Panasonic intros three HD camcorders

Editor’s note: The following article is reprinted from the Today @ PC World blog at PCWorld.com.

Though it doesn’t quite match last year’s camcorder madness, Panasonic announced at CES the addition of three HD camcorders to its arsenal. The three new camcorders are the HDC-HS60, HDC-TM55, and HDC-SD60.

All three HD camcorders record to SD and SDXC memory cards and will feature Panasonic’s Intelligent Auto mode, which is designed to prevent shooting errors. The camcorder also has a face recognition mode (which the company says the user may use to register and automatically focus on up to six faces).

All of the new camcorders boast a 25x optical zoom (potentially reaching up to a 35x zoom with the Intelligent Zoom feature) and range in weight from 0.56 to 0.72 pounds.

Panasonic also added its new image stabilization system, POWER OIS, which the company says is five times the corrective power of previous versions.

The HDC-HS60 can store data on its 120GB hard drive. The HDC-TM55, a Twin Memory camcorder, records to an 8GB hard drive.

The HDC-SD60 has no internal memory, relying solely on memory card, which the company alleges will allow it to be highly impact resistant.

All three HD camcorders are due out later this year, though pricing is not yet available at this time.