Panasonic HDC-SD5 First Impressions Camcorder Review by Michael Perlman Published on Jul 30, 2007 3:00 AM
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Still Features
Like the HDC-SD1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1119.99), the HDC-SD5 is pretty limited in the still image department. The HDC-SD5 does not have a designated photo mode and stills can only be captured at a fixed 1920 x 1080 resolution in two quality settings—high and normal. Even though camcorders are generally not considered to be viable alternatives to digital cameras, certain models offer more. The Sony HDR-CX7 (Specs, Recent News, $1199) has the ability to capture stills as large as 2848 x 1602 in 16:9 mode in addition to a descending handful of sizes that bottom out at 640 x 480 (VGA).

The HDC-SD5 features red eye reduction and a flash with adjustable settings. The only other still feature worth mentioning is the shutter sound feature found on almost any Panasonic. It’s basically a sound effect that emulates a 35mm shutter snap, accompanying the photo button. Actually, that’s not even worth mentioning. We apologize for wasting your time.

The Still Picture sub-menu in the main menu