Panasonic HDC-TM300

Compression (8.00)

As with the HDC-HS300 we reviewed earlier this year—and all high definition Panasonic camcorders—the TM300 records video using the AVCHD codec. AVCHD is more common now than when it was first released several years ago, so you should have no problem finding video editing software that can work with the files. Be warned, however, that you cannot simply drag and drop AVCHD files from your camcorder to your computer. You’ll want some kind of editing program in order to properly import the files. Also, keep in mind that AVCHD files are very large and will take up a lot of processing power on your home computer.

For the more tech-savvy readers out there, you might notice that the TM300 caps out at 17Mbps. Canon and other manufacturers may be producing camcorders that reach that 24Mbps bitrate ceiling, but we’re not convinced that’s much of an advantage—not yet, anyway. The 17Mbps cap that you see with Panasonic and Sony will likely increase as soon as the average consumer can actually discern the difference. Read more about the advantages and disadvantages of various high definition compression types.

Media (8.52)

Recording media is the primary difference between the HDC-TM300 and the HS300, which we reviewed earlier this year. The big brother has a beefy 120GB internal hard drive, while the slimmer and more budget-friendly TM300 records primarily to 32GB of internal flash memory. If you run out of space on the internal memory, the TM300 can be set to automatically shift recording onto a removable SD/SDHC memory card (sold separately).

If you’re tempted by the ‘bigger is better’ mentality, think carefully before you choose the HS300 over the TM300. For starters, hard drives have moving parts that are more likely to fail in the event of an unfortunate drop or bump. Flash memory—the kind of memory that the TM300 utilizes—is much more weather- and shock-resistant. Plus, if you get rid of that bulky hard drive, you end up with a much lighter, slimmer, and more comfortable form factor. And there’s that $100 you save. Read more about the advantages and disadvantages of various media types.

Still Features (12.21)

The still features on the Panasonic HDC-TM300 aren’t exhaustive, but they’re enough to make the camcorder a decent alternative to a dedicated still camera. The maximum native resolution for stills is 8 megapixels, though still photo mode offers an interpolated 10.6-megapixel size. There are twelve image size options in total, plus three different aspect ratios (4:3, 3:2, 16:9) and two quality options. The TM300 allows you to capture still images while you are recording video, but a mode dial on the right allows you to engage a dedicated still photo mode, where many more options are available.

The most basic still features are available, including a self-timer (2 or 10 seconds) and a flash. Unusual for a camcorder, the flash can be set to one of three brightness levels. The burst feature is available only in video mode, essentially taking one second of video and splitting it into individual frames (either 24fps or 60fps).

We like having a dedicated still photo mode, especially when it gives the user access to extra options. Unfortunately, Panasonic doesn’t handle the menu structure well, leaving the Record Setup and Picture menus available in either video or still mode. This gives the false impression that you can capture video while in photo mode. The real reason both menus are present is that several options that are applicable to still photos remain in the Record Setup menu—including manual controls. It’s an unintuitive structure, to say the least.

The vast majority of camcorders still can’t match the photo quality of a dedicated still camera, but the TM300 gets awfully close. We were pleased to see that the TM300 produces vibrant accurate colors to accompany its high quality, 8-megapixel native stills (and 10-megapixel interpolated stills). The color error was an incredibly low 2.65 and the saturation was 103.9%. These are even better results than we recorded in our bright light video testing.

The Panasonic HDC-TM300 averaged 0.79% noise in our still image testing. That’s slightly better than average for a camcorder, though noisier than the TM300’s video footage. It’s also noisier than many dedicated still cameras. On the other hand, these results are better than any of the camcorders we’ve selected for comparison, including the Sony HDR-TG5V, which had quite good still performance.

Sharpness was the one real weak point of still photos captured with the TM300. They are certainly sharp enough to host online, but they may not be suitable for printing and framing. The main reason for this is the camcorder’s tendency to oversharpen photos: horizontal oversharpening was 61.3%. Even with the digital oversharpening, the camcorder only managed a horizontal sharpness of 1812 line widths per picture height (lw/ph) and a vertical sharpness of 1558 lw/ph. That’s worse than both the Sony TG5V and the JVC X900. It’s considerably worse that the Canon HF S100, which had very impressive sharpness scores and very little under or oversharpening.