- AVCHD is a standard developed jointly by Sony and Panasonic for HD digital camcorders.
- 120 GB Shock-Mounted Hard Disc Drive: Panasonic SD card/hard-drive camcorders are ideal for travel
- Built-in SD / SDHC Memory Card Drive: SD memory cards are incredibly versatile
- 3MOS Camera System (3 x 3.05 Megapixels): The HS250 features three of Panasonic's new 1/4.1-inch 3,050,000-pixel MOS sensors.
- Shoot in Lighting as Low as 1.6 Lux: You can shoot clear shots in lighting as low as 1.6 lx. With the 3MOS Sensor
Technical Details
Product Details
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Product Description
From the Manufacturer
High Definition vs. Standard Definition: What's the difference?
HD images contain 6 times as much information as standard images. HDTV has 1,080 horizontal scan lines, SDTV has 480. That translates into much higher resolution and much finer detail. With HD images on an HDTV, pictures are so clear and sharp that you can see textures. The shift in the industry from SDTV to HDTV is well underway. For shooting once-in-a-lifetime scenes that you want to capture in full beauty, an HD camcorder is the best choice.
 3MOS System for Beautiful ImagesFor videos of important moments you want to preserve, you want high image quality. That's what Panasonic's 3MOS System delivers, with a combination of optical technologies that further enhance the quality of full-HD images. The 3MOS System produces extremely accurate images with superb rendition of differences in darkness and light, rich color expression, and a full 1,080 lines of horizontal resolution. This advanced technology helps turn once-in-a-lifetime moments into vivid, beautiful images. |
 iA (Intelligent Auto) for Smart ControlThere's nothing more disappointing than shooting a once-in-a-lifetime event on video, only to discover that the images are blurry or poorly exposed because of backlighting. Panasonic's iA helps avoid problems in difficult shooting situations by automatically making the optimal camera settings and activating certain functions. For example, iA now includes AF Tracking, a new function that "locks" on and follows a subject as it moves, so images are sharply focused and properly exposed. This technology is a huge help for everyone. |
Panasonic's advanced O.I.S. helps suppress the effects of hand-shake as you shoot, for both motion and still images. This system uses gyrosensors to detect even tiny amounts of hand-shake, then shifts a lens and adjusts the optical axis to compensate - all at an astounding 4,000 times per second. It also covers approximately 3 times the stabilization area of our previous SD9 model. Because the system is optical, there's only minimal loss of image quality even when viewed on a large-screen TV. In addition, to shoot high-resolution still images, the normal O.I.S. Mode 1 is joined by an O.I.S. Mode 2, which has a higher stabilization capability. The O.I.S. corrective lens shifts and stabilizes the image the instant that the shutter button is pressed, to enable greater precision in stabilization. You get all the beauty and minimal blurring.
Product Description
Full-HD images that bring out all the beauty of your memories. The 3MOS System in HDC-HS250 produces extremely accurate images with superb rendition of differences in darkness and light, rich color expression, and a full 1,080 lines of horizontal resolution.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
63 of 63 people found the following review helpful
I got this camcorder for about two weeks already. It's very easy to start operating it even without reading the manual. The touch screen feature is great! You can basically play on the touch screen and see the difference of the picture quality right on the screen. Here's some of the Pro & Con that I think after playing with this camcorder.
Pro:
-Easy to use
-Great video quality (I hook on my Sony 48 inches 1080p LCD screen, the picture looks great!)
-Picture quality is great too if you got enough light when using indoor (outdoor, no problem)
-Indoor video recording is pretty good using backlight function if indoor light is not enough.
-Outdoor video quality is excellent
-Digital zooming is great (I can basically zoom in and get so detail that I can see the pore of the person's face right across of the street with 3 traffic lane in between it.)
-LCD touch screen is great (you can flip the screen too! You can also use fingernail to touch the screen if your fingertip is too big, the screen don't have any problem recognizing your command.)
Con:
-Not enough battery life (got around 90minutes of recording, good thing is that you can see how much time you got left on the LCD screen for recording so you'll know when you need to charge the battery or switch to power cord or new battery.)
-You cannot charge the battery while using power cord!
-The power cord plug on the camcorder is hidden underneath where you put the battery at, so you cannot use both battery and power cord at the same time (very bad when you try to record using power cord, once you accidentally pull the power cord plug, all of the recording stops, and it takes long time for camcorder to get back to recording and it also causes temporary hard drive malfunction while the camcorder trying to recover what you just record.)
-You cannot turn on the light that came with the camcorder to do the recording (it's use mostly as flash function when taking picture)
So far that's what I thought playing for two weeks (without reading the manual.)
Pro:
-Easy to use
-Great video quality (I hook on my Sony 48 inches 1080p LCD screen, the picture looks great!)
