Panasonic's 2011 pocket camcorder — Full HD MP4, 14MP stills, upright grip, rotating LCD
The Panasonic HX-DC1 was a 2011 pocket camcorder with an upright, easy-grip vertical design, part of Panasonic's short-lived dual-camera range promising stills and Full HD video from one palm-sized device. It sat alongside the HX-DC10 and the waterproof HX-WA10 in the same launch.
It records 1920x1080 Full HD video in MP4 (MPEG-4 AVC) from a 14.4-megapixel 1/2.33in CMOS sensor and captures 14-megapixel stills, with 2-megapixel stills possible while recording. Zoom is Panasonic's 12x Double Range system, the 3.0in LCD rotates through 285 degrees, and footage stores to SD, SDHC or SDXC cards.
It suits casual video shooters and collectors of the brief pocket-camcorder era that smartphones ended; the vertical grip and swing-out screen make one-handed family and holiday filming natural. As a stills camera it is secondary — a small sensor in a video-first shape.
Check the rotating screen hinge and its ribbon cable, the most stressed part of the design, and confirm the proprietary battery still holds useful charge with a charger or USB lead included. Test an in-camera recording to a card before buying, as these frequently sell as untested drawer finds.