can choose from iMovie ’08 and Final Cut Express 4.0.

The Panasonic HDC-SD9 ships with HD Writer 2.5E. We don’t have any information on the upgrades to this software, but the 1.0 version was a ruudimentary DVD authoring program with very limited editing capabilities. Anyone who wants to do more advanced video editing should invest in some of the above software.

 

 

 

 

Auto / Manual Controls

Picture & Manual Control
*Automatic Control *

Panasonic camcorders have traditionally been the province of the prosumer crowd. People who want to actually learn how to use their camcorder rather than throw it into automatic and not worry about anything. That doesn’t mean that the Panasonic HDC-SD9 lacks an easy to use automatic mode. It just means that when auto control is turned on you still have access to a good selection of options, like Intelligent Contrast, Soft Skin mode, MagicPix, backlight compensation settings, and Tele Macro. Because Panasonic doesn’t provide a real idiot-proofing mode, like Sony and Canon, there is still room to make mistakes that can seriously impact the quality of your video. This makes Panasonic camcorders like the HDC-SD9 a good choice for people who actually want to learn about shooting. Those who don’t want to put in that effort are better off with Sony’s Easy mode.

*Overall Manual Control *

Panasonic has traditionally offered everyone from consumers to professionals a good selection of manual controls, and the HDC-SD9 continues that tradition by providing users with a solid selection of manual controls, including independent aperture and shutter, and gain – controls not often found on consumer camcorders. Where the Panasonic HDC-SD9 falls a little short is in the actual physical elements used to make manual adjustments.

Like the Panasonic HDC-SD5 before it, the HDC-SD9 has a rather small and fiddly joystick you use to navigate and make manual controls. In an attempt to save space the HDC-SD9’s joystick, and accompanying menu button, has been moved from the back of the camcorder to the LCD cavity. This means the days of one-handed operation are over. You will need to use your left index finger to operate the joystick. What’s more, the placement means that your hand will inevitably obscure the small 2.7-inch LCD display as you try to make adjustments. It’s hard to adjust focus when you’re hand is hiding half the screen.

Handling issues aside the HDC-SD9 does give you a good selection of manual controls. Press in on the joystick to bring up the Joystick Menu. Like the menu seen on the Canon HF10, it is a little confusing because you can only go down to move between pages. Up is usually assigned to a control. Where Panasonic does significantly better than Canon is in labeling this. It was very clear to us that up wasn’t going to be used for navigation. We only wish that the icons in the menu were better labeled, although you can activate a Help mode that makes it easier to figure out what everything is. The last page of this menu gives you access to iris, shutter, and white balance controls. Gain starts up once the aperture has been fully opened.

Zoom

Like the HDC-SD5, the Panasonic HDC-SD9’s zoom control is not a traditional toggle but rather a slider. We found that the slider worked well, it was smooth and easy to use but still gave you a good amount of precise control, exactly what you want from a zoom control. Unlike the Sony or Canon camcorders we’ve taken a look at, the Panasonic HDC-SD9 lacks any kind of secondary zoom controls near the LCD. Frankly we’re not missing them much as we found the Zoom Slider to be sufficient for our needs.

Also, like its predecessor, the Panasonic HDC-SD9 has a 10x optical zoom on board. We mentioned this was a little on the small side when we looked at the HDC-SD5 and that opinion is only reinforced by the fact that most of Panasonic’s competitors have taken advantage of their new smaller sensors to add a few notches to their optical zoom, for example the Sony HDR-SR12 is up to a 15x optical zoom.

*Focus *

On the HDC-SD9 is that the focus control doesn’t show up by default when you’re in Manual mode. Instead the Automatic/Manual switch has a third setting for Focus. Doing this will activate the last page in the Joystick Menu where you can get to Focus controls. Why Panasonic added this additional step we don’t know. Perhaps if the switch allowed you to quickly jump to Focus control it might be helpful, but it doesn’t. Unlike Sony camcorders like the Sony HDR-SR12 you don’t have any additional focus controls like Spot Focus.

Like the HDC-SD5, the HDC-SD9 offers the MF Assist tool that automatically draws a frame in the center of the screen when focusing. In this frame is your shot, but at a 2x zoom. This allows you to get a closer look at the action without having to manually zoom in and back out. The MF Assist zoom is not recorded to the final footage, so you don’t have to worry about it wrecking the shot.

