Panasonic Goes Underwater with SDR-SW20, and Compact with SDR-S7 by Michael Perlman Published on Jan 6, 2008 1:00 PM

Panasonic News Coverage

Panasonic High Def  Camcorders

Panasonic Standard Def Solid State Camcoders

Panasonic Standard Def HDD Camcorders

Panasonic Standard Def MiniDV & DVD Camcorders

Panasonic's new underwater SDR-SW20 comes in multiple colors

January 6, 2008 - Panasonic announced two new memory card-based standard definition camcorders at CES in Las Vegas today. The new SDR-S7 ($299.95 MSRP) continues in the line of the SDR-SD100 and SDR-S150 (Review, Specs, $699.95), but in a horizontal rather than upright form. SDR-SW20 ($399.95 MSRP) marks the entrance of Panasonic into the niche underwater camcorder market. Both record to SD/SDHC cards, a trend that is gaining popularity within the camcorder world, expected to match that of DVD within the year. Small, swappable media is highly portable and less prone to scratches or damage than DVD.

The SDR-S7 (full specs) tips the scale just below 180g, making the compact camcorder highly portable. The SDR-S7 is capable of one-touch DVD copy and features an enhanced 0.6-second Quick Start function. The SDR-S7 has a 10x optical zoom and 2.7-inch wide LCD screen.

Both camcorders are equipped with a single 1/6-inch CCD with a gross pixel count of 560,000 (effective pixel count in 4:3 is 340,000; in 16:9 the effective pixel count is 300,000). Both can capture JPEG stills, but only at a 640 x 480 resolution. Video is recorded in the MPEG-2 format.

Panasonic joins Sanyo and a small handful of other manufacturers with the SDR-SW20 (full specs), a waterproof camcorder aimed at vacationers and sporting types. The camcorder is waterproof in both freshwater and saltwater as deep as five feet, dust proof, and shock proof – all features complemented by the solid-state memory. The SDR-SW20 can easily dub footage from SD card to DVD with a USB host function and external DVD burner (such as Panasonic’s own VW-BN1 burner). The SDR-SW20 is equipped with a 10x optical zoom lens, 2.7-inch wide LCD screen, and 1.7 second Quick Start Function.

The Panasonic SDR-S7 - not an underwater camcorder,
but it sure it compact

The SDR-S7 will ship in May for $299.95 while the SDR-SW20 will ship in February for $399.95.