Panasonic SDR-SW20 Waterproof Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom (Red)

by Panasonic

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 1.3 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches ; 7.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0011FYKZY
• Item model number: SDR-SW20R
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,600 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
  • #52 in Electronics > Camera & Photo > Underwater Photography > Camcorders
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

Manufacturer Description

The new SDR-SW20 combines a rugged, compact body with waterproofing that allows use in water, including seawater, to a depth of five feet, shock-proofing that protects against drops from up to 4 feet, and a dust-proofing design that shuts out airborne dust particles that can lead to malfunction. With a design that protects it from water, dust, and impact, the SW20 is a versatile camcorder that can meet varying weather conditions and shooting environments.

For ease of shooting, the SW20 features 10x optical zoom, a 2.7-inch LCD screen and a new design for easy and comfortable shooting. It also has a grip designed so the user can stabilize the unit by bracing the elbow against the body as with conventional camcorders. In addition, a Sub Rec button on the front of the camera, makes it possible to shoot with a pistol-grip style.

The SW20 records to SD or SDHC memory cards, which further contributes to its compact design and also provides extended recording capability. A 16GB SDHC memory card allows up to approximately 13 hours, 20 minutes of recording.

Panasonic SDR-SW20 Highlights Designed for Active Use

Waterproof up to a Depth of Five Feet Take the SW20 underwater as deep as five-feet and get some great video shots in the pool or ocean. Swim along with tropical fish, capture shots of a beautiful coral reef, or get action footage of a friend snorkeling. Waterproofing also means you can shoot in the rain or snow with no worries.

Shockproof up to Four Feet The SW20 is designed to resist damage even if dropped from a height of up to 1.2 meters. We fortified the outer body casing, making it thicker to improve rigidity and strength. Inside, we provided an intermediate resin chassis to cushion and protect the main circuit board and lens. This solid construction makes the SW20 our toughest camera yet.

Dust proof A dust proof design keeps the SW20 safe even if handled with dirty hands or used in a place with swirling dust. The SW20 is protected against sand too, so you can take it to the beach or sports field with no worries. And it's waterproof, so if the body gets dirty you can simply wash it off with water.

Compact Size and Cool Styling The SW20 is small enough to slip in a pocket or bag. Cool enough to take everywhere you go. This is one stylish camcorder you'll never want to be without.

Shoot at high or low angles

Easy Shooting at High of Low Angles You can freely adjust the angle of the LCD monitor for comfortable viewing no matter how you're holding the camera. The SUB REC button on the side makes it easy to shoot when you're holding the camera low. The buttons are laid out simply and logically for easy one-hand operation.

High Picture Quality with a 2.7-inch Viewing Screen This model offers the High-Picture-Quality Wide Mode, which produces images that make for beautiful, dramatic viewing on a wide-screen TV. The image is processed on 16:9 area of the CCD. Because the image decoded has the same proportions as your wide-screen TV, there is virtually no picture quality degradation. You get beautiful images and all the excitement and dynamism on either a wide 16:9 screen TV or a conventional 4:3 TV. This model also features a wide 2.7-inch LCD, making it easier to frame shots when you're shooting in 16:9 mode. You can enjoy shooting wide, and viewing wide.

Pure Color Engine The Pure Color Engine converts the CCD output signal from a complementary color signal into an RGB signal at an early stage and extracts the low-frequency luminance component from the RGB signal. This innovative engine also achieves truly superb color reproduction for high-zoomed pictures.

High-quality MPEG 2 Engine Panasonic's MPEG2 engine is a wide-range, high-precision search engine that produces smooth, beautiful motion pictures. Because it precisely records the differences in each frame, it can render fast, complex motions - like those of athletes in the thick of the action - with exceptional precision.The MPEG2 engine also uses Variable Bit Rate technology that Panasonic developed for the high-end DIGA DVD recorder. Giving LP recordings nearly twice the resolution captured with previous Panasonic camcorders, this lets the camcorder record clear, smoothly flowing pictures.

10X Optical Zoom Distant subjects can be enlarged so they appear to be right up close. This allows dynamic shots of both motion and still pictures. Shooting Functions

Power LCD Simply press the Power LCD button and the LCD becomes brighter, making it easier to see outdoors or in other bright locations. Also, a new scanning technology allows the LCD to show diagonal lines more sharply.

Select the Recording Mode to Match your Needs This unit records in VBR. VBR is an abbreviation for Variable Bit Rate. VBR recording automatically varies the bit rate (amount of data in a fixed time) depending on the subject being recorded. This means if a subject with sharp movements is recorded, the recording time is reduced.

One Touch Navigation and Easy Operation The cursor makes the camera much easier to use. You can handle a number of operations quickly and easily.

• Easy to use Design You can do most operations with a single finger.
• Direct Mode Dial Just rotate the dial with your fingertip to select the icon that corresponds to the mode you want.
• Simple Cursor Operation Press the center of the cursor to display icons on the screen.

