Panasonic HDC-HS60

Manual shutter-speed and iris controls; comfortable size; smarter-than-average autofocus; lens focuses relatively closely; decent battery life. Panasonic&quartet of entry-level HD camcorders--the HDC-HS60, TM60, TM55, and SD60--deliver a nice manual feature set and good performance, as well as solid video quality for their class. As long as you don&pay list price, the SD60 is a great value, and if possible, avoid paying the unnecessary price premium for the hard drive in the HS60.