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Panasonic SDR-S26 Flash Memory Camcorder With SD Card Slot - Blue
See it at Amazon.co.uk for £165.20Average Customer Rating
(3.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
wow fantastic camcorder great price
(5 out of 5) by Mrs. S. Frampton on May 5, 2009 (london)i purchased this 2weeks ago & im so pleased with it. it's easy to use compact & light. the footage is excellent as is the playback quality.
i cannot wait to take this on holiday to disneyland paris.the anti shake function & the face detection are superb & a must on all camcorders.
if u buy this u will not be dissapointed.
i cannot wait to take this on holiday to disneyland paris.the anti shake function & the face detection are superb & a must on all camcorders.
if u buy this u will not be dissapointed.
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Camcorder
(5 out of 5) by M. Sarre on May 28, 2009 (Guernsey)First impression very small and light, great price. The picture quality is as good as any other standard definition camcorder. I decided to get this instead of High Def machine because editing High Def footage would bring even the newest pc to its knees and use gigs of space on my PC. Handy features include slide lens cap, standard tripod screw, great recorded sound, 70x optical zoom, easy operation.
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent first camcorder
(5 out of 5) by P. Kernthaler on May 5, 2009 (Reading, UK)This is the first camcorder I have purchased and I am very pleased with my first steps into moving pictures. The camera is pretty simple to use, even for a complete novice like myself, though it's always worth reading the manual first!
The 70x optical zoom is probably overkill, but it is pretty good. The OIS works a treat and stops most of those shaky moments. The battery lasts a fairly good time, but that's the limit of the camera's abilities (I've got an 8GB SD card that still has space by the time the battery runs out).
The auto settings are pretty good, as is the microphone, which means I just have to worry about aiming in the right direction to get pretty good video. The YouTube/webmode button changes the resolution of the camera and cuts filming into YouTube sized portions - useful if you upload your life onto YouTube.
For the price it's easily the best camcorder around (this statement is based on reading what the SDR-S26 claims it can do, which is better than other cameras in the price range, AND that it actually does do everything it says). Only problems are that it really doesn't work well at night time, the manual shutter can be a bit annoying if you forget about it and wanted to film something quickly and I imagine if your hands were bigger than average then the smallness of the camcorder might be inappropriate - but it's great for me!
Gets the full five stars for the price and ease of use.
The 70x optical zoom is probably overkill, but it is pretty good. The OIS works a treat and stops most of those shaky moments. The battery lasts a fairly good time, but that's the limit of the camera's abilities (I've got an 8GB SD card that still has space by the time the battery runs out).
The auto settings are pretty good, as is the microphone, which means I just have to worry about aiming in the right direction to get pretty good video. The YouTube/webmode button changes the resolution of the camera and cuts filming into YouTube sized portions - useful if you upload your life onto YouTube.
For the price it's easily the best camcorder around (this statement is based on reading what the SDR-S26 claims it can do, which is better than other cameras in the price range, AND that it actually does do everything it says). Only problems are that it really doesn't work well at night time, the manual shutter can be a bit annoying if you forget about it and wanted to film something quickly and I imagine if your hands were bigger than average then the smallness of the camcorder might be inappropriate - but it's great for me!
Gets the full five stars for the price and ease of use.
camera
(4 out of 5) by Mr. A. Fogarty on Nov 27, 2009I sent it back because i couldn't work the joy stick.Unfortunately i have no feeling in my left thumb which you have to toggle it with.
Nice price, poor footage, I mean really poor footage
(1 out of 5) by NI reviewer on Nov 14, 2009 (NI)Like others, i read reviews and based my decision to buy on cost and reviews.
Amazon got the package to me quickly and I took proceeded to take several months of footage without actually checking the playback, I assumed all would be ok. The footage included priceless footage of my newborn boy.
I eventually took the SD card out and slotted it into my panasonic full HD plasma tv and was severly disappointed with the quality, the footage lacked detail, clarity and focus. Indoors was absolutely abysmal and outdoors whilst better was like footage taken from a cheap phone. I checked the settings and I had been recording in XP (highest quality) with IA (intelligent auto) mode on. I took more footage with no increase in quality.
I contacted Amazon via e-mail, twice, over 3 weeks ago and havent recieved a response so I contacted Panasonic who put me in touch with their third party repair centre, DK AVS Horley. I sent the camera off and recieved it back 10 days later stating that no fault had been found. I rang DK and they explained that the camera had been tested on a spec imager and had passed the test. I retested the camera and the images were still poor, so I rang DK and they told me that if I sent the camera back again I would be charged.
I have used various cameras over the years and have all my footage from previous cameras on DVD. My first VHS camera has imae quality that this camera can only dream about and the same for my JVC DV camcorder.
Either Panasonic have set the bar extremely low on image quality or the camera has a fault only Panasonic will know. But I know I will be using my DV camcorder in the future until I get rid of the SDR-S26 and get it replaced with a JVC.
As for DK, the repair centre, not actually taking footage and playing it back as well as using the spec imager, I can only say that common sense has gone out the window. I really believe that a lot of these companies employees just dont care or know enough to make the decisions they do.
Amazon got the package to me quickly and I took proceeded to take several months of footage without actually checking the playback, I assumed all would be ok. The footage included priceless footage of my newborn boy.
I eventually took the SD card out and slotted it into my panasonic full HD plasma tv and was severly disappointed with the quality, the footage lacked detail, clarity and focus. Indoors was absolutely abysmal and outdoors whilst better was like footage taken from a cheap phone. I checked the settings and I had been recording in XP (highest quality) with IA (intelligent auto) mode on. I took more footage with no increase in quality.
I contacted Amazon via e-mail, twice, over 3 weeks ago and havent recieved a response so I contacted Panasonic who put me in touch with their third party repair centre, DK AVS Horley. I sent the camera off and recieved it back 10 days later stating that no fault had been found. I rang DK and they explained that the camera had been tested on a spec imager and had passed the test. I retested the camera and the images were still poor, so I rang DK and they told me that if I sent the camera back again I would be charged.
I have used various cameras over the years and have all my footage from previous cameras on DVD. My first VHS camera has imae quality that this camera can only dream about and the same for my JVC DV camcorder.
Either Panasonic have set the bar extremely low on image quality or the camera has a fault only Panasonic will know. But I know I will be using my DV camcorder in the future until I get rid of the SDR-S26 and get it replaced with a JVC.
As for DK, the repair centre, not actually taking footage and playing it back as well as using the spec imager, I can only say that common sense has gone out the window. I really believe that a lot of these companies employees just dont care or know enough to make the decisions they do.