*Exposure (Aperture) *

One of Panasonic’s major differences compared to other camcorder manufacturers like Sony or Canon is that they don’t offer a simple exposure adjustment tool. No, when you pick up a Panasonic camcorder like the HDC-SD9 you can expect true iris control – great for power users but intimidating for novices. Like the HDC-SD5 before it, the HDC-SD9 offers the following f-stops: f/16, f/14, f/11, f/9.6, f/8, f/6.8, f/5.6, f/4.8, f/4, f/3.4, f/2.8, and Open. The mysterious half step between each is also still there and we still don’t know what it means. You’ll find exposure adjustments on the fourth page of the Joystick Menu.

Shutter Speed

The Panasonic HDC-SD9 provides users with a good range of shutter speed options as well, including 1/30, 1/60, 1/100, 1/120, 1/180, 1/250, 1/350, 1/500, 1/750, 1/1000, 1/1500, 1/2000, 1/3000, 1/4000, and 1/8000. You can use the MagicPix setting to drop below 1/30, but you won’t have manual control over it. Shutter speed options are also located on the fourth page of the Joystick Menu. Shutter speed settings can be adjusted independently of aperture, which makes for a much more powerful camcorder.

White Balance

The last setting found on the fourth page of the Joystick Menu is white balance, allowing you to choose from indoor, outdoor, auto and manual white balance. The manual White balance can be set by holding the joystick up towards the icon until it blinks at you twice. It will quickly and accurately adjust the white balance based on your scene.

Gain

Panasonic is one of the few camcorder manufacturers to include manual gain controls on its consumer oriented camcorders. The Panasonic HDC-SD9 is no exception, with gain activated once the aperture is opened fully. Your gain steps are 0dB, 3dB, 6dB, 9dB, 12dB, 15 dB, and 18dB, with that mysterious half step between each increment, making a total of 12 steps.

Other Manual Controls
24P - The inclusion of 24P is likely a direct response to the success that Canon had in 2007 with their high definition camcorders, all of which included 24P. So Panasonic plays catch up while at the same time Canon introduces the addition of 30P mode on their new 2008 model – that’s got to be a little frustrating. Even still, 24P is a valuable tool for filmmakers who want to play around with the look of their video, particularly how motion is rendered. The popular belief is that 24P looks like film, which could not be further from the truth. Video in no way, not ever, ever, looks like film – at least not in this price range. But it does look different from 60i, and it’s always good to have options.

Face Detection - Panasonic, like Sony, introduced face detection technology into their camcorders this year. Panasonic’s offering is a little less ambitious than Sony’s. They claim that up to five faces can be detected at once (Sony claims eight) and only Exposure is adjusted, while Sony claims adjustments to color and tone as well. Our on-the-spot testing indicated that the camcorder did indeed live up to its claims. By comparison, however, we confess disappointment that it lacks integration in playback mode. Sony’s new camcorders features a "face index" in playback mode that finds all the faces you’ve recorded and sorts them accordingly.

Zebra Stripes - A pretty simple idea, when activated you will see white stripes on areas of the scene that are overexposed, giving you instant visual feedback for your exposure adjustments.

Guidelines - Another straightforward idea, you get a simple 3 x 3 grid so you can easily line up your shots appropriately.

Color Bars - This feature allows you to record a set of color bars so you can easily calibrate the color on a television set.

Digital Cinema Color - Just like x.v Color found on Sony camcorders this feature allows you to record footage in the xvYCC color space, with nearly twice as many viewable colors as traditional YCC. Unlike Sony’s camcorders, where footage captured this way can be played back on any compatibly television Panasonic limits you to their own Digital Cinema Color compatible TVs.

Intelligent Contrast - This feature, found in the first page of the Joystick Menu, detects the intensity of the ambient light and adjusts the exposure accordingly. The idea is to get rid of blown highlights and obstructed shadows.

 

 

 

 

Still Features

Still Features

Like its predecessors, the Panasonic HDC-SD9 doesn’t impress with its still imaging technology. It lacks a dedicated still capture mode, like you would find on most camcorders. This is just as well, we think. A camcorder only needs to shoot good video to prove its worth. Leave the all-in-one miracle devices to the low-end manufacturers like Mintek.

The HDC-SD9 captures 2.1 megapixel (1920 x 1080) stills while you’re recording by hitting the dedicated still capture button. Consider that the HDR-SR12 can capture up to 10 megapixel stills and 7.6 megapixel stills while recording and you can see that Panasonic doesn’t consider this to be an area worth investing into. You have two quality settings for stills captured with the Panasonic HDC-SD9 and you can activate the flash including options like red-eye reduction. That’s about it.

