Panasonic SDR-S50 – distant video recording, no inbuilt memory
Thumbs Up:
Full manual and Auto controls; well-designed body; excellent optical image stabilization.
Thumbs Down:
No audio jacks for external mic/headphone; outdated interface; low resolution screen.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Panasonic SDR-S50 is a 0.8-megapixel camcorder with CCD optical sensor. It features digital photo shooting mode, Advanced O.I.S. (Optical image stabilization), 70x optical zoom and 3500x digital zoom. Minimum shutter speed is 1/30sec, whereas maximum is 1/8000sec.
The SDR-S50 supports JPEG image format, NTSC analog video format, and digital video formats of MPEG2 and H.264. Image storage options are 640×360 and 640×480. The recording speed set includes LP, SP, XP, LLP, LSP, and LXP.
Lens has focal length of 1.48-104mm and F/1.9-5.7 aperture. Panasonic SDR-S50 has inbuilt 2.7 inches LCD, stereo microphone and inbuilt lens shield. It has: 1 x USB, 1 x Composite video/audio output, and 1 x DC power input.
The SDR-S50 has standard lithium ion battery that has life of 1hour 20min continuous video recording. Accessories supplied inside the package are AC/DC cables, drivers & software disc, USB cable, A/V cable, battery pack, and power adapter.
Razzle Dazzle:
Panasonic SDR-S50 is 2.2 inches wide, 2.5 inches tall, and 4.2 inches deep and weighs 8.3 ounces with media and battery. It is available in gold, blue and black colors. Our test model had black color. The left and top sides are mixed of chrome and shiny black plastic, whereas right side is of black matte plastic. Handstrap is affixed low on its body.
Inside Dope:
If you are dreaming for getting a mini-telescope with video recording to capture long distant videos then wake up as Panasonic SDR-S50 has been launched. It is like a mini-telescope to record standard definition videos of distant objects due to its 70x mega-zoom lens. You need a tripod mount for the support, which is not a big problem. However, the camcorder does not have internal memory and slot for external mic/headphone. For compensation, you can use SDXC/SDHC/SD cards for storage. The SDR-S50 costs $249.95 and offers complete set of manual controls and good video quality. Noteworthy that low light videos are poor with a lot of noise. If you are looking for internal memory, then you can check similarly featured Panasonic SDR-H85 (80GB hard drive) or the SDR-T50 (4GB flash memory).
On the top, you will find zoom rocker, optical image stabilization shortcut, switch for toggling Manual/Intelligent Auto, and shutter release button. Video record button sits on the right of battery pack. You can directly press shutter release button to capture the still picture.
You can flip out the 2.7 inches LCD display of Panasonic SDR-S50. The Menu button, five-way joystick and auto-focus activation button are located on the left side of display. You can use the joystick for menu navigation and adjusting manual options. On pressing, the joystick will show mode-wise arranged shooting options such as aperture, shutter speed, white balance, and focus in Manual Mode. You will find the AV output, mini-USB port, SD card slot, Long Record button, delete key, and power button inside LCD cavity.
Panasonic SDR-S50 camcorder has simple and well-positioned control, whereas its LCD has low resolution. Also, the camcorder does not have accessory shoe for external flash and also lacks audio jacks for external mic/headphones. However, you can buy additional video light that can be attached to tripod mount receptacle.
We appreciate that the Panasonic has included full-auto as well as complete set of manual options. You can press Manual/iAuto button to switch between them. Manual mode provides controls over Intelligent Contrast, Color Night and Soft Skin modes, 10 scene modes, white-balance, aperture, shutter speed, and focus. Color Night allows recording video in low light down to 2 lux, whereas Intelligent Contrast rectifies overly bright and dark areas.
The Intelligent Auto mode of Panasonic SDR-S50 adjusts all the settings as per environment and object. Both Manual and iAuto mode has Backlight Compensation that lightens backlit objects. They also have Pre-Rec that seamlessly prerecords 3sec video until you hit the record button. Panasonic SDR-S50 also has Web mode setting with 10-minute countdown option. The included software also has one-click YouTube upload option, but compatible only with Windows.
The recorded video looked soft with noticeable digital artifacts and noise. There was green and purple fringe around high contrast objects. The color reproduction was OK with clipping highlights. Low-light video quality was poor as expected from a standard-definition camcorder. However, the video is only good for uploading and sharing at YouTube like sharing Web sites. Optical Image Stabilization and new Active mode has done a good job to improve the image stability.
Nitty Gritty:
The SDR-S50 camcorder offers an incredible zoom range, which your money can buy. If you want to shoot long distant subjects and can work with average video quality, then purchase – Panasonic SDR-S50.
However, if you are looking for internal memory then check similarly featured mini-telescope like camcorders – Panasonic SDR-T50 and the SDR-H85.
