Panasonic HDC-HS250

High definition camcorders are the latest wave of products to hit the shelves, and the Panasonic HDC-HS250K is a good sub $1000 camcorder that is on offer from the lovely people at Panasonic, and is one in a group that has arrived for us to road test this week. This is another camcorder that they claim is a HDD/SD hybrid, but as far as we can see this is just something to say. This IS a high definition camcorder of that you can be sure, and SD – Standard Definition is clearly on the way out for camcorder technology. You know how this works by now. We get to play with the shiny new products and review them, and you can then decide if this maybe the camcorder for you.

Panasonic HDC-HS250K Camcorder

Design

Finally, the third Panasonic box we open and we actually like the contents. Why they can’t make their 300 series look more like this we don’t know, but this looks much more stylish. We think this is better looking simply because they have removed their red lines around the lens and on the side, as it is a similar shape and size to their others. Again this is a camcorder that weighs less than 1lb and measures 2.87″ x 2.72″ x 5.04″ so again this is perfectly portable and can be slipped into a pocket or handbag and taken with you virtually anywhere – ideal for your friends wedding as it won’t spoil your look and can tuck away into a small purse. The hand strap is good, and there is the normal pull out screen, which again features touch screen technology.

Functionality

We are impressed with the internal storage for the price of the unit as the Panasonic HDC-HS250K offers a whopping 120GB of memory, and has an SD slot should this not be enough for you, although a SD card is not included in the price. This camcorder has the 12x zoom f1.8-2.8 lens which is also used in the other two in the range, and this provides a superb performance. This is not new lens technology for Panasonic though, as it is also used in some of their older camcorders, but hey if it works then why change it?

We were again more than happy with the image standard when we recorded some footage of the office, and again this is thanks to the lovely gadgetry that is on offer. The high definition combines seamlessly with the 3MOS, the Intelligent Automatic and the OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) to turn this unit into a point and shoot that even your granny can cope with. The 3MOS adds to the clarity and sharpness of the pictures, whist the Intelligent Automatic means that the camcorder makes continuous adjustments to the controls whilst filming to ensure that the best pictures are obtained. The OIS is great for sorting picture stability when not using a tripod, as it compensates for the handshake that happens when you hand the camera to granny or when you just haven’t had enough coffee!

Most of the controls are on the touch screen, which sadly lets Panasonic down on all the models they have used it for so far, as it just isn’t reliably responsive. Sometimes there are no issues. You choose an option and touch the screen, and the camcorder responds beautifully. However, at other times, no matter how you touch the screen it just won’t select the option you want and this really can get quite frustrating as you can imagine. We are hoping that someone has pointed this out to Panasonic and that they can come up with a solution before they use it again on a new model, as it does let them down rather badly.

Conclusion

This is a nice unit for the price. It isn’t spectacular, but it does what it says on the box. It records a good standard of image, and the expected connectors are there. The USB slot (hey, they are just everywhere on every piece of kit imaginable these days!), the SD slot and all the other connectors are concealed neatly, and as we said this is a good looking unit that we would be happy to carry around with us. For the price and specification you will struggle to beat this deal, so we would suggest that if you want a lower range camcorder for everyday family type recording you would be well advised to try this one on for size. Plus the fact it is a robust and solid unit, great for the entry level beginner.

Average User Rating:

• “Excellent picture quality 1080 p tons of features, but make sure you pick up the camera kit. It includes the extra battery and you save dollars. You won’t be disappointed.” – T.West (NY,USA)
• “This product works great. Good enough zoom and picture quality is great with good lighting. I like the software to burn DVDs that comes with it as well. I would recommend this product to any of my friends.” – H.Forni (CA,USA)

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