Panasonic SDR-H80 SD and HDD Camcorder (Black)

Panasonic SDR-H80 SD and HDD Camcorder (Black)
by Panasonic

List Price: ~~$399.95~~
Our Price: $125.00
You Save: $274.95 (69%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Digital Camera
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Customers in the UK, buy this product at amazon.co.uk for British Pounds

Digital Photo Product Details

Manufacturer: Panasonic
Release Date: 2009-04-15
Model: SDR-H80-K
Color: Black
Product features:

1CCD camera system
Records to 60 GB built-in Hard Disk Drive or SD memory cards
70x optical zoom; 100x digital zoom
Intelligent Auto Mode automatically selects Face Detection, Scene Selector, Optical Image Stabilizer and Intelligent Contrast Control
2.7-inch widescreen touch-panel LCD

Accessories:

Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Panasonic SDR-H80 SD and HDD Camcorder (Black)

Customer Review: Just What I was looking for
Summary: 5 Stars

First off, I was looking for a replacement for my JVC mini-DV camcorder which I used extensively last year. It worked well until one day, it fell to the floor and since then, I would get errors while recording after 30 minutes of use. If I used a cleaning tape, I could get it to work somewhat. But, the biggest thing I disliked about it was that it would take 1 hour to transfer to my computer 1 hour worth of video using firewire.

So, I was looking for a good Standard Definition camcorder which would either use a hard-drive or flash memory card to transfer video to my computer for further editing and DVD authoring. And, this camcorder does that and very elegantly as well. I tried out some HD quality camcorders but to edit those would require a new PC, better software which doesn't seem to be available right now and more frustrations than I was looking for. I was looking for an easier way to do what worked.

I read where some do not like the quality ( primarily of photos ) which I'm not concerned with. The video quality to me is as good as my old JVC mini-DV. I have captured snapshots from the video taken on this camcorder and, considering all, they're not too bad but if I want a good photo, I'll use my digital camera. The software supplied with this Panasonic transfers the .mov files from the camcorder to the PC and renames them .mpg files. The files are identical so I'm assuming the camcorder records in mpeg format using a .mov file extension on the camcorder itself. I have thought I might just copy to my PC directly but the software is fairly straight forward enough, I use it. For editing video ( and photos ), I use my regular video/photo editing software once the files are on my PC. I used Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8 Platinum for video and PSP X2 or Photoshop Elements for photos and they work well.

What I like most about the camcorder are:
1. the zoom -- I recorded our son's football game and from across the field up in the video booth, I could zoom in on players and see their face quite easily zoomed in,
2. optical stabilization -- at zoomed in level, the stabilization worked very well. I held the light camcorder in my left hand as steady as I could and used my right index finger to zoom and thumb to record/pause the video. This worked very well,
3. audio -- I picked up audio from below, close up and far away while recording and was truly impressed with the resulting DVD I created from the captured video,
4. transfer to PC -- instead of 1-to-1 time transfer with a mini-DV, I could send 15 minutes of video over to my PC in 2-3 minutes max time -- and I didn't have to view/listen to the video being played while transferring.

What I like least about the camcorder are:
1. it is light -- almost too light but I'll get used to that,
2. the battery only lasts about 2 hours before charging so I've bought a longer-lasting battery which should help there,
3. the AC adaptor plug and file-transfer USB cable plug in under the battery. Somewhat awkward yes, but to do file transfers properly, I should be using AC anyway so it's impossible to mess that up using a low battery and losing power in the middle of a file transfer,
4. there is another feature called aI which I haven't completely figured out yet but from what I can tell so far, it may be something I would add to what I like Most about the camcorder. If I find this is so, I may wish to update this review.

So, for my purposes, this is a great camcorder!

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Description of Panasonic SDR-H80 SD and HDD Camcorder (Black)

SDR-H80-K black SD/HDD camcorder

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