Name: Panasonic HDC-SD100, HDC-HS100
Category: digital video camera
Price: JPY130,000 (HDC-SD100), JPY150,000 (HDC-HS100)
Release date in Japan: July 12, 2008

What's 3MOS? It's a Matsushita technology that uses three CMOS sensors to capture twice the light of the equivalent single sensor. Add to that a Leica Dicomar lens, "New HD Crystal Engine" processing (with next-generation Uniphier LSI) that doubles dynamic range over the earlier HDC-SD9 camcorder, "Next Generation Optical Image Stabilization" that actually moves the lens to compensate for hand shake, and "Digital Cinema Color" color correction, and the reward for you is better image quality than ever, says Matsushita. Even in twilight or birthday-candle situations, as low as two lux of light - twice the sensitivity of the HDC-SD9 with its triple CCD sensors, and reportedly the highest sensitivity you'll find in any HD camcorder.

The HDC-SD100 is the junior model, recording only to SD/SDHC cards (up to 2GB for SD, 32GB for SDHC). The HDC-HS100 has the same memory card recording capability plus a 60GB hard drive. Both models are full Hi-Def (1920x1080), recording in AVCHD format. Using the best recording mode (HA), expect 4 hours of video on a 32GB card, almost 8 hours on the 60GB hard disk.

Other specs: 12x optical zoom, face detection (up to 15 faces), VIERA HFTV connectivity, included 8GB SDHC card. Weight with battery is a mere 382g for the SD100, 482g for the HS100.

More info: http://panasonic.jp/dvc/sd100/ (Japanese)