First look: Panasonic's HDC-TM700 HD camcorder

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Posted on 18 Feb 2010 at 14:38

We got our hands on Panasonic's new HDC-TM700 camcorder, which we reported on last week.

It has a trio of CMOS chips, just like its predecessor, the HDC-TM300, but total resolution for still images is increased from 10.6-megapixels to 14.2. Plus, it has a new, larger Leica lens with a fast aperture of f/1.5-2.8. This has a 35mm-equivalent focal length of 35-420mm (that's a 12x optical zoom). The 35mm wide position means you can fit much more into your shot than many camcorders (including the TM300 with its 45-540mm zoom), making it ideal for both indoor shooting and landscape shots outdoors.

We found it make a noticeable difference when testing the TM700 in rather cramped conditions at Panasonic's press conference in Munich. What also impressed us was the high resolution of the 3in touchscreen, allowing us to see whether our shots were in focus or not. Face tracking was good too - following a fast-moving ice hockey player was no problem for the system.

The three Full HD CMOS sensors mean it's possible to extract 13.3-megapixel still images from recorded video. Factor in increased sensitivity and reduced noise, and image quality is better in dim lighting. We were shown a side-by-side demo of the HS700 and older HS300 (the models with built-in hard disks), with both cameras focused on the same scene and their HDMI outputs connected to a pair of 42in HD TVs. The HS700's image was noticeably brighter and colours were much more accurate.

The new optical image stabilisation claims to correct handshake about five times more effectively, and while we didn't have time to properly test this, it was noticeably better than Panasonic's previous camcorders.

No details were given on pricing or availability, but we'll bring you full a full review as soon as we can.

Author: Jim Martin