Giving you the best of both worlds is the Panasonic HDC-HS80 as it not only stores video to an SD card but also sports a 120GB hard disk. Panasonic call this type of camcorder a “hybrid” and at $949 it is not badly priced although it is only a single CMOS unit as against its bigger brothers (with bigger prices) that have three sensors. The lens is also a Panasonic one where the more uppity models have Leica lenses.

Nonetheless, the image is pin sharp, helped by the addition of an Optical Image Stabilisation system even after the Power Zoom is kicked in up to 34x. The F1.8 (33.7mm) rating is none too shabby too.

Of course the HS80 records in hi-def (using MPEG4 and AVCHD) and stills can be taken although at a maximum of 3 megapixels, they are no great shakes in comparison to a dedicated still camera or even many camcorders these days.

iA (Intelligent Auto) features a special Face Recognition function recognising the faces of previously registered subjects. It then automatically optimises the focus and exposure for those people. iA also continues to track the subjects as they move within the shot’s frame, thus making sure the camera is not hunting around for something to lock on to, or worse, zooming over the subject’s shoulder and latching on to the tree 50 metres behind..

Using the 2.7” LCD screen, Touch Operation allows for extremely smooth shooting and playback (including Touch Zoom, to swiftly move in and out at the touch of a finger) and Touch Shutter, where you automatically focus and take a photo by touching the subject on the screen.

The HS80 has the facility to port footage for later editing in hi-def via USB, has mini HDMI output (but no cable is supplied) and A/V. You can also re-render footage for display on Facebook or YouTube via the supplied software. For Mac users, the HS80 also supports the iFrame (960 * 540/30p) recording format.

Ergonomically, the HS80 is nice to use with the rocker switch based zoom/wide falling directly under the index finger and the on/off under the right hand thumb. The only other physical controls are OIS on/off and Manual on/off.

In summary, the HDC-HS80 is a great little camera. I am not sure of the logistics of using SD and an HDD; I feel one or the other would soon be redundant with no extra advantage. SD gives the benefit of no moving parts and an HDD means super large storage, so the two together makes not a lot of sense to me.

Image quality is good however, it’s light and easy to carry and it has the name Panasonic attached to it. Personally I’d got for a three chip model and probably ditch the hard drive, but nonetheless, the HS80 will suit many people.

By David Hague

David is the owner and publisher of AusCam Online. He has a background in media dating back to 1979 when he first got involved with photojournalism in motorsport, and went from there into technology via a 5 year stint with Tandy Computers. Following that, he ran a software distribution company on the Gold Coast and was one of the first to recognise the potential of Microsoft Windows.

Moving back to WA, David wrote scripts for Computer Television for video training for the just released Windows and Office 95 among others, and was then lured to Sydney to create web sites for the newly commercial Internet in 1995, building hundreds of sites under contract to OzEmail including Coates Hire, Hertz Queensland, John Williamson, the NSW Board of Studies and many, many more.

He went back into full time journalism as the Managing Editor for Channel 7's 'Gadget Guy', Peter Blasina's publications VideoCamera and Pixelmag, before starting Australasian Camcorder magazine when these publications were shelved. He lives at Sydney's Avalon Beaches nearly on the ocean front with dog Budweiser and in his spare time is a nut for motor sport, road safety, fishing, science fiction - especially Dr Who - and technology.

David can be contacted via david@auscamonline.com