![]() ![]() This means that to upload a video while on the move, you’ll need to carry a power adaptor with you. However, you have to run it off mains power to access files via USB. The SDR-H80 is compact, comfortable to hold and easy to operate and its battery is capable of almost two hours of continuous recording. We’ve seen worse results from camcorders with small sensors in dark conditions, but there’s still a lot of noise here. In less favourable lighting, it really struggles. However, the results start to suffer when viewed on a large TV, as there isn’t enough detail to fill a big display. In good lighting conditions, the SDR-H80 performs admirably, with accurate colours and reasonable detail. The 1/8in CCD sensor is among the smallest you’ll find on any camcorder. Despite this, the huge zoom makes it a very flexible camcorder. However, even with stabilisation, we struggled to get a steady handheld shot beyond a factor of around 50x. Optical image stabilisation helps reduce camera shake on handheld shots. The 70x optical zoom is the biggest we’ve seen, making it ideal for wildlife shooting. It also has an SDHC card slot should you need yet more space. This will hold around 15 hours of MPEG2 video at the highest quality setting of 10Mbit/s, which makes it a good choice if you’re going on a long holiday. The SDR-H80 has a built-in 60GB hard disk. We’d rather see it run directly from the camcorder’s built-in storage, as on Flip’s Mino (What’s New, Shopper 250). Finally, the software must be installed on your PC before you can use this feature. We also see no reason why the software can’t include all clips of less than 10 minutes in length. These can then be uploaded directly to YouTube.ĭissapointingly, there are no basic editing tools for setting in and out points. Connect the SDR-H80 to your PC and the provided software launches automatically, showing thumbnails of any clips shot in Web Mode. You get a 10-minute countdown to remind you of YouTube’s maximum running time. Panasonic has designed its SDR-H80 camcorder specifically for this purpose and includes YouTube-friendly features.Ī small button activates the Web Mode. However, lots of video is shot purely for YouTube. Overall though, when good light is available the H80 can suck it up and produce some sparkling footage, and while the YouTube function is little more than a gimmick, this cam still offers enough to make it stand out from the crowd.For capturing events such as weddings, we’d recommend an HD camcorder such as the HDC-SD9.Įven if you don’t have an HD TV now, you probably will in the future. The H80 avoids filling the frame with grain, but colour performance is suspect, looking washed out and blotchy, and edges become overly soft. There are flaws however, principally with the low-light performance. Combined with responsive auto correction, particularly the focus, there's a raft of tricks onboard to ensure you can capture excellent movies with the minimum of fiddling around with the settings. Even at full magnification there's barely a hint of a wobble, and it's possible to achieve steady, gradual close-ups, even shooting handheld.įor a lightweight cam like the H80 this is a remarkable achievement. It's no surprise Panasonic has been talking up the H80's 70x optical zoom: it's fantastic. Hit this and a 10-minute counter will begin – the maximum length of clips for You Tube – and when you export footage to the MovieCam Suite software provided Web enabled clips will be ready to share online via a You Tube account.įinally, the 2.7 in LCD panel opens up to reveal the SD card slot, access to the auto and manual settings – where you can decide just how much of the work you want the camcorder to do for you - and, on the frame of the screen, the menu button and function toggle. The body of the cam has been stripped right down with the sturdy zoom and record button the only controls to concentrate on, both sitting neatly under the natural finger and thumb position.Īlong the left flank there's also a Web mode setting, which is the first indication that this cam is capable of a little bit more than your average pocket shooter. ![]()
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