It sounds like the perfect vacation camcorder: weighs 10.2 ounces, three CCDs, a 10X zoom lens, 3-megapixel still photos, optical image stabilization, and SD-card recording, all for significantly less than $1,000. And that includes the 2GB SD card and the remote that ship in the box. But while the Panasonic SDR-S150 might seem like the traveler's dream come true, it doesn't really live up to expectation, especially at its current price.
I have few complaints about its design, however. Light, compact, and comfortable to hold, the S150 even has a rubber nub at the bottom of its grip that allows you to quickly place your hand without accidentally putting your finger over the lens--a big problem with units this small--though I find frequently that I don't know where to put my index finger while shooting. It also feels surprisingly sturdy and well made. An automatic sensor turns the S150 off when you fold down the LCD. The zoom and navigation controls are easy to operate with your thumb. You connect to a PC via the USB 2.0 port, and a single proprietary-connector multi-A/V cable delivers composite or S-Video output plus audio.
The SDR-S150's modest feature set makes the menus and manual controls easy to understand and navigate. You can activate the wind filter or enable zooming for the mic; choose from among three different recording-quality options--best quality (25 minutes on the bundled 2GB card), medium quality (50 minutes), and lowest quality (100 minutes); jump between wide-screen and standard 4:3 aspect modes; enable the optical image stabilization and digital zoom; and boost the sensor gain for low-light shooting (MagicPix). When shooting in Auto mode, your options are limited to backlight compensation, Soft Skin mode, and a zoom macro mode. The Soft Skin mode seems a bit redundant, since the video is never sharp enough to show the kind of detail that makes a mode like this necessary.
Manual options include a few white-balance presets plus custom, shutter speed, and a sort of gain-priority mode--it allows you to boost the gain and automatically changes the aperture to compensate. You can also choose from a handful of exposure presets within the menus: sports, portrait, low-light, spotlight, and surf and snow.
Click here for more on the SDR-S150's design and capture quality.
Though it's fun and easy to shoot with, that's where the enjoyment stops. The most obvious problem I hit is its pitiful battery life. After fully charging the battery, I shot about 14 minutes of video and a handful of stills with a few flash shots, at which point it had dropped to about one-quarter of capacity. Plus, the focus is slow to lock. And once I got home, I couldn't help but be disappointed with the results. Videos never achieve true sharpness and display severe interlace artifacts, and weaknesses are exacerbated by poor auto white balance--the sensor is on the side of the camcorder--and inconsistent metering. For stills, throw in random flash exposures and a seriously overprocessed look that should settle the new math argument once and for all: three 800,000-pixel sensors never equals one 3-megapixel image.
If it were cheaper, I might forgive the SDR-S150 some of its flaws. I want to--its SD-based recording of MPEG-2 files is a compellingly attractive convenience. But until this convenience hits the right quality threshold, I recommend sticking with cheaper tape- and hard-disk-based models from Canon, Sony, and JVC.
3 out of 10 - Poor Very Disappointed
I was so excited about this camera, I bought it on ebay from Japan. I cannot tell you what a ...
I was so excited about this camera, I bought it on ebay from Japan. I cannot tell you what a monumental disappointment it is.
In a side-by-side test with the video I shoot from my canon powershot 630, I note the following:
1. Overall quality SUCKS compared with my powershot
2. Field of view is maybe half or slightly more than my powershot.
3. Even though I could actually see more in low-light shots with the S150 (barely), the video is much grainier and not enjoyable to watch.
4. The night-vision is a joke unless you are on a tripod. Otherwise, it is one big blur.
Do not buy this camera for low-light shots, or where you need to shoot full body from head to toe anywhere up close.
In all but the lowest light my powershot is clearer, faster, easier to use. Most importantly, my powershot fits in my jeans. The S150 is small, but will require a jacket pocket, which means (for me) I will bring it a lot less often.
Anyway, I could be wrong, but as far as I can tell, this is the same camera as the S100 retooled for higher density SD cards.
There is no jump in technology here.
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August 23, 2006
4 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Panasonic Gets Short Shrift Again!
CNET provides what appears to be a curt and mis-guided review of the SDR-150. "Interlacing" problems? That's a display ...
CNET provides what appears to be a curt and mis-guided review of the SDR-150. "Interlacing" problems? That's a display issue, not a capture issue. Check your monitor!
