Panasonic HDC-HS300

Every other manufacturer has thrown in its lot, joined the crowd, and now uses a single, large CMOS sensor for high-end HD camcorder models. But Panasonic has continued its backing for the traditional, three-sensor approach to image quality. The HDC-SD100 and HS100 may have heralded an unexpected move from CCD to CMOS for Panasonic, but they still sported a trio. The HDC-HS300, our first taste of Panasonic's 2009 range announced at CES, sticks with the tripartite approach, too. But this time each one is bigger and of a higher resolution.
The previous generation of Panasonic 3MOS models used 1/6in sensors, each with less than the full pixel resolution required for Full HD. But the HS300 integrates three 1/4.1in CMOS sensors and each one has 3.05-megapixels. When shooting video, a letterbox of 2.05-megapixels within this is used, but still images get to use up to 7.95-megapixels. So, on paper at least, the HS300 promises more detailed video and digital photography than any consumer Panasonic camcorder ever before. With a bit of interpolation, still images can be snapped at up to 3,984 x 2,656 pixels, although only when the camcorder is in photo mode. Otherwise, the upper limit is 3,840 x 2,160 pixels if you want to shoot video at the same time.