-Picture quality is great too if you got enough light when using indoor (outdoor, no problem)
-Indoor video recording is pretty good using backlight function if indoor light is not enough.
-Outdoor video quality is excellent
-Digital zooming is great (I can basically zoom in and get so detail that I can see the pore of the person's face right across of the street with 3 traffic lane in between it.)
-LCD touch screen is great (you can flip the screen too! You can also use fingernail to touch the screen if your fingertip is too big, the screen don't have any problem recognizing your command.)
Con:
-Not enough battery life (got around 90minutes of recording, good thing is that you can see how much time you got left on the LCD screen for recording so you'll know when you need to charge the battery or switch to power cord or new battery.)
-You cannot charge the battery while using power cord!
-The power cord plug on the camcorder is hidden underneath where you put the battery at, so you cannot use both battery and power cord at the same time (very bad when you try to record using power cord, once you accidentally pull the power cord plug, all of the recording stops, and it takes long time for camcorder to get back to recording and it also causes temporary hard drive malfunction while the camcorder trying to recover what you just record.)
-You cannot turn on the light that came with the camcorder to do the recording (it's use mostly as flash function when taking picture)
So far that's what I thought playing for two weeks (without reading the manual.)
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this camcorder primarily to videotape my daughter's gymnastics meets. I have recorded two so far and the video quality for those is excellent. The lighting in both cases was bright flourescent lighting like you would find in a high school gymnasium. I made a brief test video in my kitchen at night with just one light on and it wasn't so great. I don't know if this would be a great camcorder for birthday parties and that sort of thing. For that you would be better off getting a camera with 720 HD like the Panasonic DMC-FZ35 for less than half the price. It takes great video in a variety of lighting, but it cannot handle some of the very fast action of gymnastics without blurring. But that's another review!
Pros:
- Very large (120gb) built-in hard drive.
- Available SD/SDHC memory card slot.
- Great video in bright indoor or outdoor light - the same video quality as the HDC-HS300 that costs over $1000.
- Very easy to use - my 8-year-old was taking pictures and videos and playing them back with no instructions.
- Video is very easy to import to iMovie '09 on my iMac - I just attach it using the included usb cable and a window comes up allowing me to choose the clips I want to import.
- The image stabilization works well - smooth footage without a tripod.
- Zoom is very smooth and adequate.
- Great price if you can get it for under 600 dollars.
- Display shows how much battery life (in minutes) and how much recording time is remaining.
Cons:
- Lacks an electronic viewfinder and an external microphone jack - to get those you need the HDC-H300.
- Probably not great for low light indoors.
- The battery charger/AC adapter are a bit strange but you can live with it - you have to remove the battery to put in the AC/Adapter but the battery will not charge while you are using the adapter.
- Battery life is not very long (about 90 minutes) and extra batteries are pricey - this is the case for most HD camcorders.
- Like probably every HD camcorder, the included software is not so great (although I don't need it for my iMac) and you will have to invest in expensive software to edit the video using a Windows PC.
I researched extensively and for my needs this is by far the best camcorder for the price. It would also be great for videotaping any sports, including indoor sports like basketball.
Update: I've been using it for about two months now. When recording indoors (convention centers, gymnasiums, etc.) the video has good resolution, but often a strange color cast, especially at the start of recording. I don't know if other cameras would be better in this kind of light with subjects that are far away.
Pros:
- Very large (120gb) built-in hard drive.
- Available SD/SDHC memory card slot.
- Great video in bright indoor or outdoor light - the same video quality as the HDC-HS300 that costs over $1000.
- Very easy to use - my 8-year-old was taking pictures and videos and playing them back with no instructions.
- Video is very easy to import to iMovie '09 on my iMac - I just attach it using the included usb cable and a window comes up allowing me to choose the clips I want to import.
- The image stabilization works well - smooth footage without a tripod.
- Zoom is very smooth and adequate.
- Great price if you can get it for under 600 dollars.
- Display shows how much battery life (in minutes) and how much recording time is remaining.
Cons:
- Lacks an electronic viewfinder and an external microphone jack - to get those you need the HDC-H300.
- Probably not great for low light indoors.
- The battery charger/AC adapter are a bit strange but you can live with it - you have to remove the battery to put in the AC/Adapter but the battery will not charge while you are using the adapter.
- Battery life is not very long (about 90 minutes) and extra batteries are pricey - this is the case for most HD camcorders.
- Like probably every HD camcorder, the included software is not so great (although I don't need it for my iMac) and you will have to invest in expensive software to edit the video using a Windows PC.
I researched extensively and for my needs this is by far the best camcorder for the price. It would also be great for videotaping any sports, including indoor sports like basketball.
