Not all of us have a spare grand to splash out on a camcorder, and we don't all need the full manual controls offered by Panasonic's top of the range models, such as the HDC-TM700 we reviewed recently. So, while the new HDC-SD600 promises 1080/50p progressive high-definition quality video and 14.2-megapixel stills, it pares back some of the more professional aspects in an effort to lower the pricetag to a more palatable £600.
Full-fat HD
Many manufacturers make the claim that their camcorders are capable of recording 'Full' HD, but there are remarkably few consumer models that can actually capture decent 1080p footage. Low frame rates and low-quality encoding formats are rife. If you want progressive frames made up of 1,920x1,080 pixels per frame running at 50 or 60 frames per second, your only real option in this area would have been to opt for one of Panasonic's excellent but expensive 700 series camcorders. Now, however, Panasonic has effectively undercut the market itself with its very own HDC-SD600.
The HDC-SD600 is, to all intents and purposes, a cut-back version of the HDC-TM700. It shares the same optics and imaging hardware but has no onboard storage, relying on you to supply your own via an SD card. It's also missing some of its cousin's high-end features, most notably the manual focus ring, viewfinder, audio inputs and 5.1 surround-sound recording.
What you're left with is a cheaper, easier to use, lighter unit with a spec list that would still make the average camcorder green with envy. Face recognition, touch-screen controls, HDMI-out, 12x optical zoom and 14.2-mexapixel photos are just a few of the star players.
Crucially, the wide 35mm lens and high-resolution triple-MOS sensor produce some impressive pictures -- both moving and still -- helped by a highly effective optical image stabiliser that really does a great job of quelling those shakes.
In terms of video, the HDC-SD600 can shoot at a number of different quality settings. Most record in 1080i HD resolution at ascending bit rates (up to 17Mbps), but a separate manual button under the fold-out LCD screen switches the unit to 1080p mode. This records 50 progressive frames per second in a slightly different video format to standard AVCHD.
It's at a very high bit rate of 28Mbps and the results are unlike anything you're likely to see anywhere else in this price range. Colours are vibrant (a little too vibrant at times, but we'll get to that later) with little or no bleed. Edges are sharp, skin tones look natural and, above all, the image boasts a level of detail that's so high, it almost hurts your eyes.
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realspeed 28 November 2011
Good: excellent video quality for me TV standard
Bad: connecting to external DVD writer which has to be mains powered, hard to find
Comment: I am please with it overall, it fits nicely into a coat/trouser pocket. The disk that comes with it takes some getting used to and downloading video files takes a time as they have to be converter first. Best done via camera which cut down transfer time. Wind noise can be a problem and there is no way to cover the mic although there is a built in program to reduce it.
Just been to Egypt on a cruise and gave it a good test in bright sunlight and in evening entertainment on board. The camera performed exceptionally well in both lights even though I only used auto settings.
Would I recommend it yes, but suggest going for the SD700 instead for the external mic fitting
Malcolm McDonald 2 December 2010
Good: Build Quality, Remote Control, Manual and Automatic Focus
Bad: Edge Enhancement,
Comment: I bought the Panasonic SD-600 after glowing reviews, it seemed to be the perfect camcorder for my needs, as a home cinema fan with a large 104 inch full HD 1920x1080p projection setup, i tend to notice issues on formats like blu ray and i write reviews for my own website on such issues.
I have now had this camcorder about five weeks and i have unfortunately spotted it's achilles heel, The camcorder sharpens edges, it doesn't matter if you set the sharpness to -5 or 0 it sharpens the edges which results in annoying halo's, an example of this is someone wearing a dark coat against a white snowy background, check the outline of their body and you will notice a thin line around it, that's the sharpening effect in play.
Edge enhancement should never be used on high definition content as it results in very unpleasant image quality and introduces problematic things such as halo's around buildings and people. it's often noticeable in high contrast area's where you have darker objects with a light background, it is so annoying, now i know a lot of people cannot notice these types of issues and thats why DVD movies sold so well, most DVD's are riddled with this issue but HD content is supposed to be detailed enough to not need sharpening, why it's on the Panasonic camcorder i cannot say but it's a major flaw, it's the only major flaw with the camera but it's a huge one.
In my opinion most of the perceived image detail on this camcorder does in fact comes from the sharpening effect, it's not real detail, real sharp high definition detail does not require sharpening, it's an illusion and unfortunately it's cost me a lot of money to find this out.
I am very disappointed with this camera, i cannot live with edge enhancement, halo's are just ugly and not what you expect with high definition material.
Christos Horattides 20 July 2010
Good: Video quality and great stills!
Bad: For less that £80 more , you can get TM700
Comment: Great for shooting video and stills for family events or travelling.And this is what I usually do. I got rid of my TZ5 (gave it to my children) and I take stills with my SD600.
The problem is that although the tag price shows that it is £200 cheaper than TM700, you need around £120 to get a 32Gb SD card (No memory is supplied with the camera) when TM700 has already a 32Gb SDD. So don't be fooled by the tag price. It's NOT that cheaper from the TM700.
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