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Panasonic HDC-SD60
by devongirlie
I bought this camera just after Christmas having got completely fed-up with my old one because it was a) slow and b) didn't have wide screen. I did a lot of internet research and discovered this was recommended as the best camera out there in my price range. It falls between the £200 - £300 price mark. So I played about with it (my ... sister also has one) and then decided to buy one.
I have to say that at first I was sceptical. It doesn't have an internal hard drive memory but relies solely on an SD memory card. Oh no, I thought, what if I run out of memory. I had previously managed to get a whole years worth of filming on the hard disc of the old one. So I bought two 16GB memory cards. Well I have just come back from two weeks in Florida and used one and half memory cards. So I guess I can live with that. The benefits to no internal memory far outweigh the inconvenience. These being...
- it is soooo much lighter than my old camera. Carrying it around Disneyworld I barely knew I had it!
- it is soooo much slimmer than my old camera. It fits in the palm of your hand very comfortably and is easy to fit in a handbag or a deep pocket.
The Panasonic HDC-SD60 comes in two colours, black and silver. It has a battery on the back which can be removed, but it isn't necessary to do so in order to charge it. The battery takes about 2 hours to fully charge and lasts for about 1 hour 30 mins. This was more than enough to see me through a day in the Disney parks, it didn't go flat once.
There is a handstrap on the right of the camera which is fully adjustable. The screen pulls out on the left side. There is an on/off button on the body of the camera which is accessed when the screen is out but the camera also turns itself on when you open the screen and off when you close the screen, nine times out of ten. If there is a flaw with this machine it is that occassionally when you close the screen and think it is off, it is still recording and you find you have several minutes (or more) of the inside of your husbands crotch or his feet pounding the pavements. It doesn't make for good viewing when editing your movies. When it does shut itself off it also closes the shutter over the lense. If you leave it on while the screen it open it will turn itself off too. The amazing thing about this camera, the thing that sold it to me, is the speed at which it turns itself on. It takes no more than 1 second between opening the screen and being ready to film. It is truly astounding.
The screen on the camera is touch sensitive. Once you have pushed the menu button at the base of the screen all the menu functions are then accessed via the touch screen. From here you can adjust and fiddle with the Record Setup, Picture and Setup facilities. One of which holds the display settings. I find it easier to film with the display off as when it is on there is so much information on the screen you can barely see what you are filming. This does, however, turn the battery display off which is slightly annoying as you can't tell how long your battery has left before it expires.
A particularly nifty function, one I am really impressed with, it the dual options for the most important part of any camera - stopping and starting the recording and zooming in and out. To start and stop recording you can either push the button to the right of the battery or push the button in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. This allows you to choose whether to use your right or left hand as you hold the camera. The same is true of the zoom. There is the usual rocker button at the top of the camera and also buttons at the base of the screen. This is so clever!
The other buttons on the screen are the light for use in darkened conditions and the button for erasing clips. The light, I have to say, is fairly ineffectual. It's good for light people who are about 1-2 metres away from you, and after that it might just as well not be on.
Features of the HDC-SD60:
It is a full HD camera
It has a 25x optical zoom and 35x digital zoom
It has a 35.4mm wide lens.It has O.I.S. (which I assume is some anti-shake thing)
It can be switched from Auto to Manual.
It has a 5.0 Megapixel camera for recording still images.
It has a face recognition programme (but I don't know how to work that yet)
That's about as technical as I get - sorry.
How does it work?
Great. The picture quality is superb. It has a very sharp image. It is quick to focus and holds it's focus very well as you zoom in and out, so long as you don't do it too fast. The sound quality on the recording is also great. No irritating background fuzzy noise. It plays back well too, when you want to look at what you have recorded.
Now here's the really clever bit - it tells you when you are going wrong!!! If you are moving the camera too fast up comes a message on the screen to tell you! How cool is that? With a camera like this even monkeys could make good films... well maybe not, but it is a pretty impressive piece of machinery for the price and I can completely recommend it.
