Panasonic HDC-SD800 review

The HDC-SD800’s hybrid optical and digital image stabilisation results in a rock-solid picture when walking around. During our shaking table test hardly any movement translated into the video, unlike when testing the Canon Legria HF R206, whose video shook all over the place. Handheld video taken at full zoom was also rock-steady, but as the camcorder only has a 12x optical zoom compared to the 20x of the SD90, the stabilisation system doesn’t have to work as hard.

It’s simple to see the difference the SD800’s three sensors make when shooting video in low light, but detecting its superior picture compared to the SD90 in daylight footage takes a pickier eye. This is not to denigrate the SD800’s image quality, which is superb, but it’s rather a reflection on the excellent image quality of the cheaper SD90.

Whether you think the SD800 is worth the extra £150 depends on whether you’d like the absolute best daylight video quality and the ability to record smooth video in low light. Unfortunately, we have yet to see the SD800’s direct competition from Sony and Canon, so we can’t say whether this will remain the best camcorder at this price – and s have held off on an award for the time being. If you do go ahead and buy the SD800, though, you certainly won’t be disappointed.