Hi-Def in the House

As with cellphones, so it is with camcorders: Size matters. The smaller the better--but only as long as the quality’s there.

Panasonic is touting a next step in the digital evolution that is forever trending downward in mass and weight. Its newly released HDC-SD9 high-definition camcorder is the “world’s smallest and lightest,” the company says, fitting easily in a jacket pocket and weighing just over 8 ounces.

Cool. But how is the quality?

We asked Gale Tattersall, director of photography for Fox’s acclaimed medical drama “House,” to step behind the new camera and tell us how the world looks through its lens. After shooting for a few days around his Santa Monica offices--capturing scenes of street life, a lifeguard Jeep on patrol and a beachside sunset (a good test of how it would handle light), he reached a verdict.

“It’s mind-blowing,” he says, especially when you consider the camera’s price. The DP was astonished by the beautiful color saturation and vivid resolution of the small device’s hi-def picture as well as the image stabilization; the result was a truly cinematic look. “I put what I had shot on the studio monitors, and the engineers were amazed. You could shoot a TV show with it--without a doubt.”

Though much of the Fox drama is shot with a bulky 40-pound, 35-millimeter camera, some of the show’s emergency room scenes get their immediacy from an older-model hand-held camcorder. But the new mini-cam would be a worthy substitute--it’s “just as good, about a quarter of the size and costs five times less,” Tattersall says.

He was also impressed by the camera’s sensitivity to light. His only criticism was that he would prefer a manual control for light exposure instead of the model’s automatic one.

“It’s really a masterpiece of miniaturization,” he says. “It’s absolutely fabulous.”--The Panasonic HDC-SD9 SD card high- definition camcorder has a suggested retail price of $799.95; panasonic.com.

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The panasonic HDC-SD9 camcorder

At a glance

1 [faces in a crowd] The camcorder can identify up to five faces at once--even in dim or backlighted scenes--and will automatically adjust exposure so the faces are easy to see.

2 [the shakes] Special gyro sensors and an image stabilization system combine to minimize the camera shakes and help produce a sharp, focused picture.

3 [true colors] A multicoated HD lens made specifically for digital camcorders prevents light reflection and glare, which can make colors bleed and images appear washed out.