I've had my SDR-150 for several months and have capture scenic vistas and sports activities: still and video. For a camcorder that is smaller and weighs less than my old Canon A-70 digital camera; the SDR-150 delivers it all, 10x optical zoom, optical image stabalization (that works) all straight on to small SD Cards (no tapes, no dvds).
The battery life issues reported by CNET are also a mystery. I took about 45 minutes of on-again/off-again video on a full round of golf and still had about half my battery remaining. (I think CNET needs to vet it's review.)
On the highest setting, the video looks really terrific even projected on to a 100-inch screen off of an Epson Homelight 10+ projector (native HD wide-screen format). The video looks even better on a smaller DLP and tube TVs (quality of display has massive effect, naturally -- All full-screen video play-back on windows systems looks crappy. What's new?) Colors are full and true, play-back is clean.
If you're wearing your comfortable travel-khakis or shorts, the SDR-150 will fit into your pants pockets, and it's so light, you won't even notice it's there. With the auto-closing lens cover, you don't have to worry about dust, scratches, or pulling a cap on and off between use. Just close down the LCD display (which is beautiful) and it goes into stand-by mode.
If you're looking for a compact camcorder that is a no-brainer about bringing along, and a digital camera that can actually zoom up to your subject matter, pick up the SDR-150, and an 8gb SD card (which will provide ~2 hours of highest quality video), and you're all set.
The only down side is that video files are provided with a .mod file extension despite their true mpeg format. With current windows media players high-jacking the files on import to your pc, you actually have to bring open the files in windows media player and rename each file with a .mpeg file extension through "SaveMediaAs" to be able to play and manipulate the files in applications other then windows media player or the software panasonic ships.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Excellent camera to carry around
I have it for 2 months now. It's an excellent camera. What I said excellent is for the size ...
I have it for 2 months now. It's an excellent camera. What I said excellent is for the size of it. For the convenience of it, I think you can't find anything else @ this quality with this size.
Of course, nothing is perfect. I think the Mic isn't as good as the old Panasonic DV cam I had before.
The OIS isn't as good as the old one as well. And the wide angle end isn't wide enough. And I would said everything else is almost perfect except for those parts.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular my reivews SDR-S150
I purchased panasonic SDR-S150 for one weeks now and I am more than happy with it. I read all of ...
I purchased panasonic SDR-S150 for one weeks now and I am more than happy with it. I read all of the available reviews, decided very nearly to abandon my quest (which was for a very small, light camcorder that I could fit in my pocket - so I'd never think to myself, "Nah, I'm not carrying that thing around all day.") and go for an HDR-HC3.
3 out of 10 - Poor Bad Video Quality
I expected this to blow my Casio Ex-S880's video quality out of the water. It did not except in ...
I expected this to blow my Casio Ex-S880's video quality out of the water. It did not except in low light. Even people praising it did so while displaying video samples with crappy quality. Maybe all of that filming underwater went to their heads.
This camcorder is a huge disppointment, and I will return it. The audio on the Casio, which is a camera primarily, booms over the Sanyo's. The video on the Casio is much sharper except in low light, the Casio's video was completely too dark, where the Sanyo compensated well. If I needed to tape underwater, I'd get a casing for a better camcorder. I can't believe I bought into the gimmick.
Recording in h.264 reduces the quality. Recording in mpeg2 with 3CCD yields superior quality.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Best Camera for those wanting small formfactor
This camera does exactly what it is designed for. That reviewer who gave the camera a 3 is comparing it ...
This camera does exactly what it is designed for. That reviewer who gave the camera a 3 is comparing it to a digital still camera which makes no sense the Canon takes much better still shots but its video mode could not touch this camera. This camera hits the mark on ease of use, beautiful recordings, great form factor and good picture stabilization. I am very pleased with the quality of indoor and outdoor recordings. I use it during fast motion sporting events with great results. I make DVDS for other parents and they are knocked out by the video quality. The SD media is great you can get 2hrs with and 8gb card and those you can buy for around $60. I have recorded video for over an 1 1/2hrs and still had charge left in the battery. Negatives are its still pictures are inferior to any cheap digital camera and its is hard to hold comfortably if recording for an extended period. Overall if you are looking for the smallest camcorder with the best quality video this is your camera.
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by jag564 (see profile) -
April 16, 2007
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