Another post about toys.:)
I picked up my first HD Camcorder – the Panasonic HDC-SD20 – more than a year ago mostly for Hannah’s coming into our family. I was initially a little reticent about having my home-video processing work flow substantially changed because of the video codec used in the camcorder.
As it turned out, those fears were unfounded – on account that I ended up not doing any sort of video editing for all the videos I’ve taken of Hannah, in San Francisco and Kumamoto. The HDC-SD20 has been a great boon for us to record Hannah’s life journey in the first 10 months: memories that have become very precious for the both of us. Even Ling – as observed by the several videos she’s posted up here – has become reasonably skilled in using the camcorder.:)
The SD20 has one big flaw though: it just doesn’t handle low-light situations well. Granted that these things are consumer-grade and not low-light performers to begin with given their uber small sensors. But when I compare the indoor video I’ve taken using the old mini-DV camcorders versus the SD20, the latter’s video imagery is really, really awful even in comparison. I’ve got a workaround at the moment: I ordered a cheapo third party video light source that’ll get attached to the SD20’s tripod stand, but it’s really only a temporary solution. Moreover, with my at least a month-long and maybe longer trip to Boston coming up, I wanted another camcorder at home for Ling to continue taking Hannah’s videos and putting them up for me to see when I’m away.
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So, enter the potential upgrade. Some of the best consumer-grade camcorders are made by Panasonic, Canon and Sony. I’ve been keeping an eye out for their models, and was pleasantly surprised to read of a new Panasonic model that succeeds Camcorderinfo’s best model of the Year in 2009, and is likewise already in the running for the same of 2010. The unit makes use of a different sensor system, does amazing well in low-light, and shoots in 1080p 60 frames, a frame rate and quality level that was previously only found in professional-grade video cameras that cost a lot more money. And this unit retails for a relatively low USD999.
The recently announced camera isn’t available in Singapore yet though, but is already online. I’ll likely wait for a bit longer to see if it reaches Singapore shores soon – it’s already listed on the local Panasonic web site – but as these things go, prices get marked up substantially. So, I’m already thinking about making an order for it online, likely B&H Photo Video, once more reviews for the camera are available and they all attest to the unit’s quality.
And oh yes – speaking of Hannah videos. One trick I’ve found to keep her occupied is to let Hannah watch her own videos on the PC. She sort of sits there with eyes fixed and mouth wide-open watching herself on the LCD monitor, and just yesterday morning she showed signs of recognizing herself in the video footage! She showed this by reaching out for the video screen when the video clip zoomed in for a close-up shot of her. Evidence to come – if I’m lucky enough to catch it the next time it happens.:)
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