Panasonic SDR-S10 Flash Memory Weatherproof Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom (2GB Memory Card Included) by Panasonic
|
List Price: Our Price: $399.95 You Save: $0.04 (0%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $245.00 (click here) Category: Digital Camera See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Panasonic SDR-S10 Flash Memory Weatherproof Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom (2GB Memory Card Included)
Digital camera Review: camera SDR S10
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought the camera. I like its dimensions, easy usage and taking videoclips on a SD memory card. I have just a very big problem. The included software doesnt work properly. My computer is able to show the camera and card either. Unfortunatelly the motionSD studio software always sais that "there is nothing recorder, however a clips have been taken...Digital camera Review: Alright, but not great
Summary: 3 Stars
So far, the main complaint that I have is that there is no lens cap. I cant imagine Panasonic did not come up with this. This is a small one, easy to carry around, which probably is the reason it is getting a lot of smudges on the lens all the time. Digital camera Review: Great for its purpose
Summary: 4 Stars
If you are looking for a small quick shooter to grab clips of your kids or your friends, then this is exactly what this camera is made for. Its all about speed, speed to turn on, and shoot, and then share. (post online, youtube, even whip to DVD)
The Pros:
1. Small and relatively cheap, the next Panasonic is almost double the price SD150. When you compare it to the multitudes of SD cameras (Aiptek, Mustek DXG etc), the S10 is Mercedes, in terms of features, build quality, optics and controls. I replaced my Aiptek GO-HD with this one
2. Shoots Mpeg-2, since its not HD, it uses good ol'MPEG-2, which works great with most edit applications (I do have a couple of gripes about the 16X9 mode though)
3. "water resistant" I have yet to try, but they claim it works ;)
5. Did I mention small?
6. 10X optical zoom with Electronic image stabilization (yes optical would be better, but folks this is a $400 camera)
7. Decent editing software (for PC anyway)
The Cons:
1. No lens cover, I could not agree more with the other reviewer on this point, if this is being billed as an all weather camera, would it have killed them to add an auto door over the lens?
2. Screen does not swivel the full 180 degrees, obviously the engineers are too ashamed of how they look to enjoy making faces at themselves (or with their kids into the camera)
3. Battery could be better, if you are serious about it, get 2 batteries
4. 16X9 Mode seems to create some crazy compressed mpeg that needs to be recompressed by the MotionSD Studio software to be useable (if there is another way to do this please let me know). Otherwise, whatever player you have will squeeze the 16X9 into a 4X3 window or give you an image that looks like it went through a paper shedder and was randomly put back together like Premier elements 2.0 did.
5. Video quality is not fantastic, but still very usable....again its all about expectations, this is a $400 SD camera with 1 CCD, if you want to pull a George Lucas I suggest an HD-DV or high end Mini-DV camera (good luck trying to edit AVCHD)
6. Photo mode is camera phone quality (actually less than camera phone) This camera is not meant to be photo taker. In fact I have a great DSLR, I use this strictly for the moments that a photo isn't enough.
7. You have to connect the Power when transferring files to the PC via USB. That is not cool. (I understand its to ensure no corruption but come on we are adults, I can read the little battery meter as well as the next guy
So to summarize this is a great (better quality) inexpensive clip shooter, it goes back to my moto on video (especially with kids) "less than spectacular quality video is better than no video." You might have the best HD Camera but it does you no good if it sits in your closet. This is small enough to keep with or keep out so it's a quick grab. Then a few minutes later you are emailing out the clips or posting them for the family to see.
Finally if you want see exactly what comes in the box, you can go to flickr and do a search on the SDR-S10, I posted my unboxing photos.
Digital camera Review: mostly disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
Got this camera because of it's size and because it's a Panasonic. Unfortunately, video quality is not much better than the average webcam. The screen does not flip 180 degrees contrary to what the picture shows. There is no cover to protect the lens. Battery life is only 40 minutes per charge. To charge the battery, you plug the AC adapter directly into the camera. No external charger provided. Recording time on the included 2gb SD card is 27 minutes XP mode and 50 minutes SP mode. Startup time is advertised as 1.7 seconds, but that's only if you enable quickstart which is basically a standby mode that continues to drain the battery even when you're not filming. The true cold startup time is more like 3-5 seconds. E.I.S. (electronic image stabilizer) works okay, but lowers the resolution even more. Digital zoom is unusable, but the 10x optical zoom is not too bad if you have steady hands. Focusing is okay in outdoors, but slow indoors. Low light performance is similar to ISO400 or ISO800 on your average consumer digital camera. Still, despite all these problems the unit is very small and can fit in your pocket (or purse). It's perfect for anyone who plans to use it primarily for YouTube videos, etc., Extremely easy to transfer video clips to your computer. Since they're MPEG-2 video files, you can just plug the SD card into your computer's card reader and copy them over. No conversion necessary. Files open without problem on Windows Media Player and Windows Movie Maker. At $400, it's a tough sell (i.e. for about twice as much you could buy the HDC-SD1). If this camcorder were around $200, I'd give it 3 or 4 stars.