Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I've owned the camera for 3 months now, and am very happy with it. I needed a camera tiny enough to carry in a purse, yet capable of high quality video, and this is it.
Tape-based camcorders make DV video on tape - those DV cameras make video which cannot be converted to DVD unless you go through a cumbersome operation of playing the video in the camera while at the same time "capturing" the video on a computer over a firewire cable - a process which is error-prone to say nothing of being a time hog. If you shoot 5 hours of video, getting it onto computer takes 5 more hours. On the other hand, a mpeg-based SD-card camera like this transfers its video to computer simply by inserting its SD card into your computer's card reader slot. If you use an aftermarket DVD author program like TmpgDVDauthor, you don't even have to transfer the files off the SD card - you can "drag and drop" the filenames and create a TV-viewable DVD without any hassles, directly from your card reader.
This camera is the replacement for Panasonic's still-amazing "worlds smallest true camcorder" SV-AV100. It has greatly improved low light capability, and incredible richness of color. To say nothing of its still picture capability, with pop-up flash, even.
Though the camera advertises itself as having "3.1" megapixel stills, they are actually closer in quality to a typical 2 megapixel camera. This is because the camera uses its video CCD's to make the still, with Panasonic's "pixel shift" method. You cannot compare this camera to digital still cameras which have a gigantic CCD to make their stills with - being a video camera, one should be thankful for these stills in such a small package. With care, the stills can be enlarged to 4x5 inches on quality photo paper and look very good, but 8x10 inch enlarging is overdoing it. If you want digital still camera type stills for portrait enlargements and critical still photos, get a digital still camera in addition to this camera.
The camera's 10x zoom is useable because of its excellent image stabilization. The lens mechanism adjusts itself at high speed to counteract jerky hand movements, keeping your picture sharp. This does not mean that holding the camera in shaky hands will not produce a moving picture, but the fast "quiver" that ruins videos will be gone, and the individual frames are amazingly sharp. A tripod or monopod for extreme zoom shots is still best, but the image stabilization is a marvel, even better than in the earlier camera.
There are some good still cameras which have a "video mode" which can be used to make DVD's, but none of them have all of these features: (1) 48kbps stereo sound, (2) 60-fields per second interlaced video, (3) 640x480 or larger video resolution. Most, like the often praised Casio EXP-505, have only 30fps video, which will cause a "flicker" when converted to DVD video. The interlacing, which updates at 60fps, is necessary for making fast action look smooth on your TV. Don't make the mistake of trying to use a digital still camera's "video mode" in place of a true camcorder with fully-interlaced video like this one.
Sample video and user comments are on the ad-free nonprofit site www.zyvid.com, which has the largest forum for the camera and the SV-AV100, replacing the old JackBrown forum.
Critics of the camera forget how tiny the camera is. When a camera is the smallest of its type, minor compromises are to be expected. But the excellent quality and color in its video are comparable to any consumer camcorder, even the much larger ones. It's a real marvel.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Panasonic SDR-S100 3.1MP 3CCD MPEG-2 SD Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom (Includes 2GB Memory Card)
Get True, Crisp Color Images with our 3CCD Camera SystemThe SDR-S100, with its 3CCD Camera System, reproduces color in great fidelity by using a separate CCD for reds, greens and blues. It's the same 3CCD technology used in Panasonic professional broadcast equipment, resulting in 540 lines of breathtaking resolution. You can count on Panasonic 3CCD DigitalCamcorders to give you colors that are as rich and vibrant as your life. Quality Pictures Start with a Quality Leica Dicomar LensWorld-renowned lens-maker LEICA has developed an exquisite, 12-element, multi-coated lens that helps add a high-level of detail and subtlety to your creations. With refinements like a 2-stage neutral density filter for aperture independent adjustment, you'll appreciate the remarkably crisp, true-to-life color that is a hallmark of Leica Dicomar optics. Capture Still Pictures with Outstanding QualityQuad-Density Pixel Distribution Technology makes it possible to capture still pictures with amazing megapixel quality. The tiny 2.5-micron intervals between pixels are shifted by one-half pitch both vertically and horizontally, which distributes them on the CCD with four times the density of previous systems. It enables model SDR-S100 to capture still pictures with incredible detail at up to 3.1 Megapixels.Optical Image Stabilizer Helps Eliminate Blurred ImagesThe Optical Image Stabilizer helps you obtain clear, beautiful pictures by compensating for any hand movement that occurs as you shoot video. Gyrosensors detect the amount and direction of movement, while a linear motor adjusts the lenses as needed to compensate. You get clear, sharp images in situations where hand-shake is typically a problem, like wide-angle shots or high magnification levels of the zoom.
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