Panasonic SDR-H40 (40 GB) Hard Drive Camcorder
- Recording System: PAL
- HDD Size: 40 GB
- Recording Media: Hard Drive
- Optical Zoom: 42x
- Weight: 0.75 lb.
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A great little camcorder that anyone can afford
Pros
Impressive 42x optical zoom<br>above average sound performance<br>quick automatic focus<br>very affordable
Cons
No light or flash<br>Can't charge battery while running on electric power
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
If you are the average person who wants to record happy moments of daily life, you will not regret this purchase.
I was looking for a subcompact camera with greater than 3x optical zoom for quite a while when I had the good fortune of walking into a Circuit City that was going out of business. While there I saw the super small Panasonic Camcorders and noticed the 42x Optical Zoom. Since Circuit City was going under, the camera was quite a bargain. I purchased it 8 months ago and have finally used it sufficiently to write a review on it. I have yet to find a fault with this camera's performance.
Image quality is above what one would expect from such a small device (I have a 26" monitor, and there is no pixilation on any of my still photos). As for the motion picture quality, again, it is quite good for a camera of this size. The zoom is smooth and the camera maintains it's focus throughout all motion. As with all digital camera, quality does degrade a bit as subject lighting decreases, but these effects are small and gradual with this camera.
The 42x zoom is perfect for a camera this size. At 42x, I just start having trouble keeping the camera stable while bracing both elbows on a sturdy surface. In other words any better zoom would require tripod only operation.
The sound quality is great. My wife took the camera to the beach and while watching the video, it sounded as if i was there. The "cracks and pops" associated with changing grip on the camera were muffled a great improvement over many other cameras additionally the static sound caused by wind was nearly non-existent. Also, the sounds both close and far away come out clearly.
There were two minor issues I encountered while using this camera. First was that there is no light on this camera. The camera compensates for this with it's outstanding low-light performance. Still if you want to use this camera at night, you may not get the shots you want. The other little annoyance is that you can't charge the battery while running the camera off of wall power as the charger is used to power the camera while using wall power. This can be solved of course by purchasing another battery or charger. This hasn't been a real problem yet as I have never recorded long enough to kill the battery.
This camera is small versatile light weight and very simple to use. If you are looking for an excellent camera to record everyday social events, and not intending on a lot of dark environments which require your camera to provide the subject lighting, this camera will work quite well for you.
Image quality is above what one would expect from such a small device (I have a 26" monitor, and there is no pixilation on any of my still photos). As for the motion picture quality, again, it is quite good for a camera of this size. The zoom is smooth and the camera maintains it's focus throughout all motion. As with all digital camera, quality does degrade a bit as subject lighting decreases, but these effects are small and gradual with this camera.
The 42x zoom is perfect for a camera this size. At 42x, I just start having trouble keeping the camera stable while bracing both elbows on a sturdy surface. In other words any better zoom would require tripod only operation.
The sound quality is great. My wife took the camera to the beach and while watching the video, it sounded as if i was there. The "cracks and pops" associated with changing grip on the camera were muffled a great improvement over many other cameras additionally the static sound caused by wind was nearly non-existent. Also, the sounds both close and far away come out clearly.
There were two minor issues I encountered while using this camera. First was that there is no light on this camera. The camera compensates for this with it's outstanding low-light performance. Still if you want to use this camera at night, you may not get the shots you want. The other little annoyance is that you can't charge the battery while running the camera off of wall power as the charger is used to power the camera while using wall power. This can be solved of course by purchasing another battery or charger. This hasn't been a real problem yet as I have never recorded long enough to kill the battery.
This camera is small versatile light weight and very simple to use. If you are looking for an excellent camera to record everyday social events, and not intending on a lot of dark environments which require your camera to provide the subject lighting, this camera will work quite well for you.