Update: I've been using it for about two months now. When recording indoors (convention centers, gymnasiums, etc.) the video has good resolution, but often a strange color cast, especially at the start of recording. I don't know if other cameras would be better in this kind of light with subjects that are far away.
56 of 65 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
Pros:
Awesome image quality and color. LCD screen surprised me that I could see it in daylight very easily. Touch controls work very well for me using the stylus. My previous two camcorders were Sony DVD. This Panasonic HD blows them out of the water!
Cons:
1) Not as advertised
2) Video editing software is barely adequate, and very spartan in its features.
Summary:
Panasonic, on their own webpage with their own product flyer claimed this camera had Time Lapse capability. It does not! I contacted Panasonic via their customer service asking about this and so far have only received a run around from them! Being directed to a telephone number, which when called inserts you into a horrendous automated system that is extremely difficult to navigate. Once you get to where you can ask for technical assistance, you are put on hold. After 20 minutes I gave up.
It is False Advertising, pure and simple! Shame on Panasonic!
Other than the deceit about the time lapse photography feature I really like this camcorder. The image quality and color are far superior to the two Sony DVD camcorders I had owned previously. The still shot capability is quite impressive also. Certainly not on a par with a dedicated DSLR, but from a point and shoot standpoint the images are quite good. The burst mode, of 60 frames per second is a stunner!
The camcorder is quite handsome in its black and chrome livery. It is small and light, but not too much so. It feels like a quality instrument.
I am quite satisfied with the camcorder overall, and if it actually had Time Lapse as advertised, I would have been thrilled with it.
Awesome image quality and color. LCD screen surprised me that I could see it in daylight very easily. Touch controls work very well for me using the stylus. My previous two camcorders were Sony DVD. This Panasonic HD blows them out of the water!
Cons:
1) Not as advertised
2) Video editing software is barely adequate, and very spartan in its features.
Summary:
Panasonic, on their own webpage with their own product flyer claimed this camera had Time Lapse capability. It does not! I contacted Panasonic via their customer service asking about this and so far have only received a run around from them! Being directed to a telephone number, which when called inserts you into a horrendous automated system that is extremely difficult to navigate. Once you get to where you can ask for technical assistance, you are put on hold. After 20 minutes I gave up.
It is False Advertising, pure and simple! Shame on Panasonic!
Other than the deceit about the time lapse photography feature I really like this camcorder. The image quality and color are far superior to the two Sony DVD camcorders I had owned previously. The still shot capability is quite impressive also. Certainly not on a par with a dedicated DSLR, but from a point and shoot standpoint the images are quite good. The burst mode, of 60 frames per second is a stunner!
The camcorder is quite handsome in its black and chrome livery. It is small and light, but not too much so. It feels like a quality instrument.
I am quite satisfied with the camcorder overall, and if it actually had Time Lapse as advertised, I would have been thrilled with it.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good quality video but video editing software could be better
Pros
- Video Quality in well lighted areas is great - my rating 9/10.
- Video Quality in low light is 6/10. Read more
- Video Quality in well lighted areas is great - my rating 9/10.
- Video Quality in low light is 6/10. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Vikram Rawat
Great Camera
I have been using it for about a year. Not an issue so far. One feature I overlooked when buying - the camera does not have audio input. Not its fault though ...
Published 5 months ago by Ken Adams
Have had for over a year
I've had this for over a year. I believe the increase in COLOR quality with the 3mos system (read up on that) is really the biggest asset of this HD camcorder. Read more
Published 8 months ago by JC believer
Not Mac compatible
This camcorder is really great, but the fact that there is no alternative button to use when the LCD screen is glitchy is not good. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Karen Saephanh
Not ideal for outdoor
I am using this cam for weeks now and found it easy to use but it has some major flaws.It has no view finder and i thought its right step in forward direction who needs old... Read more
Published 17 months ago by S.Khan
Why Hard Drive-Based Camcorder is Superior
In one short sentence, this quality of this camcorder's video is the best I have ever seen at this price point. The Leica zoom lens is very clear and sharp. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Amazonian Consumer
Panasonic HDC-HS250K
It`s a good cam, it`s perfect to rec your personal things and it`s very easy to use.
Published 20 months ago by Laura Plazas
Great little Camera
We tested this camera against an XDCAM EX3. Shot in daylight, same picture, I stood next to the other camera. Read more
Published 21 months ago by J. J. Vuuren
Good for the buck
Overall its a good product, easy to use and has all the features needed. Only drawback is that the picture quality is not good in low light. Outside in bright light its good.
Published 23 months ago by Sri
No way!
If you like green skies and green water, you will like this camera. But if you are buying this thinking that it will give decent colours, think again. Read more
Published 23 months ago by David R. Courtney
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