Panasonic HDC-SD20 Camcorder Review

Panasonic HDC-SD20 versus Canon HF20
• The Panasonic HDC-SD20 contains no internal memory and records to SD/SDHC cards • The HDC-SD20 is significantly cheaper than the HF20 • The HDC-SD20 had lower performance scores on most tests, with the notable exception of noise • Measured a much lower video sharpness than the Canon HF20 • The SD20 uses an LCD touchscreen interface
	Audio & Other Features	(Page 12 of 17)	Sanyo VPC-HD2000 Comparison

The Canon HF20 is more expensive than the Panasonic HDC-SD20, so it's no surprise that the Canon surpasses in the Panasonic in performance. Better motion, better color, and much better sharpness... the only area in which the Panasonic surpassed the Canon was in noise—a result of the former's inferior resolution. The HF20 even outperformed the SD20 in low light, which was one of the Canon's greatest weaknesses. If you're looking for a budget camcorder, however, the Panasonic might be a better deal. It's especially good for beginners, offering an exceptionally intuitive touch screen interface, easy-as-cake auto mode, and excellent Intelligent Auto technologies. The AF/AE Tracking was surprisingly fun to use.

Unfortunately, you can't use any of these cool auto features in the camcorder's Manual mode. Plus, making manual adjustments with the touch screen can be an imprecise chore. Add to that list of complaints no microphone input, headphone output, or accessory shoe. For serious videographers that enjoy manual image adjustments, the Canon HF20 is a better choice. For beginners, the SD20 is an easy-to-use camcorder with decent video performance.

	Comparison Specs
	Panasonic HDC-SD20	Canon HF20
Price	$549	$899
Primary Recording Media	SD/SDHC memory card	32GB internal flash memory
Secondary Recording Media	None	SD/SDHC memory card
Image Sensor	1/6-inch CMOS	1/4-inch CMOS
Effective Pixel Count	1.17 megapixels (video) 1.17 megapixels (stills)	2.99 megapixels (video) 3.31 megapixels (stills)
Mic Input	No	Yes, 3.5mm
LCD/Viewfinder	2.7-inch LCD with 230,400-pixel resolution	2.7-inch LCD with 211,00-pixel resolution
Weight	327g (including battery)	400g (including battery)
Dimensions	67 x 64 x 127mm	70 x 62 x 124mm
HD	Yes	Yes
Optical Zoom	16x	15x
Frame Rates	1080/60i, Digital Cinema (24p) (not natively progressive)	1080/60i, 24p, 30p (not natively progressive)
Image Stabilization	Optical	Optical

Noise Comparisons
Panasonic HDC-SD20 100% Crop	Canon HF20 100% Crop

Video Sharpness Score Comparisons