 

 

 

 

Handling and Use

Ease of Use

Although not quite as easy to use as Sony’s vaunted Easy button, the Panasonic HDC-SD9 isn’t particularly hard to use either. We found the menu system to be straightforward and logical, which is something of a relief after slogging through Canon’s menu system on the HF10. Like its predecessor, the HDC-SD5, you’ll find yourself using a rather small and fiddly joystick to navigate the menu system, but unlike the HDC-SD5, the joystick isn’t located conveniently at the back of the camcorder near your thumb. Instead it’s been moved to the LCD Cavity, which is both less convenient and more difficult to use. That said, point and shooters will love the small size, limited dials and switches and easy to use flash format.

Handling

Speaking of size, the Panasonic HDC-SD9 feels pretty incredible in the hand. At 65 x 67 x 126 millimeters and 274.9 grams, it’s one of the smallest and lightest high definition camcorders on the market. In this case, Panasonic beat its own records, as the HDC-SD9 is almost 20% lighter than its predecessor, the HDC-SD5. Of course small size doesn’t automatically mean it’s a dream to handle. Those with smaller hands or who don’t like to be weighed down by a bigger and heavier camcorder will likely love the Panasonic HDC-SD9. By contrast those with larger hands will find their fingers wrapping almost all the way around the device, inevitably hitting buttons accidentally and covering up the microphone.

A major handling change on the HDC-SD9 is Panasonic’s decision to move the joystick – the primary handling interface – from the back to the left, inside the LCD cavity. The decision to do so was probably necessary in order to shrink the body – a consequence of Panasonic’s quest to remain king of the "smallest camcorders" class. The new position causes some handling issues. When navigating menus, you’ll often find your hand covering part of the LCD display. We liked it better on the back. However, the diminutive size has its advantages. We didn’t experience the flipping and flopping we saw on the Sony HDR-SR12 or the Canon HF10. The bottom line is that those with smaller hands who want a small and light camcorder will love the Panasonic HDC-SD9 while those who like more heft and easier to use controls will probably be annoyed by it.

LCD/Viewfinder

The Panasonic HDC-SD9 has the same 2.7-inch LCD display with a resolution of 300,000 pixels that its predecessors sported. On one hand, we’re starting to see more comfortable displays like the the Sony HDR-SR12’s 3.2-inch LCD display, so 2.7 inches feels a little disappointing. On the other hand the Panasonic HDC-SD9 is so damn small, what else do you expect? We’re actually pretty happy with the resolution on the display, which is significantly higher than the 211,000 pixel resolution on the Sony HDR-UX20’s 2.7-inch display. Given that the HDC-SD9 doesn’t use a touch screen interface, the LCD should be fine for general purposes. For manual focusing, the small size is not beneficial.

The HDC-SD9 does not have a viewfinder, likely for two reasons. First, the trend line sadly indicates that viewfinders are disappearing on most camcorders. Secondly, if size a priority, Panasonic had the viewfinder on the chopping block first. Deal with it. If you want a viewfinder, buy a bigger camcorder.

 

 

 

 

Audio / Playback / Connectivity

 

Audio

The Panasonic HDC-SD9 has a 5.1-channel Dolby digital microphone, the same as Sony’s camcorders and an upgrade over its predecessor, the HDC-SD5. It’s also significantly better than the stereo microphones found on the Canon HF10. Unfortunately the Panasonic HDC-SD9 has lost the microphone and headphone jacks compared to the HDC-SD1, which will be a major issue for some. This is further exarcebated by the fact that the Panasonic HDC-SD9 also lacks a hot Shoe for adding accessories like a Mic. The Panasonic HDC-SD9 does retain the audio level controls found on the HDC-SD5 and there’s also a wind cut setting for the built in microphone and the Zoom Mic feature that allows you to focus the microphone on a certain audio source.

Playback

Playback mode can be entered by moving the mode switch on the back of the Panasonic HDC-SD9 to Playback. You are shown a series of thumbnails representing your clips. To play one simply navigate to it using the joystick and press in. Pressing in again will give you playback controls like pause/play, stop, fast forward and rewind. You can adjust audio using the zoom slider. There’s a separate tab for viewing your photos with a similar interface of thumbnails that can be navigated using the joystick.

Your menu options in Playback mode differ slightly from video record. The Play menu allows you to play, repeat play, resume play, scene protect and guidelines. Edit scene will allow you to divide and delete clips while Disc Copy allows you to burn recorded video directly onto a DVD using a connect burner. The Setup menu will let you format the memory card, adjust the display and other housekeeping adjustments like date/time, TV aspect settings and HDMI resolution.

