NYTimes on Tiny “HD” Camcorders

David Pogue’s technology column this week reviews the Canon PowerShot TX1, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2, and the (no-so-tiny) Panasonic HDC-SD1. Each captures high-definition video, but at varying qualities, and each stores the media on memory cards instead of tape.

Pogue’s review, “Not-So-High- Definition Camcorders,” is also full of some good one-liners, such as:

Each model has a flash for still photos, a tripod socket and a joystick the size of a hydrogen molecule.

and

If the Canon’s widescreen filming area were any smaller, you’d have to frame your shots by closing your eyes and imagining them.

Overall, the only one that gets any love is the Panasonic HDC-SD1, though it’s dinged for poor-quality still photos and for recording in AVCHD format, which still isn’t supported by many editing systems.

Category: Shooting, Third-Party

Published by Jeff Carlson

Author, photographer, and late-nighter Jeff Carlson writes for outlets such as Popular Photography, DPReview, Creative Pro, and others, and is a contributing editor for TidBITS. He is the author of Take Control of Your Digital Photos; The Photographer's Guide to Luminar AI, Take Control of Apple Watch, and Take Control of Your Digital Storage, among many other titles. View all posts by Jeff Carlson

Joey July 11, 2008 at 12:16 pm

I’ve actually been trying to decide between the Panasonic and the Sanyo. I was leaning towards the sanyo because it’s smaller, but after reading this I think the Panasonic might be the best choice since I don’t need it for stills and have a video editor that works with AVCHD. Thanks so much for the info!

Reply