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
   


Ease of Use
In a nutshell, the Panasonic SDR-S10 takes a Panasonic camcorder’s controls and interface, and crams them into a super-compact body. All the familiar controls are present, but they are more unwieldy than those found in conventionally-sized camcorders. This has many implications when it comes to ease of use, and the primary drawbacks to the design of the S10 center around miniaturization of controls, the use of a touch pad rather than a joystick, and the placement of the touch pad inside the LCD cavity.

On a “traditional” Panasonic, the joystick is mounted on the back end of the body, placing it in full view of the user. This placement allows the joystick to be operated with the thumb of the right hand while gripping the camcorder. Moving the touch pad to the LCD cavity makes it much more difficult to navigate the menu and make manual control adjustments during a shoot – unless you get very good at operating the touch pad by feel with your left hand.

The touch pad’s buttons are also small and rest nearly flat against the surface of the LCD cavity. This is not a huge liability when it comes to navigating the menu, but its does make it difficult to effect subtle manual image adjustments. Panasonic’s joysticks are much more capable controls simply because they are bigger and easier to use, especially for shooters with big hands.

Handling
Handling is not the strong suit of the Panasonic SDR-S10. Than again, handling is not the strong suit of any ultra-compact camcorder. Shrinking the size of a device to smaller than the size of the average hand, as in the case of the S10, requires compromises in terms of usability. The payoff, of course, is compactness and portability.

Menu
The SDR-S10 menu is unmistakably Panasonic by birth, but its handicapped by virtue of its side-mounted touchpad interface – but this section deals with the menu, so I’ll leave touch pad bashing to the remainder of the review. The Administrative menu is summoned by pressing the Menu button in any mode. This button brings up several menu options

Portability
It literally doesn’t get more portable than this (unless you consider your Nokia cell phone with video capture ability to qualify as a “camcorder”). At a mere 0.40 lb, and measurements of 1.22 x 2.48 x 4.49 inch, the SDR-S10 is a tiny device that might even slide into a woman’s pants pocket. Clearly, portability is this camcorder’s main draw, and with respectable low-end video performance and great manual controls, it packs a lot of power into a small package.

LCD and Viewfinder
The LCD screen on the SDR-S10 measures 2.7 inches diagonally and has an approximate resolution of 112K pixels. 2.7” LCD screens are this year’s defacto industry standard, with a few larger screens (see high-end Sonys) and a few smaller screens on the market. What’s notable about this LCD screen is that it is quite large relative to the camcorder’s body. There is no EVF (electronic color viewfinder) on the Panasonic SDR-S10, but the amply sized screen tempers that omission.



 

 



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