Panasonic VDR-D310 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Jul 16, 2007 8:48 AM 
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Comparison
Panasonic VDR-D300 (Review, Specs, $534.89)
Last year’s VDR-D300 ($999 MSRP; under $400 online) was a looker. Its lustrous silver body was the perfect bait to lure in unsuspecting point-and-shooters from all corners of the suburbs. The VDR-D300 featured three 1/6” CCDs, 10x optical zoom, and cold shoe. This year, Panasonic changed the look but little else. Its new body is attractive with a protruding silver lens barrel and matte gray disc hatch, but that’s the major change for 2007. In the world of motocross, this is what’s referred to as “BNG,” or “bold new graphics,” when a bike manufacturer leaves the engine, frame, suspension, and exhaust system unaltered in exchange for a flashy set of new decals. The VDR-D310 (Specs, $499) is a sad victim of “BNG.”
The VDR-D300 is equipped with a flash, power LCD button – both of which were lost this year – and a row of ports mounted to the front of the camcorder. The VDR-D300 and VDR-D310 performed well in bright light, but fell off the map when it came to low light. We recommend searching for both and buying whichever is cheaper.
Sony DCR-DVD408
With the playing field even, the Sony DCR-DVD408 ($700 MSRP) is prepared to battle with vigor. It features a generous 1/3” CMOS chip with 2,100,000 gross pixel count. Though we haven’t gotten a chance to run the DCR-DVD408 through our gauntlet, you can expect a crisp, color-accurate picture in bright light and an image with heightened blue noise in low light, based on the DCR-DVD505 (Review, Specs, $664), which featured identical specs. The VDR-D310 gave a stellar bright light performance, yet petered off in the low light department with a significant loss of color information and picture detail. If pressed, we would take the noisier low light image from the Sony over the poor sensitivity of the VDR-D310.
The DCR-DVD408 offers a touch screen menu with LCD panel controls, rubberized, pivoting viewfinder, exposure control in 24 steps, AccuPower battery meter, and that awesome smooth slow record feature. It has a hot shoe and Memory Stick slot, but those are, of course, Sony proprietary features. You won’t find a mic jack on the DCR-DVD408, but the hot shoe supports a handful of Sony microphones that can be purchased online from SonyStyle.
Canon DC50 (Review, Specs, $649.99)
Canon made sure that their DC50 ($799 MSRP) was well equipped with a 1/2.7” CMOS ship spouting a whopping 5,390,000 gross pixel count. Though noisy in low light, the DC50 was able to salvage color information and detail in our testing room, and managed pump up the jam when it came to bright light with a vibrant image. Canon’s top DVD bad boy also features a flash, video light, and fully stocked array of automatic controls, as well as a healthy manual control set. The VDR-D310 counters with a mic jack and cold accessory shoe, along with better handling and a rear-mounted battery design rather than an LCD cavity placement. $100 more will give you that classic Canon imaging, but is it worth it? Probably.
JVC GZ-MG255
Sure, the VDR-D310 is a DVD camcorder and the JVC GZ-MG255 ($699 MSRP) is an HDD camcorder, but there’s a lot of comparison here. Both capture video in MPEG-2 at around the same speed. The GZ-MG255 is a chunky little brick of 30GB HDD recording goodness. It can hold over 7 hours of footage in the highest quality and features a single 1/3.9” 2.18MP chip. The GZ-MG255’s big brother, the GZ-MG555 (Review, Specs, $626), kicked butt in bright light and jogged across the finish line with an average low light performance. The GZ-MG255’s smaller chip will likely lose a fair amount of detail and resolution, but we’ll find out within the next couple of weeks. The GZ-MG255 has an LCD-mounted joystick and handy data battery, but it doesn’t have a viewfinder or mic or headphone jack. Portability and ease of use are prized in HDD camcorders. The GZ-MG255 has an SD card slot and ships with a docking station that contains a FireWire and S-Video port.
The VDR-D310, being a DVD camcorder, has a maximum recordable time a mere fraction of the GZ-MG255. You’ll also have to spare 5-10 minutes in order to finalize the disc so it can play on the big screen. 7 hrs. of tapeless, disc-less footage in the highest quality is beginning to sound pretty enticing now, isn’t it?
Who It’s For
Point-and-Shooters
The VDR-D310 places 3CCD video in the hands of inept moms and dads worldwide. It also records to DVDs, which is the #1 priority in the mind of the hardcore point-and-shooter. Its watered-down menu and stripped set of features make life oh so easy for the most devoted development dweller.
Budget Consumers
There are much cheaper DVD camcorders on the market.
Still Photo / Video Camera Hybrid
You can capture stills up to 2048 x 1512 in resolution, but there’s no flash or image information. The only thing you can do is print directly from the VDR-D310 or turn the shutter snap sound effect on or off. Weak.
Gadget Freaks
Gadget freaks and DVD camcorder go together like gasoline and water.
Manual Control Freaks
You’ve got your aperture, white balance, and shutter speed right at your thumb. The manual control freak will feel naked without some sort of cam control ring or dial, exposure control, and external picture adjust buttons.
Pros / Serious Hobbyists
The day a pro considers a DVD camcorder a serious contender within the professional video world is the day it rains ice cream.
Conclusion
The Panasonic VDR-D310 is identical to last year’s VDR-D300 is all key respects, and in that way is among the best standard definition DVD camcorders. In bright light, this camcorder is hard to beat. The three-chip color performance and crisp look of the video is almost enough to make us forget that its only an MPEG-2 compression. The price drop from last year ($999 to $699 MSRP) sweetens the deal. Oh, and did we mention a fantastic optical image stabilization and a mic input. This is almost all we could ask for.
Now we must mention the downsides, which are inevitable on any camcorder. For one, the low light capabilities are wanting. Yes, the VDR-D310 is good about staving off noise, but the sensitivity is just plain poor. In light where most camcorders could manage, the D310 simply falls off into shadow. The problem is the small chips. There are three, but each is only 1/6”. Panasonic’s main competitor, the Sony DCR-DVD408 has a much larger 1/3” CMOS sensor. We reviewed last year’s predecessor DCR-DVD505, which had the same sensor, and the performance on that was just good enough to sail over the VDR-D300 and win our recommendation.
Sony also offered better ease of use, which is a key component for the likely DVD audience. People purchase DVD camcorders for simplicity first, and everything in the design should follow that thought. The VDR-D310 is not necessarily difficult, but lacking exposure compensation in favor of more complex controls like aperture and exposure is going to throw beginners. Fortunately, the automatic responses to exposure, white balance, and focus are quite good.
We have no problem recommending the VDR-D310, but it’s not for everyone. Those seeking absolute simplicity may want a Sony instead. Canon’s DC50 also does quite well in this regard. The VDR-D310 offers a much better manual control set than the competition, and we can’t urge people enough to take advantage of camcorders with mic inputs – an external mic will have a huge impact on the quality of your production, however simple. This is a DVD camcorder with all the fixins’.