Panasonic Updates Standard Definition Lineup With Three New Camcorders: The SDR-H85, SDR-T50 and SDR-S50

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Panasonic High Definition Camcorders

Panasonic Standard Definition Camcorders

Panasonic revealed a new lineup of standard definition camcorders today with the announcement of the SDR-H85, SDR-T50, and SDR-S50. These new standard definition models have similar internal specs to last year's models, but Panasonic did add a few enticing new features. All of these SD models have 1/8-inch CCD sensors with effective pixel counts of 0.8 megapixels.

The most prominent feature of these camcorders is their 70x optical zoom lens—which is the same amount of zoom Panasonic offered on last year's SD models. These new camcorders, however, have an enhanced zoom setting that will boost the optical zoom to 78x without any significant loss in quality. The enhanced optical zoom uses the extra pixels on the CCD sensor to increase magnification. This is a different process than digital zoom, which strongly degrades image quality when used.

In addition to this enhanced zoom setting, Panasonic also added an Active mode for the optical image stabilization systems on these three camcorders. According to Panasonic, Active mode should help improve stabilization when recording with lots of zoom or if you're shooting in a very shaky setting (like a moving vehicle or if you're running). Active mode was previously available on a number of Panasonic's HD camcorders, but these three models are the first standard definition camcorders to include the feature.

The SDR-S50 and SDR-T50 are more compact than the SDR-H85.

Also added to these SD models is Panasonic's full array of Intelligent Auto (iA) controls. The SDR-H85, SDR-T50, and SDR-S50 will all feature AF/AE tracking, which was previously only available on Panasonic's HD lineup. AF/AE tracking enables the camcorder to track a subject within the frame, all while focusing and exposing this subject properly. We're not quite sure how this feature will work on these new camcorders, however, as none of them employ a touchscreen LCD. On Panasonic's HD models, you tap the portion of the LCD in which your subject resides to being tracking. These SD camcorders feature a dedicated AF/AE tracking button on the LCD panel instead, so the process of tracking may work a bit differently.

None of these camcorders feature touchscreen LCDs.

Also new with these standard definition models is an Intelligent Contrast Control feature, which is part of the iA controls set. In addition, there's a new Wind Noise Canceler setting, which is supposed to suppress unwanted wind noise. Whether or not this setting will do a better job than Panasonic's previous Wind Cut feature (found on last year's models) is unknown.

All of these camcorders, as well as Panasonic's other new releases for 2010, can record to SD/SDHC memory cards or SDXC memory cards. The SDR-H85 has an 80GB internal hard drive in addition to its memory card slot, while the SDR-T50 has 4GB of internal flash memory along with its card slot. The SDR-S50 is a card-only camcorder, so it doesn't contain any internal memory.

The SDR-H85 and SDR-S50 are available in black, red, or silver.
The SDR-T50 comes in black only.

No pricing plans or release dates have been announced by Panasonic for these camcorders. All of these models will be available in black, while the SDR-H85 and SDR-S50 will also be available in red and silver.