While it's not the 'lightest camcorder in the world', the new Panasonic HDC-TM10 does boast to be 'the world's lightest Full HD AVCHD camcorder'. Weighing only 280g, it shares this enviable accolade with its little brother, the equally dinky HDC-SD10.
Amazingly both of these camcorders are small and lightweight enough to fit in a jacket or trouser pocket. Although, you'll need fairly loose-fitting trousers if you want to try it.
On paper, at least, the silver/black Panasonic HDC-TM10 ticks all the right boxes. For starters, it offers a great way to record HD video (in full-fat, 1920 x 1080 resolution) and to capture detailed still photos. There's also a 16x optical zoom, with 40x and 1000x zoom modes available when you activate the digital equivalent.
Dual flash storage
The versatile Panasonic HDC-TM10 offers dual storage options – you can record your movies to the 8GB of built-in flash memory or save them out onto SD/SDHC cards, which can be slotted in to boost the capacity.
DINKY: it's the lightest full HD camera and its small size belies its power
Invest in a 32GB SDHC card, for example, and it could hold eight hours of HD footage filmed in the HDC-TM10's normal 9Mbps HX mode. The higher-quality 1920 x 1080 pixel picture modes – HA (17Mbps) and HG (13Mbps) – will obviously chew up more of the storage space.
The eight hour capacity drops to five hours 20 minutes for HG and four hours for HA. Conversely, the lower quality 1440 x 1080 HE mode (6Mbps) can eke out the available space to store around 12 hours of video.
Your comments (2) Click to add a new comment
springgranddad4
December 12th 2009
2. Hello wheaty. I bought an HDC TM10 in August 09. The video was so bad I took it to a Panasonic agent to check. It proved to be fine. So the trouble is in the editing. I still haven't sorted it out. Its probably me, but I contacted Panasonic about it, but they haven't bothered to reply. My view is that the first company to produce a good camera and make HD footage easy to edit will corner the market. Due to Panasonics lack of contact i'll stick to another maker in future.
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wheaty
November 11th 2009
1. I found your review to be very helpful and the TM 10 would seem to be the camcorder that I ought to buy. At present I have an old Sony Digital 8 camcorder and I do like the ease with which one can edit Mini DV video. I was thinking of going for a Sony HDR XR 105, but it seems that it may not be as good as the TM 10. However, I am concerned that I would have to get new software to be edit the video in the AVCHD format. Presumably that is the format for all High Defintion video, but is there some difficulty with MTS files - in one review that I read, it referred to "the dreaded MTS" - it sounds as if having recorded all the video, I might struggle to edit it. I would be most grateful for your thoughts and is the AVCHD from Panasonic any fifferent or more difficult to unravel than that from Sony or Canon.
Many thanks
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