World's
Smallest HD Camcorder
by DAVID POGUE
Well, this ought
to be good.
This
month, Sony released its HDR-TG1, which it calls the world’s smallest
full high-definition camcorder.
Which is a little
odd, because Panasonic just released its HDC-SD9, which it claims is
the world’s smallest full hi-def camcorder. And that must come as something
of a shock to Sanyo, which calls its Xacti 1000 the world’s smallest
full hi-def camcorder.
It’s not
really any surprise that these electronics companies are fighting for
the “world’s smallest” title. Camcorder sales have been steadily declining,
and the focus groups keep giving the same reason: camcorders are too
big, bulky and complex to carry around. Besides, the movie mode on today’s
shirt-pocket still cameras does just fine for quick clips.
Thus the “high
definition” part. The camcorder makers intend to score where most still
cameras dare to tread: in the land of stunning, ultra-clear, widescreen,
full hi-def video. (“Full,” in these three cases, means “1080i” high
definition, which means a picture composed of, for example, 1,440 by
1,080 pixels.)
None of these camcorders
are pants-pocket small, but they’re certainly purse or coat-pocket small.
And you don’t need a ruler to see that the Sony TG1 ($900) is, in fact,
the smallest of them all. At 1.3 x 4.7 x 2.5 inches, it’s thicker and
wider than a compact still camera, but not by much.
Small doesn’t necessarily
mean satisfying, though. The Sony is basically a titanium brick, with
sharpish edges and few sacrifices made to ergonomics.
Sanyo’s
Xacti 1000 ($700), on the other hand, is chunkier but more sculptured
(2.1 x 4.4. x 3.5). Sanyo’s camcorders are shaped like tiny blow dryers,
with a vertical handle for your hand and a horizontal lens barrel above
it. Sadly, the Xacti lacks a built-in automatic lens cap, like the ones
on the Sony and Panasonic; in fact, it doesn’t even have a loop of string
to attach it. I’ll give it six weeks before you lose it forever.
Finally, the new
Panasonic HDC-SD9 ($700) is shaped more like a traditional tubelike
horizontal camcorder. It feels great in the palm of your hand, and the
leather back-of-the-hand strap makes it feel especially secure. (The
other two camcorders have only a loop of string for your wrist.)
All
three models can connect to an HDTV set using either a mess of component
cables (red, green, blue for video; red and white for audio) or a single
HDMI or mini-HDMI cable, sold separately. On the Sony, that mini-HDMI
jack is on the charging cradle, which is another piece of equipment
to pack and track.
Kudos to all three
companies for their strides in miniaturization. Alas, some of those
strides involved simply eliminating stuff.
For example, these
camcorders record onto memory cards instead of tapes. That means random-access
playback: you can jump from scene to scene without ever rewinding or
fast-forwarding.
But it also means
that you can’t accumulate life’s memories in a drawer or a cabinet.
Once the memory card is full, you’re supposed to transfer its recordings
to a Mac or PC and then erase it (the card, not the computer) to make
it ready for more shooting. If you’re on vacation and the card gets
full, you’re pretty much finished filming for the rest of the trip unless
you have your computer with you.
All three camcorders
record in a modern format called AVCHD or H.264, which requires a high-horsepower
computer and up-to-date software to edit. Worse, the Panasonic and Sanyo
flavors of these files don’t work with the latest version of Apple’s
movie-editing software, so Mac buyer, beware. And, of course, using
a memory-card camcorder means that you’re entrusting your video to your
hard drive, which is a pretty iffy long-term storage device. Hope you
intend to keep good backups for the rest of your life.
None of these cameras
has an eyepiece viewfinder. The 2.7-inch widescreen flip-out display
is the only way to frame your shots, which can get tricky in bright
sunlight or dark rooms. Only the Sanyo has a microphone jack, headphone
jack and accessory shoe for external lights or mikes. But those are
mere disappointments. The next two bits of news are more like towering
heartbreaks.
First, these models
have zero wide angle — zip. It’s as though they’re stuck zoomed in.
To get an entire six-foot person in the frame, you have to back up 15
feet — too far away to hear what your subject is saying.
In a big elevator
last week, my children began tickling each other, doubled over in laughter.
The tiny Sony was in my coat pocket. I loved how it was ready to film
nearly instantly when I opened the flip-out screen — (all three camcorders
offer this standby mode).
Unfortunately,
even when I mashed my back against the far wall of the elevator, all
I got was the children’s faces. You couldn’t even see that they were
tickling each other without panning down. It was supremely frustrating.
Camcorder makers
think that we, their sheeplike customers, care only about the zoom power
(which is 10x on these camcorders). But for various optical reasons,
the more zoom, the less wide angle. Get smart, people! Rise up! Make
the camcorder companies reverse this sinister trend!
The second unpleasant
surprise is the video quality. When you hear “high definition,” __ you
expect what you see in the TV stores: breathtaking sharpness, stunning
color.
Unfortunately,
“high definition” refers only to the number of pixels in the picture
— not how good they are. On these cameras, they’re not very good.
The Sony’s picture
is distinctly soft, with none of the razor clarity you’d associate with
hi-def — a victim of the compression Sony applies to the signal to make
it fit onto its memory cards (which are, unfortunately, its own proprietary
Memory Stick Duo format).
The Sanyo’s picture
is much better, but there’s a catch. High-definition footage tends to
magnify the effects of camera jitter, thanks to its wide horizontal
orientation.
But on this camera,
the stabilizer just doesn’t work very well, especially when you’re zoomed
in.
The Panasonic is
a three-chip camera, meaning that it has separate light sensors for
the three primary video colors. In principle, that means superior color
— and sometimes, that’s what you get. In bright light, like outdoors,
this camera’s picture truly rocks; it looks as you’d expect hi-def to
look.
This model also
has what may be the best stabilizer ever on a camcorder; even when you’re
fully zoomed in, the image is professionally rock steady.
Anything short
of full-blown sunlight, though, and you lose not only the color brilliance
but also the clarity. Indoors, the Panasonic is no better than the other
two in reducing “noise”— dancing, grainy pixels.
Even so, the Panasonic
SD9 is the winner in overall image quality and handling comfort, if
not in actual tininess. Considering what you sacrifice when you choose
any of these camcorders, that’s not really saying much. (The Panasonic
also exhibits various design gaffes, like a power cord you can attach
only by removing the battery, and a playback joystick that’s awkwardly
placed inside the swiveling-screen cavity.)
Just remember that
for about the same price, you could buy a camcorder like the Canon HV30.
It’s bigger but still fits a coat pocket. It has all the right jacks,
like microphone and headphone. It records onto commonly available MiniDV
tapes, so you’ll never run out of storage halfway through your vacation.
More important, it shoots high-definition video the way it was born
to be: stunningly crisp, with incredible presence and nearly perfect
color.
In short, it appears
that no matter how many companies claim the title “world’s smallest
hi-def camcorder,” what they mean is “world’s most compromised.”
Reprinted
from nytimes.com
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