Panasonic SDR-S10 First Impressions Camcorder Review

by John Neely
Published on Mar 9, 2007 6:47 PM

Intro Performance
Format Tour
Auto / Manual Controls
 Still Features
Handling and Use Audio / Playback / Connectivity
Comparisons / Conclusion Specs and Ratings
   


Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control
The SDR-S10 features an Auto button in the LCD cavity that places the camcorder in full-auto mode. While we were not able to put the camcorder's automatic controls to the test in the short time we had it, it seemed to perform at a level close to that of other consumer camcorders in terms of accuracy - but it required more time to make focus, exposure and other automatic adjustments. I observed this slow response time when moving from dimly lit spaces to brightly lit spacesor when shifting from nearby to distant subjects.

Most consumer camcorders react quickly and make changes to focus, exposure, and white balance nearly on-the-fly. This camcorder took a second or two to make these adjustments. That delay is within the range of auto adjustment times we encounter but are definitely on the slow side. This shouldn't be a deal-breaker for point-and-shooters who leave their camcorders in Auto mode at all times, but it's something to be aware of when moving quickly from one framing to another.

Overall Manual Control
The standard Panasonic manual control suite on the SDR-S10 is one of the strongest selling points of this camcorder. Like other Panasonics, this model features control over zoom, focus, and white balance. It is also probably the smallest camcorder ever made to allow for fully independent control over iris, gain, and shutter speed. Despite the shortcomings that stem from miniaturized controls, and its run-of-the-mill 1/6" imager, this camcorder's image can be tweaked to an impressive degree. Unfortunately, the joystick found on other Panasonics is gone, replaced by a touch pad inside the LCD cavity. The touch pad has not only been moved from its convenient location on the back of the body, it is also an inferior interface. It does allow for the same five-way navigation as a joystick (left, right, up, down, and in), but it requires more dexterity and patience.

In addition to straight-up Manual control mode, the SDR-S10 offers AE modes for Sports (higher shutter speeds for accurate motion capture), Portrait (optimized for shooting subjects in the foreground of the frame), Low Light (allows the shutter speed to automatically drop below the standard 60 frames per second), Spot Light (ratchets exposure up to render brightly lit subjects on a dark background properly), and Surf & Snow (ratchets down exposure to render subjects on a bright background properly). These AE, or Auto Exposure modes, offer quick fixes for shooting situations that are problematic for Auto mode while still allowing for some manual control over parameters like focus.

Zoom
The zoom lever on top of the Panasonic SDR-S10 is functional. It allows you to zoom in and out and supports variable zoom speeds. Yet it's a tiny control that I found very difficult to use with finesse. In addition to its small size, the control sits flush with the surface of the body unlike most zoom controls which are at least raised slightly to accommodate easy manipulation.

Uncharacteristically, Panasonic seems to have opted for form over function with this camcorder, and the result is a zoom controller that is among the worst on the consumer market - along with the likes of the Sanyo VPC-HD2 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $585.36), another camcorder that suffers from miniaturization. Raising this control slightly from the camcorder's surface would have gone a long way towards putting this control on par with other zoom controls, and we hope to see some usability improvements in future iterations of this model.

Zoom Power Ratio
The SDR-S10 has a modest 10x optical zoom lens. Although consumer camcorders can be had with optical zooms as powerful as 40x, this relatively low magnification is not surprising given the small form factor of this model. The camcorder also features a digital zoom that can be capped at 25x or allowed to run to the max of 700x. When digital zoom is engaged, the onscreen zoom indicator bar is divided into two colored section to indicate the boundary between optical and digital zoom territory.

Focus
In Auto mode, focus defaults to automatic control. In Manual control mode, its possible to toggle between manual and auto focus by pressing the Manual/MF/AF button in the LCD cavity. When manual focus is engaged, a small focus interface appears onscreen. Pressing the left side of the touch pad moves the focal point closer to the lens and pressing on the right side moves it further away.

Exposure & Aperture
Finding manual control over aperture on a pocket-sized camcorder is quite gratifying. Aperture control is engaged by pressing the center of the touch pad. This action brings up the manual control menu in the lower right corner of the screen. Aperture can be adjusted when gain settings are at 0dB, and settings include OPEN (f/1.8), f/2.0, f/2.4, f/2.8, f/3.4, f/4.0, f/4.8, f/5.6, f/6.8, f/8.0, f/9.6, f/11, f/14, f/16, and CLOSED.

Additional incremental steps are available in between the settings listed. Movement between aperture settings can be onerous because traversing the full range of f-stops requires pressing the touch pad numerous times. On the one hand, the degree of control offered by this Panasonic is impressive, but the high degree of control is hampered by an interface that makes quick adjustments impossible.

Shutter Speed
The shutter speed control is accessed from within the same manual control menu mentioned above and is reached by pressing in on the center of the touch pad in Manual mode. The shutter speed settings on the SDR-S10 include 1/60, 1/100, 1/120, 1/180, 1/250, 1/350, 1/500, 1/750, 1/1000, 1/1500, 1/2000, 1/3000, 1/4000, and 1/8000 of a second, matching the range of many other Panasonics including the VDR-D100 (Review, Specs, $299.95). In still mode, the range of shutter speed adjustments is truncated to 1/60, 1/100, 1/120, 1/180, 1/250, 1/350, and 1/500.

White Balance
White balance settings are also in the manual control menu, and the settings include: auto, indoor, outdoor, and manual. Each setting is identified by an icon such as a sun for outdoors and a standard icon for manual white balance. Setting the manual white balance is simple enough. You simply navigate to the manual white balance option and press up on the joystick. When the onscreen icon stops flashing, your white balance is set.

Gain
Manual control over gain is engaged by entering the manual control menu and moving the iris setting past the top of its range at f/16. Once you’ve moved beyond f/16, raising exposure further causes gain to kick in. In other words, iris and gain are placed on a continuous scale by Panasonic and when you’ve opened your iris all the way, you can keep brightening your image by pumping up the gain. It’s a counterintuitive  means of providing control over both image parameters. The gain settings available on the SDR-S10 are: 0 dB, 3 dB, 6 dB, 9 dB, 12 dB, 15 dB, and 18 dB.

Other Manual Controls
There are no additional manual controls available on the SDR-S10, but what would you expect from a camcorder that’s no bigger than your cell phone?





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