Panasonic HDC-HS250 – A Very Good Prosumer High Definition Camcorder

Panasonic HDC-HS250 – A Very Good Prosumer High Definition Camcorder

Panasonic HDC-HS250 is an excellent high definition camcorder that provides high quality video, solid performance and broad manual feature set. It is an excellent Prosumer camcorder that comes with features of hard drive based HDC-HS300 and flash based HDC-TM300 models. All models come with 8-2.8 12x zoom lens with three-megapixel ¼.1-inch 3MOS sensors with effective resolution of 2.07 megapixels for 16:9 video. The three chip systems found in Panasonic use lower than high definition resolution sensors that don’t produce terribly sharp high definition video. The highest video quality offered by HDC-HS250 is 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution at 17mps (megabits per second) and 30 frames per second and has the ability to record for about eight minutes of video per gigabyte of storage.

The Panasonic HDC-HS250 comes with all those features found in HS300 and TM300 including microphone input, manual focus ring, accessory shoe and EVF. It also comes with Intelligent Automatic and Optical image stabilization of previous models. The Panasonic measures 2.7 inches tall, 5.0 inches long, 2.9 inches wide and weighs approximately less than a pound; which makes it not the lightest but larger and smallest as compared to other models like Canon Vixia HG20. You will find the manual and stabilizer buttons inside the LCD recess, while on the other hand, many of the controls are operated through touchscreen/hybrid button interface. The recess reveals SD card slot, audio-video component video output, USB port and mini high definition media input.

Under your right forefinger, you will find a traditional dual mode for selecting playback, power, still recording and video. There is a three-second prerecord and Intelligent Auto button above the LCD, while on the bezel there are Menu and delete buttons and record and zoom controls. You can also select options through menu such as choose from handful of scene modes and where to record. There are plenty of options for Digital Cinema Mode which include mic options, guidelines, video quality, LCD brightness, picture size and onscreen display options. However, the Panasonic provides ample of same manual feature as compared to previous models including a button which lives in LCD recess – manual focus, iris, white balance and shutter. There are some primary options which occur through touchscreen menus; on the other hand, there is a Spot AF and AE, MagicPix night, backlight compensation, telemacro, intelligent contrast fade and soft skin mode.

Standard features and specification on Panasonic HDC-HS250 include 120GB hard drive, 12x optical zoom, 1.6 lux. low light performance, advanced OIS, touchscreen navigation, 5.1 channel surround sound recording with zoom mic, touch panel 2.5-inch wide intelligent LCD, built in MPEG2 converter, 0.6 second quick start and highlighted playback. GPS reviews said that the video and image quality of this particular model is on the par and is quite good. All Panasonic models are designed with dimensions of 5.0 inches long, 2.9 inches wide and 2.7 inches high, making it excellent choice and comfortable to hold especially with slight upward curve. Overall it is a solid Prosumer high definition camcorder which effectively competes with other models in the market like Canon Vixia HG20.