Panasonic HDC-HS20

Colour (7.53)

The Panasonic HDC-HS20 had good colour performance for a mid-range high definition camcorder. As is to be expected, it's not quite at the level of the more expensive models from Canon, but it is better than the colour error reported by the Sony Webbie MHS-CM1. The HS20 scored a 4.65 colour error with a saturation of 77.93%. As you can see looking at the colour error map below, the HS20 does very well with light skin tones and blues, but heavily skews purple and green hues. (More on how we test colour.)

Colour Accuracy Performance
Colour Test Chart (above), Colour Error Map (right)
The Panasonic HDC-HS20 produced a colour error of 4.65 and a saturation level of 77.93% 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.)

The Panasonic HDC-HS20 offers a couple different adjustments that allow you to make subtle shifts in the colours of your image. The easiest option to access is the Soft Skin Mode, which smooths out skin tones and blemishes. (This option is a lot like the Cosmetic feature on some digital cameras, only it won't apply artificial make-up to your subjects.) Buried in the Picture Adjust sub-submenu, there is also an option to adjust colour depth. There are a total of eleven increments, each one making a very minor tweak to the colour or your image. Below we have frame grabs from video footage of our still life train display at 50i in auto mode, soft skin mode, and -5/+5 colour depth.

Panasonic HDC-HS20 Colour Modes
Auto	100% Crop
Soft Skin Mode	100% Crop
Colour Depth -5	100% Crop
Colour Depth +5	100% Crop

Panasonic HDC-HS20 Colour Comparisons
Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF20
Sanyo VPC-HD2000	Sony MHS-CM1

Above, we have the colour charts for the Panasonic HDC-HS20 and three similar camcorders. In bright light, you can't see much of a difference between the HS20 and the competition from Canon and Sanyo. The Webbie from Sony is clearly the most significant outlier, producing video that's almost overexposed at 3000 lux. The Panasonic is slightly darker and muddier than the Canon HF20, but it still produces a nice, colourful image. In the crops of the colour charts below, you can see the difference a little more clearly.

This also draws out the fact that exposure and colour accuracy do not necessarily go hand-in hand. Though the HS20 looks more like the Sanyo VPC-HD2000, its colour accuracy is closer to that of the Canon. It's easy to be fooled by the darkness of the images, but that Sanyo comes the closest in depicting the actual hue displayed on the chart. (Our imaging software ignores exposure when testing colour accuracy.) You can also see how noise impacts colour accuracy; the Sony MHS-CM1 would probably report better colours if the image weren't marred by noise.

	Close-Up colour Comparisons
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF20	Sanyo VPC-HD2000	Sony MHS-CM1
Red
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF20	Sanyo VPC-HD2000	Sony MHS-CM1
Green
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF20	Sanyo VPC-HD2000	Sony MHS-CM1
Blue
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF20	Sanyo VPC-HD2000	Sony MHS-CM1
Skin Tone 1
	Ideal	Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF20	Sanyo VPC-HD2000	Sony MHS-CM1
Skin Tone 2

Colour Performance Scores

Noise (9.86)

The Panasonic HDC-HS20 scored admirably well on noise: an incredibly low 0.60%. This an excellent showing from Panasonic, though that number does not tell the whole story. (More on how we test noise.)

Noise Comparisons
Panasonic HDC-HS20 100% Crop	Canon HF20 100% Crop	Sanyo VPC-HD2000 100% Crop	Sony MHS-CM1 100% Crop

As you can see in the crops above, there are few that would prefer the image produced by the Panasonic to that of the Canon HF20, despite the fact that the Canon has the worst noise percentage in the group. Unfortunately, high sharpness and high noise often go hand-in-hand: the sharper your image, the easier it is to see the noise. The Panasonic has very little noise because the soft video blurs out a lot of the fine detail. The Sanyo VPC-HD2000 is a good compromise; the image is still sharp and clear, but there is less sharpness to pick up every tiny aberration. The Sony MHS-CM1, on the other hand, shows poor sharpness and plenty of noise—the Webbie's processing just can't keep up with the higher-end models from the competition.

The truth is, noise is of very little concern when you're using a mid- to upper-tier high definition camcorder in bright light. Most camcorders at this price level do an excellent job of eliminating noise in these shooting conditions. Noise becomes more of a factor when shooting in low light.

Noise Score Comparisons