Any feedback on Panasonic SD1 or SD5?

[twalkman]

I'm thinking of upgrading my Panasonic GS200 to a new HD camcorder. After extensive reading it looks like the HV20 is the consensus favorite right now, so I went to the local Fry's to take a look.

I was surprised to find how big the HV20 is compared to my current camera. At the store I tried the Panasonic SD5 -- my goodness it was sweet! So compact and a pleasure to hold.

Does anyone have here have any experience with this camera? In particular, have you noticed problems with "stuttering" on pans, or problems with low-light capabilities? It sounds like the frequently mentioned editing problems can be solved with Vegas 8.

[racer-x]

From what I've read, the SD5 is a downgrade from the SD1 and the SD3. It uses smaller CCD's and therefore produce more noise in low light conditions. I would go with the SD1 or SD3 if that is the camera you're interested in. AVCHD is no picnic to work with, you'd better have a very fast PC, preferably a quad-core and up..........You may also want to look at the Canon HC10 AVCHD HDD camcorder.

I have a Canon HV20 and wouldn't trade it for any AVCHD camera...............

[Ollie6431]

... At the store I tried the Panasonic SD5 -- my goodness it was sweet! So compact and a pleasure to hold.
Does anyone have here have any experience with this camera? In particular, have you noticed problems with "stuttering" on pans, or problems with low-light capabilities? It sounds like the frequently mentioned editing problems can be solved with Vegas 8.

I have an HDC SD1, which is slightly larger than the SD5, and has larger CCDs (1/4'' vs 1/6'' for the SD5). I have not compared the footage between them in low light to see the difference but most people would think that the smaller CCD in the SD5 would have a negative impact. Due to downsizing the cam, Panasonic also takes away the 5.1 sound and the Mic input in the SD5. It is interesting that you can get the better SD1 now for around $750 whereas the newer SD5 costs around $1,000.

I did not experience any stuttering with panning, something that has been reported for AVCHD by professional videocam reviewer. I am just an average hobbyist and cannot see that. I also had excellent video in low light with indoor footage. I guess one can test the cam to extreme conditions (use the cam with very fast panning or in really dark area) to see how much it can take but I see no practical reason for doing this.

There are plenty of softwares available now for editing AVCHD footage but they require top-of-the line PCs to get a reasonable processing time. It took my not-too-old PC (see profile) 3 hours to put together an AVCHD-DVD with only 20 minutes of video and a menu, no real editing involved. This sounds quite discouraging for those who are used to fast turn-around-time for editing/burning standard-def DVD. I believe that HDV is less CPU-intensive for editing but still requires a very high-end PC since HDV is MPEG-2, also with inter-frame compression.

For now, I just display the AVCHD footage directly from the cam to the TV. Two years from now, High-Def (HD DVD or Bluray, depending on which one still survives) recorders with 1Tb hard-drive would be available for $200 (?). I will consider editing my video into high-def DVD then.

[twalkman]

Thanks for the feedback!

The HV20 sounds like a great camera, but I know from previous history that a small size is a very important factor for me -- or I won't bother taking.

Ollie: have you handled an SD5? Would you say that it's a big ergonomic improvement over the SD1? Or would you say the SD1 is already very small and compact compared to the Tape HD camcorders? I'm just asking because I'm only finding the SD5 in my local stores.

[Ollie6431]

Thanks for the feedback!

Ollie: have you handled an SD5? Would you say that it's a big ergonomic improvement over the SD1? Or would you say the SD1 is already very small and compact compared to the Tape HD camcorders? I'm just asking because I'm only finding the SD5 in my local stores.

To me, the SD5 is only a little smaller. The SD1 is small enough in my hands (I do not have big hands!). I found all the miniDV/DVD/HDD (HD) camcorders bulky due to the miniDV/DVD/HDD compartment on the right side of the body. Below are the specs of the two cams that you can see for yourself (from camcorderinfo):
SD1:
Weight (gm) 430.00
Width (mm) 74.00
Height (mm) 69.00
Length (mm) 142.00

SD5:
Weight (gm) 340.19
Width (mm) 66.04
Height (mm) 66.04
Length (mm) 134.62

Of course, you may want to select the SD5 if small size is the most important factor. The SD5 also comes with a DVD burner for burning/playing AVCHD DVD, a useful feature if you shoot lots of video (SDHC cards are still expensive now).