Panasonic HDC-TM10K Hard Drive Full HD Camcorder (Black)

Review by Michael Bock for Panasonic HDC-TM10K Hard Drive Full HD Camcorder (Black)
Rating:
First, the two versions of this camera are identical other than the fact that one has built in memory, the other does not. BUT, consider how much you’re paying for that memory? Could you just buy a larger card with the price difference? Probably. Considering that for the sake of convenience you will probably be recording to cards most of the time (so you can just plug them into the computer) I would probably go for the internal memory-less version.

I ran several tests on the camera for a few days to try out its features. I am not a name-brand fanboy, nor am I a dedicated videophile. I’m just going to give you an unbiased impression based upon what my eyes saw:

PROS:

1.)Pretty good daylight recording. Considering what I paid for it, I was surprised by the quality. It’s not a Canon S10 by any means, but I was pleased.

2.)It is unbelievably small and light. Shockingly so. If you are looking for the smallest possible 1080p capable camera to take on a daylight hike, I’m thinking this is near the top of the list.

3.)Has a few of the bells and whistles of a larger camera, including the ability to swap out memory cards, a decent touch-screen menu interface where you can play with the settings (as opposed to some of these cheap-o cameras), a genuine optical zoom, and an HDMI output right on the camera. Unlike most, I had no problem with the touchscreen.

4.)Quick power-on/off feature works really well, battery life was not a problem.

CONS:

1.)You’ll notice I mentioned how surprised I was by the camera’s performance in daylight? I was equally surprised by the nighttime/indoor performance. As in, it was atrocious. Absolutely atrocious. We’re talking awful pixelation, terrible graininess, significant artifacting and block-iness, and a general inability to see anything. The onboard light provided little help. I’m not talking about near pitch black rooms, I’m talking about normally lit indoor areas. The camera is basically useless for indoor or nighttime recording unless you’re using multiple floodlights. I would walk through the house, and even our well lit dining room had significant problems.

I chalk this up to the tiny sensor (less than 2 megapixels) and tiny lens. Sure, it keeps the weight/size factor miniscule, but it really hurts performance. I am not understating this problem, at all. I tried to use the manual shuttings (such as they are) to correct the problem, but playing with frame rates, settings, and modes made little to no difference.

2.)No built-in lens protector. Having a dangling lenscap to annoy you defeats some of the purpose of having such a compact, easy to whip out camera.

3.)Screen tearing/rolling shudder is a problem on quick pans, even more so than other CMOS cameras I’ve tried. I’m not sure what the issue is, but be forewarned.

4.)The cameras awful low light capabilities make most of the individualized settings useless.

5.)If you want to make that final jump from 1080i to 1080p, you’re limited to the “digital cinema” mode that disables the vast majority of the manual settings. A small nitpick, but somewhat annoying.

SUMMARY

Know precisely what you’re going to be using this camera for before you buy it. The video quality in daylight for the price is pretty decent, the form factor/size is phenomenal, and the indoor/low light video quality and options are horrendous. Basically, if you’re only going to be using it outdoors, and size is of paramount important, it’s worthy of consideration.