Panasonic HDC-HS20

Still Features (8.97)

There is no dedicated still mode on the Panasonic HDC-HS20 and only a slim offering of still photography options and features. Panasonic is saving the still features for their flagship camcorders (like the HDC-SD300) and offering just the bare minimum in their mid-range HD camcorders. You can capture normal still photos in video mode or you can capture photos whilst recording a video. When taking normal still photos, you can press the shutter halfway to focus; during simultaneous capture, this feature is disabled and the quality is diminished. There is only one photo size option.

With so few features and just 2.1-megapixel stills, we doubt many people will be taking photos regularly with the HS20. If you do happen to leave behind your dedicated still camera, Panasonic helps you out by providing a self-timer (2 or 10 seconds) and burst mode (25fps or 50fps). The flash includes an optional red-eye reduction and can be set to one of three brightness levels.

Still Colour (10.32)

The Panasonic HDC-HS20 actually had excellent colour performance as a still camera—better than its performance as a video camera. We measured a colour error of 3.39, with 99.99% saturation. This is an improvement over the 4.45 colour error and 79.21% saturation measured during bright light video testing. (More on how we test still colour.)

The still photography colour error map: the length and direction of each line indicates how the camcorder processed each particular colour.

These results are also better than the still colour performance we saw on many of the HS20's competing models. In terms of colour error, the Panasonic beat out the Sanyo VPC-HD2000, the Sony MHS-CM1, the Canon HF20, and even the Canon HF S100. This is an impressive result for the Panasonic and indicates that this isn't such a bad device for taking still photos, as long as you're content with small, low resolution images.

Panasonic HDC-HS20 Still Colour Comparisons
the Panasonic HDC-HS20 records still photos in 16:9 only
Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF20
Sanyo VPC-HD2000	Sony MHS-CM1

Still Noise (10.79)

Still noise was yet another area where the HS20 outperformed the competition and its own video noise performance scores. In our lab testing, still noise came in at an exceptionally low 0.39%. That's about half the noise we saw on the Sanyo VPC-HD2000, which had quite good results. It's even lower than the 0.4175% noise measured in the video performance tests. (More on how we test still noise.)

As we discuss in the video noise performance section, these low noise values are to be expected on a camcorder with low sharpness. Less detail means both the subject of the photo and image noise are slightly obscured. Higher sharpness means that noise is often easier to see.
 

Still Sharpness (0.97)

While the HS20 may have had impressive performance in colour and noise, the sharpness tested very poorly. The low resolution sensor just couldn't compete with the stills produced by the higher-end camcorders like the Canon HF20 and Sanyo VPC-HD2000. At best, the HS20 measured a vertical sharpness of 731 lw/ph with an oversharpening of 24.2%. Horizontal sharpness measured 680 lw/ph with an oversharpening of 13.3%.  That's a considerable amount of artificial enhancement for such a low end product. We often see camcorders with high pixel counts artificially boosting their sharpness, but these 2-megapixel models usually avoid oversharpening.  (More on how we test still sharpness.)

Of all the camcorders we've tested so far this year, only the standard definition JVC GZ-MG670 has had similar performance in this area. Both camcorders have no real aspirations of taking quality still photos and both have a lower effective pixel count than either the Sony Webbie HD MHS-CM1 or the Canon HF20. If you're only taking small photos to use on the web, the HS20 will work in a pinch—and will have good colours and low noise.