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Panasonic NV-GS180
by johnpeter50
Five years ago, I finally took the plunge and purchased my first DV camcorder. In a market saturated with different brands and formats, I decided upon what was the smallest, lightest 3CCD camcorder available at the time: the Panasonic NV-GS180.
With a 10x optical zoom, wind noise reduction, stereo microphone, low light mode ... and 1/16" Optical sensor, this tiny device packed a rather big punch for the money. But how does it fair compared to today's offerings, and is it still worth hunting down this discontinued model?
PICTURE QUALITY
Although DV is limited in its scope for quality, the NV-GS180 handles itself very well. Although the image quality is never going to match up against prosumer cameras with 1/3" or 1/6" sensors, it nonetheless displays bright, vivacious pictures in all but the lowest of lights.
With 3CCDs, the colour reproduction is spectacular and produces stunning results with most material. Unlike the CMOS driven cameras so prevalent by today's standards, the split channel colours are captured with a naturalistic vibrancy and without the 'jelly' panning and 'flibbing' experienced by lesser models.
I also feel compelled to note that whilst the low light conditions are somewhat temperamental, they're surprisingly good when it comes to grain; the NV-GS180 fights the effects of fuzz wherever it can!
If there were any complaints to be had, it'd be the image sharpness; footage can look a little soft round the edges, especially when autofocusing in action-packed scenes. Filmmakers looking for hard, crisp edges from their video may be disappointed by the occasionally hazy results.
AUDIO QUALITY
In another surprise result, audio from the camera is pretty darned good too. Not only does it feature stereo sound, from an age when camcorders were usually stuck with mono, but the clarity is sharp and supple.
You won't be getting 'studio' quality of course, but then from a built-in microphone you'd expect nothing more. Even though most camcorders have surpassed the technology nowadays, some companies could really take a lesson from the Panasonic NV-GS180's approach to capturing sound.
For a camera of the size, it's also nice to see a hidden port available for an external microphone too. Although it's a 6mm connector, rather than the more useful XLR or 3.5mm jack, it still affords you more opportunities for collecting your audio than most camcorders.
MANUAL MODE
Another reason you'll want to take a good look at the NV-GS180 is its approach to manual settings. If you feel confident enough to take it off 'auto' mode, you'll be rewarded by a diverse range of customization; everything you can do with a regular manual camera you can do with the NV-GS180.
Having said that, you'll find that setting up a particularly 'artsy' shot can be difficult with the camera. All the options are menu driven by a mini-joystick toggle; it means selecting manual options can be an exercise in mechanical frustration: after ten minutes of twiddling with the settings you'll soon be craving a jog dial or lens ring!
Still, it's undeniable that for a camera aimed at the consumer market, it comes with all the options and settings you'd expect from a unit twice the size and price. The NV-GS180 certainly put up strong competition in its day...
TRANSFER
Being a DV camera, tape transfer requires a standard 'IEEE1394' firewire connection. Those looking for an easy 'drag and drop' approach to editing should most-definitely look elsewhere for a camcorder.
Still, the NV-GS180 is happily compatible with most hardware setups and comes with a copy of the Panasonic drivers for your PC to avoid most incompatibility issues.
The only element of note should be that the camera is Firewire 400, not Firewire 800; therefore, if you're using a new MacBook for your editing exploits then you'll need to take this into account before you buy your cabling.
Speaking of which, you'll almost certainly have to dip into your pockets again to purchase the wire. Whilst the camera includes various connectors, it doesn't come with a Firewire cable - a slightly cheap move by the crew at Panasonic, but not a shock considering it's industry practice to exclude such 'optional extras'.
BATTERY LIFE
The NV-GS180's recording time is far from slack. At a full charge, you can expect well over an hour from a broken-in Li-ion rechargeable battery.
