Panasonic HDC-HS9

Released in 2008 the Panasonic HDC-HS9 is a high definition definition camcorder that utilizes 3 CCDs. Shooting at full 1080p the HDC-HS9 outputs AVCHD r.3 to a 60GB internal hard drive or loaded SD/SDHC card. Still photos are taken through the video capture mode, and are only recorded at full 1920x1080 resolution. Unfortunately, the unit's flash is located off center, often resulting in uneven lighting. While it is slightly larger than many consumer offerings, and has few hobbiest features, the ability to take 8 hours of footage in high definition is reason enough to consider this model. Battery life is 117 minutes.