Digital Trends

Panasonic HDC-SX5

September 16th, 2007 | by David Elrich

Testing and Use:

One of the newest features of this AVCHD camcorder is its ability to record 1920 x 1080i video, the upper limit of the format as other AVCHD cams record at 1440 x 1080i. The SX5 has three 520K pixel CCDs so you might wonder how can it record 2.07MP? According to Panasonic engineers, they can do this by using a Pixel Shift system.
It’s rather arcane and delves into the 3CCD system; we won’t bore you other than to say Panasonic completely backs its claim. More important--how does it work in the real world?

The HDC-SX5 boots up in about 3 seconds, a little slower than purely solid state camcorders but this isn’t too terrible since the DVD has to get into recording mode. Starting off in Auto at highest resolution and recording to the SD card I took a variety of shots indoors and out—and yes, I tried it out at a night baseball game. I also explored the Manual options as well including focus, iris, shutter speed and white balance. After using the SDHC card, I recorded to DVD as well. 

Once done, I connected the camcorder via component inputs to a 30-inch 16:9 1920 x 1200 LCD monitor and played back the various scenes using the unit’s joystick control. One huge advantage over tape-based HDV models is the instantly generated thumbnails. You simply chose the one you want, press the joystick and watch the video; this was done for the SD card and DVD disc footage. And the results? The video was possibly the most accurate I’ve ever shot, and slightly better than the Canon and Sony HDV models I’ve recently tested. The color gamut seemed to be much more realistic, particularly oranges and reds. I can say this without qualification—you will be knocked out by the video especially in daylight (not just bright sunshine). Where the camcorder fell down a bit was indoors; there was just too much noise especially when compared to daylight footage. The SX5 does not a video light so I would highly recommend one, if shooting indoors. Note: this is a similar complaint I had with other camcorders recently reviewed. One annoying factor was the literal noise (sound) from the zoom switch. If you quickly release it, a snap will be picked up by the stereo mic on the top of camcorder. Learning a gentle release motion will solve this issue.

Focusing was very quick and fast, even in low light with very little grabbing. And Panasonic’s optical image stabilization did a nice job smoothing the shakes from jittery hands.

As far as the digital stills were concerned—they’re for snapshots only at best. Images taken outdoors with good light were reasonable as were those with the flash but 2MP stills are not what HD camcorders are all about.


Conclusion:

I don’t care how Panasonic achieves its 1920 x 1080i spec using three 520K pixel CCDs—the results were top notch. Besides the excellent high-def footage, the HDC-SX5 has a lot of pluses—quick focusing, OIS, an intuitive menu system and lots more. My only complaint—and it’s a big one—is the battery placement. If more time was spent on ergonomics and design, this one would’ve been an Editor’s Choice. But that clunky battery knocks it down several notches. And that’s just too bad…


Pros:

• Excellent high-def video
• Records to SD or DVD
• Optical image stabilization


Cons:

• Poor battery placement
• Poor battery placement
• And did we say poor battery placement?