Panasonic HDC-HS900

This mini-review appeared in our February 2012 Home Entertainment roundup.

The HDC-HS900 is a high-end DV camera from Panasonic, with the rare distinction of recording at up to 1080/50p. This means 50 full frames per second – not the 25 you’ll find in most models shooting at 1080/50i or 1080/25p. Smoother motion is the main benefit there, and it shows.

For the top-shelf price, you get both a 3.5-inch LCD screen and a pop-out electronic viewfinder. Recording controls are well designed, and you can zoom either with the traditional rocker-switch atop the camera, or with a ‘manual’ ring around the lens for extra precision.

Storage is an internal 220GB hard drive – this pushes up the weight compared to solid-state competitors, but provides an amazing 19 hours recording at top-quality, and 95 hours at the lowest-quality (still HD). An SD card slot provides additional storage.

Audio is recorded in 5.1-channel surround sound via onboard microphones – quality is good, though the surround effect is reasonably subtle.

With an optional lens adapter, stereoscopic 3D recording is possible.

For those with a serious interest in 3D recording, Panasonic’s HDC-SDT750 offers the same functionality out of
the box.