Panasonic HDC-HS60

Colour (8.05)

The HDC-HS60 performed well on our colour test, with the camcorder offering improved colour accuracy over last year's HDC-HS20. The HS60 measured a colour error of 4.35 and a saturation level of 81.18%. If you think that saturation level is a bit low, don't you worry: the HDC-HS60 has a manual colour control option that allows you to boost the saturation level (or reduce the levels) to your own liking. (More on how we test colour.)

Colour Accuracy Performance
Colour Test Chart (above), Colour Error Map (right)
The Panasonic HDC-HS60 produced a colour error of 4.35 and a saturation level of 81.18% in our bright light colour testing. (The map on the right is a diagram of the colour error. The length and direction of each line indicates how the camcorder processed each particular colour.)

As you can see from the test chart image above, the HDC-HS60 captured a very pleasant image in our bright light test. The colour error map (also above) shows that the camcorder was most accurate in rendering deep blues and certain red and brown tones. As we said before, the HDC-HS60 allows you to manually adjust the colour depth for the recorded image. Unfortunately, this option is buried in the menu, but it is easier to access than it was on last year's Panasonics.

Panasonic HDC-HS60 Colour Modes
Auto	100% Crop
Colour +5	100% Crop
Colour -5	100% Crop
White Balance +5 (blue tone)	100% Crop
White Balance -5 (red tone)	100% Crop

In addition to being able to adjust colour depth, the Picture Adjust setting allows you to control colour temperature (WB shift), sharpness, and basic exposure. You can see sample images taken with colour depth and white balance adjustments above. Below are images taken from our bright light colour test with the HDC-HS60 and its three comparison models.

Panasonic HDC-HS60 Colour Comparisons
Panasonic HDC-HS60	Panasonic HDC-HS20
Canon HF M31	JVC GZ-HD620

The HDC-HS60 looks just as good as the other camcorders in this set, although the JVC GZ-HD620 rendered the best colour accuracy. The same can be said of Panasonic's HDC-HS20, which had a worse colour accuracy than the HS60, but difference wasn't that significant. In short, there's nothing bad about the colour performance on any of these camcorders.

	Close-Up Colour Comparisons
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS60	Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF M31	JVC GZ-HD620
Red
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS60	Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF M31	JVC GZ-HD620
Green
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS60	Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF M31	JVC GZ-HD620
Blue
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS60	Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF M31	JVC GZ-HD620
Skin Tone 1
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS60	Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF M31	JVC GZ-HD620
Skin Tone 2

Colour Score Comparison		Compare the Panasonic HDC-HS60 to the Panasonic HDC-HS20
		Compare the Panasonic HDC-HS60 to the Canon HF M31
		Compare the Panasonic HDC-HS60 to the JVC GZ-HD620

Noise (8.03)

The HDC-HS60 averaged 0.745% noise in our bright light test, which is a good score, but slightly higher than what we saw on last year's HDC-HS20. The important thing to note from the crops below is how much sharper the image on the HDC-HS60 is than on the Panasonic HDC-HS20. The HS60's image isn't quite as sharp as the Canon HF M31, but it definitely blows the HS20 and JVC GZ-HD620 out of the water. (More on how we test noise.)

Noise Comparisons
Panasonic HDC-HS60 100% Crop	Panasonic HDC-HS20 100% Crop	Canon HF M31 100% Crop	JVC GZ-HD620 100% Crop

The Canon HF M31 captured the sharpest image by far. Even with its higher noise percentage, the noise in the HF M31's crop is barely detectable in bright light (most decent HD camcorders won't show a lot of noise in bright light). In low light, noise is more noticeable across the board.

Noise Score Comparison		Compare the Panasonic HDC-HS60 to the Panasonic HDC-HS20
		Compare the Panasonic HDC-HS60 to the Canon HF M31
		Compare the Panasonic HDC-HS60 to the JVC GZ-HD620