Panasonic HDC-DX1 First Impressions Camcorder Reviewby Guy BrunerPublished on Jan 17, 2007 7:00 AM
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The Front
Identical to the HDC-SD1, the HDC-DX1 has a Leica Dicomar, 4 – 40mm, F1.8, 12x zoom lens (equivalent to a 38.5 - 462mm 35mm lens). A shutter-style lens cap to protect the lens from harm opens and closes as the HDC-DX1 is powered up or down. The lens hood accepts 43mm diameter filters. A photo flash unit for still pictures is to the left of the lens. Below the photo flash are some slots which I surmise are ventilation ports.
The Right Side
The right side of the HDC-DX1 is dominated by the circular DVD mechanism outer cover. As best I could determine with the camcorder on a security pole mount, laying fingers over the top of the DVD cover should provide a good grip for all but people with very small hands. Panasonic provides its standard loop strap that may be adjusted through the Velcro fastener to snug the camcorder in the right hand.
The Back
The rear of the HDC-DX1 has several notable features. At the top left is the large eyepiece for the 0.44 in., 183K pixel color electronic viewfinder (EVF). The eyepiece pulls out from the camcorder body to clear a larger battery, but it does not tilt. I believe the EVF will prove to be a highly desirable feature on this camcorder, especially when focusing manually. Trying to use the LCD for focusing in bright light will prove to be problematic. Also, keeping the LCD panel shut will conserve a little battery power which you will recognize later as an important consideration.
The rear of the HDC-DX1 has several notable features. At the top left is the large eyepiece for the 0.44 in., 183K pixel color electronic viewfinder (EVF). The eyepiece pulls out from the camcorder body to clear a larger battery, but it does not tilt. I believe the EVF will prove to be a highly desirable feature on this camcorder, especially when focusing manually. Trying to use the LCD for focusing in bright light will prove to be problematic. Also, keeping the LCD panel shut will conserve a little battery power which you will recognize later as an important consideration.
From the back, you can definitely see the bulge created on the right side by the DVD mechanism. The mechanism creates a curving ridge onto which Panasonic mounted controls. At the very top of the ridge is the new zoom toggle that replaces the older zoom slider Panasonic used for years. The zoom toggle has a very professional feel – silky smooth – and is a big improvement over last year’s slider. The zoom toggle doubles as a volume control during playback.
Below the zoom toggle is the photo shot button. This placement is tough. I had significant difficulty reaching the photo shot button without affecting my aim on the subject. Still photos of 1920 x 1080 are taken to the SDHC card when the photo shot button is pressed. Directly below the photo shot button is the menu pushbutton that activates the menu display on the LCD and EVF. When menu is pressed, the joystick activates to permit navigation through the menu options to view and select options. Below the menu button is the delete pushbutton. One of the nice features of DVD and SDHC is the clips and pictures are individually accessed unlike serial media like tape that requires fast forward and fast reverse while watching date/time or timecode indications to locate a specific clip. Each clip on the DVD and SDHC card gets its own icon and can be randomly accessed. To delete a video clip or still picture, it is selected on the LCD/EVF, then a press of the delete (trashcan) button erases it.
To the right of the menu button is the Access/PC LED. This LED lights up when files are being accessed on the SDHC card from a computer to remind the user not to power off or otherwise interrupt the file transfer. Directly below this is the mode dial. The mode dial is similar to the one on the HDC–SD1. A small detent on the right side must be pressed in order to turn the dial from the power off position and on to one of the three other positions: video record, video playback, and PC which is used to transfer stills from the SDHC card to the computer. To the left of the mode dial is the record/pause pushbutton. Below the record/pause pushbutton is the Disk Eject slide switch. When pressed upward, the disk mechanism door opens to allow inserting or removing a DVD disk.
Below the electronic viewfinder is the battery compartment. Although it looks like the standard DU series battery will fit, it will not. The battery is a special design that incorporates a chip that monitors charge and displays the remaining time available on the LCD and EVF. Panasonic reports the battery only powers the HDC-DX1 for 40 minutes of continuous recording using either the LCD or EVD in highest quality (HF) mode, but will last 90 minutes in playback mode. This means you’ll need a couple of batteries and three DVDs (or two dual layer DVDs) to record an hour of video. There is no word yet on whether Panasonic will make a higher capacity battery available to extend this extremely short record time.
On the left side, the 3.0 in., widescreen, 251K pixel LCD panel dominates when closed. Like the HDC-SD1, the back of the LCD and its hinge mount are coated with an enamel-looking, pearlescent white coating. The LCD is very sharp with vibrant colors. The menus are particularly easy to read. But, like the LCD on the HDC-SD1, I cannot say how it will hold up in bright sunlight. A redeeming feature is that the user has the EVF to fall back on when the LCD display can’t be used in bright sunlight. Like all Panasonics, the LCD panel can be rotated 270 degrees around its horizontal axis to permit viewing the scene when the camcorder must be positioned above or below eye level.
When the LCD panel is opened, the ports and controls inside the LCD cavity may be accessed. At the top left of the cavity is the Power LCD button with the Auto-Manual-Focus button to its right. Below these button is the reset button and on its right is the SDHC card slot. The SDHC card slot will accept both SD and SDHC cards. No card is provided with the HDC-DX1. Immediately below the SDHC slot is the HDMI port which has a soft rubber cover when not in use.
On the bottom of the LCD cavity is a row of ports behind a hinged cover. From the left they are: AV-out port for analog video and stereo audio, USB 2.0, component video-out, and an external low impedance microphone jack.
The Top
The top of the camcorder is relatively unremarkable. At the front under a perforated cover that outlines the placement of each of the five microphone elements is the zoom 5.1 Dolby Digital surround microphone system. Panasonic is pushing the 5.1 surround as a key distinguishing feature from other camcorders because their implementation offers a zoom feature. On the audio system Panasonic set up to display the HDC-DX1, the zoom feature sounded good. To help make audio more flexible is the microphone level adjust feature that is accessed through the menus. Microphone level adjust permits turning off the automatic gain control and adjusting the mic (either internal or external) level to allow increased dynamic range.
The top of the camcorder is relatively unremarkable. At the front under a perforated cover that outlines the placement of each of the five microphone elements is the zoom 5.1 Dolby Digital surround microphone system. Panasonic is pushing the 5.1 surround as a key distinguishing feature from other camcorders because their implementation offers a zoom feature. On the audio system Panasonic set up to display the HDC-DX1, the zoom feature sounded good. To help make audio more flexible is the microphone level adjust feature that is accessed through the menus. Microphone level adjust permits turning off the automatic gain control and adjusting the mic (either internal or external) level to allow increased dynamic range.
To the rear of the top, under a hard plastic cover, is the cold accessory shoe. That cover is going to be a problem for noise as it rattles around when open, if you can find a microphone mount that will clear the bulge of the disk mechanism on the right. I tried to fit my RØDE Videomic on the shoe, but the disk mechanism housing contacted the locking knob on the RØDE and I could not get it to fit. The RØDE is a very popular, inexpensive shotgun microphone and will need a shoe extender or flash bracket to work with the HDC-DX1.