Since the picture quality should be exactly the same, I am putting these 2 reviews on the same thread.

SX5
http://i4u.digitaltrends.com/review4749_main23753.html

SD5
http://www.simplydv.co.uk/Reviews/panasonic_hdc-sd5_1.html



This makes me wonder how other reviewers will rate these camcorders.

Panasonic should have an AG-HSC1U successor in the works since it’s their only camcorder that hasn’t been replaced by a 1920x1080 model yet. It better be soon.

I have the HDC-SD7, which is the same as the SD5 technically, but with an upright format. I can echo the sentiments of the review. I would say though, that in auto mode, low light shots are pretty horrid.

If I could either read Japanese, or find an English HDC-SD5 manual, I'd have a go at the manual controls....

Just received my SD5 the other day and the shots I have taken and played directly on my 32" LCD HDTV are great. Great color and very sharp. The few samples I've seen posted on the net don't do the camera justice. I did some low light shooting and that's when things get "grainy" but it isn't too bad especially since I never would be shooting in those conditions anyway. Overall, I give it a big thumbs up...hopefully I can post some samples after this weekend.

Just back from a fortnight's holiday with six hours of video from the SD7. If you take the trouble to learn how to use the manual controls then the low light stuff isn't half bad.

I posted up my own review of the SD5 along with samples on my webpage:

http://web.mac.com/colorado_freeskier/Site/Camcorder_Review.html