Panasonic SD5 Camcorder

Solid State? Totally Solid

Panasonic's solid-state 3-chip camcorder is a perfect vacation cam: small and lightweight, with a long lasting, efficient battery. Even better, it shoots 1920 x 1080i AVCHD video to SD or SDHC cards, so if you fill it up on the road you can grab some more memory. Yet while color handling was fantastic and we were totes impressed with the sehr gut Leica lens that captured bright, crisp images, we saw some noticeable compression artifacts on our 37" HDTV. Regardless, this still is one of the best flash memory camcorders on the market, and-for now at least-is the smallest Full HD shooter out there.

WIRED The Nicole Richie of camcorders at 2.6 x 2.6 x 5.3 inches and 12 ounces. Impressive manual focus enlarges image on LCD display for fine-tuning. Manual controls and menus easier to navigate than Interstate highway system.

TIRED No manual focus ring. Flashlight shape hard to hold steady when shooting while in motion. At ten minutes of video per GB in max resolution mode, you're going to need a full deck of memory cards. Sluggish zoom.

• Digital Zoom: 700x
• Optical Zoom: 10x

• Style: Mini Cams
• Manufacturer: Panasonic
• Price: $1,000