Seeing that the included pack is only rated at 640mAh, you may want to consider purchasing a slightly bigger capacity to increase the record/standby time beyond the default: Whilst you needn't be paranoid about a fully charged unit, it won't take long to deplete the charge with the built-in 2.5" colour LCD monitor switched on all day.
Treat the device's power conservatively and you'll find that the unit rewards you with a more-than-reasonable lifespan before you need to hit the power supply again. A charge from empty to full will take approximately two hours, so be sure to bring a spare battery if you'll be shooting 'on-location' at a wedding - you don't want the camcorder to cut out mid-way through the best man speech!
OVERALL
Considering the age of the unit, the NV-GS180 still feels like the nimble device it was half a decade ago. While I could hardly recommend the camcorder now that 720p and 1080p are the norm, I'd certainly not complain if it's the only thing I had to hand.
I recently used my unit to create a video display for a group of professionals who complemented and applauded the quality of my footage. While I'm no amateur videographer, I'd still share my credit with the NV-GS180 due to its hassle-free handling of the occasion. Colour and sound were captured with crisp clarity, the manual settings allowed for a certain degree of artistry, and the on-board stabilisation, zoom and viewfinder made the experience trouble free.
If you can find the NV-GS180 for pocket-change at a car boot sale or market stall, then I'd heartily recommend giving it a go, especially if you're looking to film your next adventure holiday without risking the safety of your brand-new £1,000 DSLR.
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Panasonic SDR-S7
by Lions
I don't know what you are looking for when you buy a video camera. Personally, when I do I am expecting something that I can make use of in almost any situation. If you are also looking for that, do not buy this camera, it's not what you're looking for.
I read another review of this camera, already written here on DooYoo. ... It stated that it was a good, lightweight, "holiday" type of camera. I try to be creative but they pretty much nailed it right on the head there, that is EXACTLY what this is. Now for me, that wasn't good enough, but like I said before, I don't know what your camera wants/needs are, so I'm just going to basically list off the pros and cons and you can make the decision as to whether this works for you.
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.:Pros:.
-Lightweight.
This camera is super light, you can easily film with one hand without being a body builder.
-Small.
I guess you would expect this with it being lightweight and all, but just in case you didn't realize by now, this is one of the smaller video cameras on the market right now. If you're a woman, this will fit in even the smallest of purses without a problem.
-Pretty good quality video.
It's not like you're filming in HD or anything, but the video does come out very nicely, especially when you consider that this is a much cheaper camera than most of the stuff you see out there these days.
-Very easy to use.
Just pop in an SD card and you can start filming/taking pictures. Viewing your videos or pics on the camera itself is also a breeze, as well as transferring the media files onto your computer. There are only really a couple buttons on the whole thing so learning how to film with it is easy as well.
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.:Cons:.
-The "stop recording" button.
It's in quite the awkward place. You would think they could just have it somewhere where your finger is naturally going to be when you are holding the camera, but instead it's like at the bottom of the camera, and near the front as well. The button to start recording is placed at the perfect spot to click it easily with your thumb, but for whatever reason they picked a weird spot for the stop one.
-Too dark.
You have to make sure you are filming in a very bright area. If you are in a room that is even relatively dark, your view upon playback will be significantly dark, even if it indeed is only slightly dim.
-Eats up charge.
I suppose all video cameras have this problem. Just noting that this one is no exception. If you go on a trip, make sure you've got the charger with you.
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.:Conclusion:.
All in all this is still an okay digital camera, but the whole problem with it being too dark has been a really annoying problem with me on multiple occasions. If you plan on using this only a few times a year (like 10-20 for holidays or maybe musical recitals for your children) than this camera could work for you. But if you want to use this as a serious video camera, I recommend you just put in the extra $50-100 and get something a bit more heavy duty. This isn't anything hardcore right here, but then again, it doesn't really have the hardcore price. Like I said in the beginning of this review, it all depends on your needs.
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