Panasonic HDC-HS300 Camcorder Review

Color & Noise Performance Summary
• Very good color accuracy—among the best we've tested this year • Noise levels are low in bright light, which is what we've been seeing from most Panasonic camcorders • Manual color adjustment offers some control over the saturation of the video image
	Product Tour	(Page 3 of 17)	Motion & Sharpness Performance

Color (10.0)

The Panasonic HDC-HS300 measured very accurate colors in our bright light testing. The camcorder registered a color error of 3.5 and a saturation level of 97%. Both of these scores are top-notch and they are statistically identical to the color errors we measured on the Canon HF S100 and Sanyo VPC-HD2000. (More on how we test color.)

Color Accuracy Performance
Color Test Chart (above), Color Error Map (right)
The Panasonic HDC-HS300 produced a color error of 3.5 and a saturation level of 97% in our bright light color testing. (The map on the right is a diagram of the color error. The length and direction of each line indicates how the camcorder processed each particular color.)

In the color error map above (on the right) you can see how accurately the HDC-HS300 reproduced each color from our color test chart. The camcorder did very well with most colors, although browns and reds weren't as accurate as blues and greens. The 97% saturation level produced by the camcorder makes for deep, vivid colors in bright light. In the picture adjust section of the menu, the HDC-HS300 does allow for some adjustment to color gain (on a -5 to +5 scale). The test images below show how these adjustments to color gain will alter the video image.

Panasonic HDC-HS300 Color Modes
Auto	100% Crop
Color -5	100% Crop
Color +5	100% Crop
Soft Skin Mode	100% Crop

In the images above, you can see how much setting the color gain to -5 really desaturates the colors on the HDC-HS300. Comparatively, bumping the gain up to +5 makes everything more vivid. A -5 to +5 scale for color gain doesn't give you loads of control, but it is a very good feature to have on a consumer camcorder.

Panasonic HDC-HS300 Color Comparisons
Panasonic HDC-HS300	Sony HDR-XR520V
Canon HF S100	Sanyo VPC-HD2000

All the camcorders in this comparative set have very good color accuracy at bright light. Of the group, only the Sony HDR-XR520V didn't put up stellar numbers in this test. The Sony also showed a darker, less saturated image than the rest of the competition. Looking at the close-up color comparisons below, you can see how much darker the Sony is compared to the Panasonic HDC-HS300, Canon HF S100, and Sanyo VPC-HD2000.

	Close-Up Color Comparisons
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS300	Sony HDR-XR520V	Canon HF S100	Sanyo VPC-HD2000
Red
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS300	Sony HDR-XR520V	Canon HF S100	Sanyo VPC-HD2000
Green
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS300	Sony HDR-XR520V	Canon HF S100	Sanyo VPC-HD2000
Blue
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS300	Sony HDR-XR520V	Canon HF S100	Sanyo VPC-HD2000
Skin Tone 1
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS300	Sony HDR-XR520V	Canon HF S100	Sanyo VPC-HD2000
Skin Tone 2

Like we said, all the camcorders in this group are very good bright light performers. Even though the Sony HDR-XR520V didn't do as well as the rest, it still captured very good colors. The Panasonic HDC-HS300, along with the Canon HF S100 and Sanyo VPC-HD2000, is one of the best bright-light color performers we've tested this year.

Color Performance Scores

Noise (11.65)

Panasonic camcorders have been measuring fairly low noise levels in our testing this year and the HDC-HS300 is no different. In our bright light test, the camcorder averaged 0.43% noise. This is a very good performance and it comes in right on the heels of the Sony HDR-XR520V, which measured 0.37% noise. Both the Canon HF S100 and Sanyo VPC-HD2000 did significantly worse in this test. (More on how we test noise.)

Noise Comparisons
Panasonic HDC-HS300 100% Crop	Sony HDR-XR520V 100% Crop	Canon HF S100 100% Crop	Sanyo VPC-HD2000 100% Crop

In the close-up comparisons above, you can see the level of detail offered by each camcorder in our bright light testing. Both the Sony HDR-XR520V and Canon HF S100 have a slightly sharper image than the Panasonic HDC-HS300, but all the camcorders in this set look very good in bright light.

Noise Score Comparisons