The Panasonic SD900 vrs the SD90. Head to head with dead moths and Quality Street

Ah I'm in the final stages of the decision process, which is always the most stressful. Is it worth spending the extra £200 to get the SD900 rather than the SD90?

This review is very postive about the 900 and gives it the full 5 stars:

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/camcorders/panasonic-hdc-sd900-928795/review

And says... "as a movie-making device for enthusiasts, semi-pros, film students and low-budget producers, it is exceptional.

We liked

Superlative video recording is matched by digital photography functions, but what really seal the deal for the SD900 are its advanced features. Accessed through the exemplary 3.5-inch touchscreen LCD, there is such a rich, treasure trove of modes that it's hard to think what else you could possibly have wanted to include.

http://www.simplyelectronics.net/mainproduct.php?AF=RV&pid=12995&tduid=602253c10761f45a8b17541acdedeb5b

 I went to Currys today to test them out and the results are... inconclusive. The footage has been compressed here, so neither clip is representative of the quality I can see on the screen in front of me, but it does allow some comparison. The Zoom is better on the (cheaper) SD90 but close up looks better on the 900. The 900 feels like a "proper" camcorder and the manual ring at the front, combined with the larger lens, and 3 sensors rather than 1 makes it very tempting...

This forum user says it's a no-brainer; 

Well if you read the title:
Panasonic SD90 Full HD 1920x1080p (50p) 3D Ready Camcorder - Black (SD Card Recording, x40 Intelligent Zoom, x26 Optical Zoom, 28mm Wide Angle Lens & iA + Face Recognition & New Hybrid OIS)

Versus
Panasonic SD900 Full HD 1920x1080p (50p) 3D Ready Camcorder - Black (3MOS sensor, SD Card Recording, Leica Dicomar Lens and Manual Control Ring)

The £300 one is selling you features which are irrelevant, The lower one is selling you a proper lens with a manual control ring and a 3MOS sensor, Yes it does justify the £200-300 increase in cost, You WILL notice an improvement.

http://www.videoforums.co.uk/camcorder-reviews-problems-shooting/37788-panasonic-sd90-sd900.html

Here's my "in the field" test.

Funny, I couldn't get a salesman to talk to me, but as soon as I got my Quality Street and dead moth out on the counter and started putting my own memory cards in the camcorders and firing them up, 2 came running at once (the moth is at the end, by the way)

EDIT:

I went for the SD900 and I'm very glad I did.

http://www.fouragesofsand.com/2011/11/and-the-winner-is.html#tp

(I read that the TM900 - the one with the internal memory - makes a noise but the SD is silent as far as I can tell. The low light capabilies are superb, the quality is stunning, and the manual focus ring is extremely useful. See a couple of my videos here. ps. Get yourself the Pixco .45X wide angle off ebay too; £19 and it works really well. The macro, which is part of it does a great job too.

http://vimeo.com/34290024

http://vimeo.com/34067468

http://vimeo.com/34399224

 

Comments

[Rob]

Hah thats so weird thats from my forum thread I started last year! It was really confusing because I posted the same question on AVForums and got:

"I always try to buy the best if I can afford it and the 900 is undoubtably better - whether that difference will be noticeable after being filtered through the internet is, IMHO unlikely."

I never made a decision but am revisiting the dilemma now. I suppose the problem is that with internet videos - mainly what I need a camcorder for - difference in quality doesnt always feed through.

But I think I will go for the 900 in the end like you, I suppose these are expensive machines and you need to invest in something thats 'future-proof' and has a wide range of features.

[Iain]

Hi Rob. Yes, it's difficult to know how high to go isn't it? I think it depends very much on what you are going to use it for.
When I compared them in the shop, I couldn't tell much of a difference (although the SD900 felt much more solid in the hand, and easier to operate) so if I was just buying a cam for general filming I would have gone for the SD90, but I use it for quite challenging applications, eg, low light, nature etc (see the Video and Film category in the left hand sidebar for my results so far http://www.fouragesofsand.com/video-and-film/) and I also intend to try some more 'serious' film making at some point.

That's where the SD900 comes into its own. Having the Manual Ring at the front gives you total control over shutter speed, iris, focus etc. It's a joy to use, and for me makes the camera worth the extra £150 by itself. For someone who's only going to use the Auto settings, this feature would be a waste of money.

Re 'future proof': I agree. You can never be sure what you are going to use the camera for in the future. I have a cheap Powershot compact camera and a Nikon DSLR. Taking family photos on a sunny day you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference, even though the Nikon cost 3X as much. But the Nikon, of course, can cope with a much wider range of conditions, and gives full rich colours even in very low light. You can get decent results shooting at ISO 1600 or even 3200, whereas the Powershot is useless at anything over ISO200.

Let us know which way you go!

Regards,

Iain

[Rob]

Thanks for the reply Iain

I'm happy to say I put my order in yesterday for the SD900 :) It is pretty difficult with the pricing, the other day I told my friend how expensive this camcorder was I wanted to get and he just said 'and how is it different from an £80 one?' even though he's quite the technology buff.

Buy it was this review that really did it for me
http://beta.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/camcorders/panasonic-hdc-sd900-928795/review?artc_pg=3
The things that made me want this particular camcorder are the manual focus ring, EVF, digital cinema mode and Ive also heard you can take pictures whilst recording video.

I honestly only started playing around with videography early last year, and ended up getting quite a bit of swag from online young people's competitions. People dont realise how easy it is to make an online video these days and what kind of competitions are out there to enter. So Im not exactly endowed with a wealth of filmmaking knowledge, but Ive gotten about £600 from competitions by spending virtually nothing, so I thought Id better reinvest :D

I just want a camera that has some decent potential, I may just carry on doing small things as a hobby, but I may decide I fancy trying to do a short film. And this is really ideal for that.

Regards

Rob

[Iain]

Hi Rob. Good choice, you won't regret it ;-)

Can you send a link to your winning vids? I'd be v interested to see them.

The review is spot on. It's fairly negative about the viewfinder:

"Perhaps the viewfinder does feel like an unnecessary throwback – if you're going to include one why not design it to be properly large and make a feature of it?"

but I have to say, I use it quite often. It's ideal when the light is very bright, and it's great for nature filming eg. when you need to zoom in on a fast moving bird.

Cheers,

Iain