Connectivity

The Panasonic HDC-SD9 doesn’t provide you with as many connectivity options as the Sony HDR-SR12. We’ve mentioned the missing mic input, headphone jack, and accessory shoe. Those ports the HDC-SD9 does have aren’t as conveniently placed either. The HDMI and DC-in are located under the battery, which means if you want to connect your camcorder to a TV you better hope you also have the A/C adaptor with your or you’re just out of luck. Also, if the battery is running low and you’re doing a long, uniterruptable shot, like a school play, there’s no way to plug in the power without stopping and removing the battery. All the other ports are located in the LCD cavity and consist of an A/V-out port, component-out, and USB port. We don’t find these to be as conveniently placed as the same ports on the Sony HDR-SR12, which were on the right or the back and were better placed to deal with cable clutter. The SDHC Memory card slot is located on the bottom of the back, with a plastic cover that has a switch to open the slot.

 

 

 

 

Other Features/Conclusion

**Other Features
***Faders* - To record video like a real pro turn this option on to add artistic black or white fade in/out effects to your captured video.

Pre-Record - This feature could actually be helpful. When actived, it will automatically store three seconds or recordings in a cache prior to hitting the record button. This means that if you’re trying to catch a scene quickly you’ll get a better shot because the camcorder will be recording even before you hit the button. The only downfall is that you have to estimate when you might need it so you can have the feature on. When left activated, the camcorder is using more battery power than if you had it turned off completely.

Quick Start - This feature allows you to quickly start your camcorder up when activated. Instead of having a dedicated button like Sony’s Quick On feature you instead open and close the LCD to put the Panasonic HDC-SD9 into and take it out of the low power standby mode. When you open the LCD the HDC-SD9 will start up in 1.7 seconds, or at least that is what’s claimed. You’ll also have to train yourself to leave the camcorder in record mode, because even when Quick Start is on, if you turn the mode switch to Off the camcorder will turn off. Confused yet?

MagicPix - This is basically Pansonic’s "night mode", found on the second page of the Joystick menu. MagicPix drops the shutter speed below 1/60 for low light environments. Of course, the darker your environment the slower your shutter will get so recorded footage will have stuttering and significant trailing.

Backlight Compensation (BLC) - A fairly basic feature on most camcorders now, this will adjust the compensation when you have a subject that’s heavily backlit so their details will show better.

Soft Skin Mode - A great feature if your subjects are concerned about how they look, this will soften the contrast of your subject’s skin to smooth wrinkles and get rid of blemishes. It’s basically the poor man’s airbrushing, and we’re sorry to report thatn it doesn’t work miracles. You can find this on the second page of the Joystick menu.

Tele Macro - In what may be the ultimate waste of a feature you can take the time to navigate to page three of the Joystick menu to get your camcorder to zoom in to the maximum 10x and focus on your subject. Of course you can also achieve this by pushing the Zoom slider to the right.

Auto Slow Shutter - This will drop the shutter speed one step below your slowest manual option, which in the case of the Panasonic HDC-SD9 works out to 1/15. This improves the light gathering capabilities of the camcorder.

Conclusion

The Panaosnic HDC-SD9 will appeal to those who want a camcorder to fit their tech-chic lifestyle. It’s extremely compact, solid state, and high definition – three assets that will serve it well with teh jet set crowd. The improvements since the first generation are impressive: now recording in full 1920 x 1080 with an increased bit rate of 17Mbps, a more powerful image optical stabilizaiton system, and cool features like the Pre-Record function. Even the updates since the second generation HDC-SD5 are significant: 24P mode, face detection, Digital Cinema Color (xvYCC), and the Intelligent Shooting Guide.

On the downside, the HDC-SD9 and its second-gen predecessor lost of the mic and headphone jacks that we loved on the first-gne model , wholly removing it from purvue of the video enthusiast. Also, while editing support for the AVHCD format has increased over the last year, you still need a very powerful computer to work with the footage. Even if you do manage to import and stitch a movie together, what are your output choices for the end-format? How many people out there own Blu-Ray burners? Please raise your hands. In reality, most people will end up just plugging the camcorder straight into their TV to watch the raw footage, just as they did years ago with standard def when video editing was relegated to Hollywood, not the home computer.

The HDC-SD9 is a good camcorder, but it’s not perfect for all users.