Panasonic SDR-S15 Flash Memory Camcorder with SD Card Slot – Black is a stylish model with an ultra-compact, go-anywhere design. It offers a small size, light weight and superb mobility made possible by SD/SDHC Memory Cards, letting you shoot video with the same casual ease and carry-about convenience they enjoy with small digital camcorders. For occasions when in the past it may have seemed a bit awkward to pull out a camcorder, such as on short outings or business trips, the SDR-S15 is ideal.
The Quick Start function allows the SDR-S15 camcorder to begin recording just 0.6 second from the time the LCD is opened and this around a third of the time that it takes for a camcorder that records onto DVD discs to start, making it easier to catch those special moments that come with no warning. All in clear MPEG2 DVD quality.
The SDR-S15 camcorder offers a function that simplifies the process of copying recordings from the Memory Card or hard disk drive to a DVD. Simply connect the camcorder to a VW-BN1 DVD Burner (optional) and press the button. No PC is required. A DVD disc created this way can be easily played directly from a DVD player.
Helpful consumer’s review
This unit is quite small, it will fit into a shirt-pocket, albeit a little bulky. It is well-made in a black sparkly plastic with some texturing on the back where your hand goes, this would have been better in a rubberised finish.
It doesn’t have the traditional camcorder hand-strap, instead it has a camera type lanyard, luckily with a sliding bar to tighten to your wrist.
To hold the camcorder you make a fist with your right hand and the zoom buttons fall under your first and second fingers and your thumb falls on the start-stop button on the back. To hold at waist height there is another stop-start button at the front of the camcorder for your first finger and the zoom can operate with your thumb. I’m left-handed and I still found it easy to use.
Panasonic don’t supply an SD card and their current (May 2009) offer of a free 16MB card with this camcorder was returned to me with a letter saying Amazon purchases aren’t eligible.
A 4GB card will hold 50 minutes of video at the highest quality; needs to be Class 2 or better. The battery lasts around 40 to 45 minutes and takes 2 and a bit hours to charge. The battery was the same as my Panasonic Lumix FX33 camera so I could charge it in the camera charger. The camcorder is supplied with a power-supply to charge the battery in the camcorder.
The 10X zoom is more than adequate for most people’s needs and is totally silent in operation. There is a lens cap operated by a switch and a video light.
In use I found the LCD viewfinder viewable in bright sunlight and the image quality is impressive considering this is a standard definition, DVD quality, camcorder. The camcorder has Panasonic’s iA mode which has face recognition which works impressively well to focus on your subject. I was surprised how good the sound was, really crystal clear. In dim conditions the grain does come up a bit but not unduly so.
The camcorder has 16:9 and 4:3 modes. It takes stills but as expected these aren’t brilliant.
The supplied software is simple but has all the basic needs.
For the money this is an impressive camcorder and I would recommend it.
