Panasonic SDR-T50 – mini-telescope for long distant recording
Thumbs Up:
Manual controls; well-built; Advanced optical image stabilization with 70x zoom lens.
Thumbs Down:
No slot for external mic and headphones; mediocre low-light video performance; outdated user interface; low-resolution display.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Panasonic SDR-T50 is a standard definition camcorder that has 1/8” CCD optical sensor. It features 3500x digital zoom, 2 lux minimum illumination, Advanced Optical Image Stabilization, wide-screen video capture, and digital photo shooting mode. Minimum shutter speed is 1/8000 second and maximum is 1/30 second. The effective video resolution is 520-megapixel and still resolution is 470-megapixel.
The camcorder has 2.7 LCD display and inbuilt stereo microphone. The mic features are wind noise reduction and zoom. The connector set includes 1 x DC power input, 1 x Composite video/audio output, and 1 x USB.
It has three types of white-balance: Automatic, Presets, and Cloudy. The white-balance presets are Sunlight, Indoor, and Cloudy. Shooting programs are: Portrait Mode, Night scene, Spotlight, Low light, Fireworks, Scenery, Sunset, Beach, and Snow.
The SDR-T50 supports digital video of MPEG2 and H.264 as well as JPEG image format. The camcorder has 4GB internal memory and memory expansion slots that accepts SD/SDHC/SDXC cards. Recording speed options are LXP, LSP, LLP, XP, SP, and LP. Image storage resolution options are JPEG 640×360, and JPEG 640×480.
Zoom lens has 1.48-104mm focal length with F/1.9-5.7 aperture that features 70x optical zoom. Zoom adjustment is motorized drive, whereas focus adjustment is Automatic and Manual.
The additional features are Dolby Digital AC-3 (2 channel) recording, Take photos while recording video, Intelligent Contrast Control, Intelligent Scene Selector, In-camera movie editing, Backlight compensation, USB 2.0 compatibility, Automatic Display brightness adjustment, YouTube capture mode, PictBridge support, Pre-Rec function, Inbuilt speaker, Face detection, AE/AF tracking, Direct Print, and DPOF support.
Panasonic provides one year limited warranty with its SDR-T50.
Razzle Dazzle:
Panasonic SDR-T50 is 2.5 inches tall, 2.2 inches wide and 4.2 inches deep and weighs 7.5 ounces. Its left and top sides are mixed with chrome and black shiny plastic, whereas right side is of black matte plastic. Despite of having mega-zoom lens, the camcorder feels lightweight and small while taking in hand. There is a slider at the left side of lens that controls the lens cover. The camcorder’s body is compact to fit easily in small handbag or coat pocket.
Inside Dope:
Panasonic SDR-T50 looks like a mini-telescope that can record standard-def video. It has 70x mega-zoom lens that focus very closer to the object without any problem. The SDR-T50 costs $269.95 and features Optical Image Stabilization, 4GB internal flash memory, various manual controls and memory expansion slot that accepts SD/SDHC/SDXC cards. The overall video quality is good for a standard-def camcorder, but the low-light videos look poor. The T50 camcorder is inexpensive, but missing slots for external headphones and microphone. It does not provide the perfect standard-def video quality. If you are buying the SDR-T50, then you are paying for mega-zoom lens and storage but not for excellent video quality. Moreover, you can check for Panasonic SDR-H85 that has 80GB drive and the SDR-S50 that costs less as well as records to SDXC/SDHC/SD cards.
The controls of Panasonic SDR-T50 are well placed, but the display is not a touch screen. The hand-strap sits low on the body and you can reach the fingers after slipping your hand on it to shutter release button and zoom rocker. The other buttons for optical image stabilization, Manual shooting options, and Intelligent Auto are located on the top. The slider to switch between video recording and still capture sits on the back. You can press the shutter release button to capture a still picture without going to photo mode.
You can flip on the LCD display to access the buttons on left side including Menu button, five-way joystick for manual adjustment and navigation, and tracking auto-focus. The joystick will bring mode-specific options, for example, Manual mode has options for aperture, shutter speed, white balance, and focus.
AV output, mini-USB port, and memory card slot are located inside LCD cavity. You will also find Long Record button, delete button, and power button on the cavity. The Long Record button doubles the recording time that you get on Standard quality (SP), but it could only be played on camcorder. The menu system looks outdated and dull due to low resolution display. Panasonic also sells separate adapter and video light that can be attached on tripod receptacle.
Panasonic has included good range of both full-auto and complete manual shooting options. You can press Manual/iA button to toggle between them. The Manual will give access to Intelligent Contrast, Color Night and Soft Skin modes, ten scene modes, white balance, aperture, shutter speed, and focus. The Color Night mode allows recording videos in low light condition downward up to 2 lux. The Contrast mode improves bright and overly dark areas. The iA (Intelligent Auto) will adjust all the settings as per the surroundings and subject.
Some options are available in both shooting modes like Backlight Compensation that lightens backlit subjects, and Pre-Rac that prerecords 3 seconds video continuously until you press record button. There is also a Web mode option that records as per YouTube approximations and starts a ten-minute countdown. Panasonic also provides Windows-only software inside the CD that has one-touch YouTube upload option.
The video quality showed digital artifacts and noise with green and purple fringe at high-contrast subjects. In addition, the color reproduction was merely good with clipping highlights. Panasonic SDR-T50 has poor low-light performance. You have to use tripod for complete zoom range. The Optical Image Stabilization works perfect and Active mode works fine to revamp the stability while moving.
The battery life is 1hr and 20 minutes of continuous video recording.
Nitty Gritty:
Panasonic SDR-T50 offers large zoom range and allows recording of moon and your sporting events from the last raw of stadium as well. The T50 really deserve its cost due to full-Manual, Intelligent-Auto and powerful mega-zoom lens.
If you need a standard-def camcorder that can capture videos and photos even at a great distance and does not mind poor low-light performance, then you can buy – Panasonic SDR-T50.
