New Panasonic 700 Series Camcorders
Panasonic introduced improvements and new features in their new top of the line 700 series camcorders. The new Panasonic HDC-TM700 and Panasonic HDC-HS700 come with the high performance Leica Dicomar Lens and expensive 3MOS sensor. Facial recognition is much improved. Intelligent Zoom which is an enhanced digital zoom that uses Intelligent Resolution Technology which Panasonic claims will improve the image quality even when digital zoom kicks in. Here’s how Matt Frazer, Panasonic’s technical rep explains it:
The HDC-TM700 lists at just below $1000 records on built-in 32GB internal memory. Video can also be stored on optional SD/SDHC/SDXC cards. It is very light and weighs in at just 380g with battery. Very portable indeed. The low-light performance of the camera is promising, at least when viewed through the 3.0 inch LCD display.
The HDC-HS700 (MSRP $1399) has a built in 240GB HDD, good enough to capture video at the highest resolution for 1.5 hours. The 5.1 channel surround sound built-in microphones is something new too.
Both these camcorders also feature the improved Power O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) which reduces the effects of shaky hands. It is very effective even at high zoom settings. The system uses gyro sensors to detect even tiny amounts of hand-shake, then shifts the lens and adjusts the optical axis to compensate.
These high end camcorders are certainly impressive and in terms of performance they come pretty close to prosumer models.