Panasonic SDR-S7 Video Test

Today I got a Panasonic SDR-S7 SD camcorder. These are the first test clips I have taken with it.

It's not the best video quality but it is more than good enough especially for such a small camera, the zoom is nice, the stabilization excellent, it handily copes with a variety of light conditions and the auto-macro is great.

All in all, despite the slight hassle getting the files in mov format on a Mac (I had to use iMovie 08 camera import in the end), the video looks nice and the hardware in very good. It's cheap and effective and thus far, I am very happy...

...and did I mention that it was tiny??

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Panasonic
• SDR-S7
• SDRS7
• SD
• camcorder
• Test
• Video

[Klingonmastr]

How durable is this camera? I only want a Panasonic SD based camera because they either shock proof or shock resistant. I dropped a Sanyo Xacti once on accident and It stopped working.

How good is that in camera in low light? Its aperture is 1.8. My Canon Camera has a 2.6 aperture and it works OK in low light. I could get a Sony Webbie HD camera for $200 but it has a 3.5 aperture. I don't think the Sony Webbie would perform good in low light compared to my Canon or another camera.

[Jayembee1]

Well, it's all plastic construction and very lightweight so not eaxctly robust. But given it is so light and has no moving parts, maybe dropping it wouldn't be so bad. But I'm not going to test it out... ;-)

As you can see, panning around the bedroom only lit from table lamps, it does ok in low light but regardless of the aperture, the lens is small and so only so much light can get in, and it is always going to be marginal quality.

So it's an ok camera but I prefer my Canon FS100.

[ashley922820]

What happens when you record in 16:9 mode?

Does it downgrade the video to 640 x 360? Thanks.

[Jayembee1]

It seems to be a bit stranger than that actually. As far as I can tell, and I could be wrong here but I don't think that I am, it records the video file as 640x480 but changes the internal flag for the aspect ratio of the pixels. So these 640 pixels get stretched across the 824 needed to give 16:9 by whatever movie software is playing back the file. As such you are actually losing quality horizontally, not vertically.

[juhuuu26]

can you tell me, how long does the battery last? Thanks!!!!

[Jayembee1]

You know, I have actually stopped using this camera so I can't say for sure but it's not that great, about an hour and some depending on how much zooming you are doing.

I have moved to a Canon FS-100 and get about 2 or 3 hours of battery life with that camera. Ultimately the slightly larger size was worth it in terms of useful life.

[forbzy61]

How much do these sell for?

[justfakeforyou]

if you have the little screen you can flick out and you drop it can break

[sk8board510]

How did u upload it onto youtube? i have the same one but i can't upload it....

thx

[fromfred]

i have one of the camcorders i am very pleased with it and i keep dropping it because i am very clumbsy it still is perfect and could take a fall from around 4 foot maybe

[DewCorps]

i have it, and its awesome!