Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic SDR-S26 Flash Memory Camcorder With SD Card Slot - Black

I've had it for two days now and the picture quality is perfectly acceptable in a non hd way.

It replaces my 6 year old canon mvx150i that has finally filmed its last film. The panny is far better quality and because it is sd card and not tape there is no motor noise on the recordings.

I opted for a standard dvd quality camcorder simply beacause it keeps things simple for now. hd files would fill a dvd very quickly and pc's tend to struggle with such large files. When this runs out of life I'm sure I will upgrade to a hd one when blu ray recorders will be cheaper and more reliable and feature on all pc's. The software is very easy to use, quite basic but once you have uploaded to a pc via usb you can easily cut bits out add fade and various effects etc.

Pros:
The zoom is very good but you will need a tripod to use it to it's full extent, OIS works very well (cameras without an image stabilizer aren't worth having), the iA (intelligent auto) mode is superb and adjusts lighting etc for different occasions such as people or landscapes, THIS CAMMY IS SMALL just 11cm long, 6cm high and 6cm deep so fits in any pocket, it starts up in less than a second and it will start recording 3 seconds before you do! so you won't miss that important beginning, suprisingly good quality filming with artificial light.

Cons:
Not great at low natural light (it becomes grainy with noise) but most camcorders do. The lense cap isn't automatic and will annoy some people.

Great camcorder panny!

Fab camcorder , good points , zoom , size , lightweight , battery life , design , software , price , bad points , still photo quality not great , i have an old samsung camcorder which at the time of purchase was reasonable , this panasonic beats it hands down at everything , buy it and you will not be disappointed

Neat and very small camera with enormous zoom. Picture quality is good for a none HD camera but it has some irritating faults. Key amongs these is the frequent failute to recognise a face which then results in too low exposure until "face recognition" suddenly clicks in and then the face "Lights up" to proper exposure.
The viewing screen is very difficult to use in bright light and this aggravates the menu system which is hard to see in bright light - just when you want to set the camera for bright scenes but can't because you can't see the menu!
That said, it is a very easy and convenient camera in most respects and I would still recommend it as I don't think any of the issues I raise are that much different in other similar cameras.

Panasonic SDR-S26 Flash Memory Camcorder with SD Card Slot - Black

I took a number of weeks looking at other makes and models before deciding to purchase the Panasonic SDR S26 and I can tell you, how glad I am I opted for this make and model. Very easy to use and the quality of play back is excellent, the built in zoom microphone giving very good quality of sound. Easy to edit in Windows Movie Maker, copy to DVD and to post onto Youtube. If you are like me and have been looking for ages and finding it hard to make up your mind on which make and model to buy then look no further, buy this one, you will not be disappointed. Great value for your money and way ahead of other make and models within it's price range. Oh I forgot to mention the 70x optical zoom, in a word, Brilliant!

Buy it !

This is the first camcorder I have purchased and I'm absolutely delighted with it.

I was looking for something small and easy to use. It is very light and it couldn't be easier to toggle between video and still photo mode and you can review your pictures in an instant with another turn of the toggle.

I'm looking forward to playing around with some of the extra features but even if I never ventured as far as that I would still be more than satisfied with what I have got.

Excellent product.