Quick Search and Access with Thumbnail View Unlike videotape, you don't need to rewind or fast-forward to search for specific scenes. The camcorder LCD screen displays a list of the recorded scenes for quick and easy searching.

Easy On/Off reduces the time required for operating the camera. When you open the LCD, the power turns on. Shut it and the power turns off.

Quick Start mode helps shoot videos on the spur of the moment. This mode lets you shoot those not-to-be-missed scenes by turning on the power just 0.6 seconds from the time the LCD is opened.

Color Night View gives you smoothly flowing pictures even in dark places, where it's normally difficult to capture good shots.

World Timer Handy for travelers, this function makes it easy to set the camcorder time when you cross time zones and again when you return home. Simply select your destination from the displayed map, and the camcorder is automatically set for that time zone. The time for two different places can be set -- such as home and destination -- and you can switch between the times by simply pressing a button.

Editing and Networking

Storing on a DIGA If you have an MPEG2-compatible DIGA DVD recorder with an internal hard disk and SDHC/SD memory card slot, saving your images on the hard disk is as easy as inserting an SDHC/SD memory card into the slot. This saves space you'd otherwise need for storing the recording media, and makes playback easier. And once the data is on the hard disk, it's easy to copy it to a DVD disc.

Easy DVD Copying Connect the SW20 directly to a DVD burner via a USB cable. You can then copy recordings from the SDHC/SD Memory Card to a DVD disc with easy operation. The disc you make can be played on DVD players, so playback is easy too.

Copy from your memory card to DVD

Includes Editing Software and USB 2.0
USB 2.0 compatibility lets you upload a motion picture data to a PC at high speed over a single USB cable.

You never have to finalize an SDHC or SD Memory Card, so you can transfer data to a PC right after you shoot. Just slip the card into the slot on the PC, and you're ready to upload and edit. The camera comes with MotionSD STUDIO software that lets you add music and words during editing or copy your recordings onto a DVD disc.

Optional Accessories and Products

• Panasonic DIGA DMR-EZ475VK - DVD recorder/ VCR combo - black
• Panasonic 16GB Memory Card
• Panasonic VW-BN1 DVD Burner

Product Description

Triple-Proof Ruggedness
Panasonic''s SDR-SW20 compact SD camcorder is built tough so you can shoot in places never before possible. Take it underwater as deep as 5 feet1 for great video in the pool or ocean. Waterproofing also means you can shoot in the rain or snow with no worries. The SW20 is also shockproof, resisting damage even if dropped from a height of up to 4 feet2 with improved fortification inside and out. A dustproof3 design keeps the camcorder safe even if handled with dirty hands or used in a place with swirling dust. Take it to the beach or sports field without worrying about sand. And since it''s waterproof, simply wash it with water when it gets dirty.

Compact Size and Cool Styling
Small enough to slip in a pocket or bag. Cool enough to take everywhere you go. This is one stylish camcorder you''ll never want to be without.

No More Missed Shooting Opportunities with Quick Start
The SW20 SD camcorder starts up to record quickly. In Quick Start mode4, recording begins in just 0.6 seconds from the time the LCD is opened. This lets you catch those sudden shooting opportunities.

Easy DVD Copying and Viewing
The USB port allows you to connect directly to a DVD burner. And copying a recording from an SD card to a DVD disc is as easy as selecting from the menu. To view your video, simply take the SD card from the camcorder and slip it into any TV or DVD player with an SD card slot; there are no cables to worry about.

Edit Your Videos
First, transfer the motion-image data from the SD card to your PC5 using your PC''s USB port. Then with the included MotionSD STUDIO 1.3E software, you can easily put scenes in a different order, delete the ones you don''t want, and add a wide variety of video effects. Save your results by burning your video production onto DVD.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Camera! Perfect for the beach., August 4, 2008

By 

defbear - See all my reviews

This review is from: Panasonic SDR-SW20 Waterproof Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom (Red) (Electronics)

I have read all the complaints about video quality but unless you are shooting at night or in very dim lighting you have nothing to worry about. Besides, there should be no surprises related to quality if you read the spec's before you bought the camera.

That said I have been using this camera in fairly heavy surf here in Southern California and I'm extremely pleased with it's durability so far. The tiny rubber gaskets worried me at first look but after having the camera thrashed a bit in heavy white water and just general rough play I'm not worried anymore. The video quality underwater is amazing. Definitely the most fun feature of the camera. And the main reason I bought it! Any clips you watch on youtube or any other site do NO justice to how clear the quality is. Those websites use compression software that kills video quality. When you watch the videos on your T.V or computer they look perfect.

The reason I gave it 4 stars and not 5 is because I find getting the videos to play on my computer is not as easy as they made it sound. I also noticed the "squished" effect that the above reviewer mentioned and I intend to download the SDCOPY software they recommend. I also have noticed that randomly the sound becomes muffled and a buzzing can be heard. Again the above reviewer mentioned that this could be due to water contacting the mic.

Other then those 2 problems (which are by no means major) I highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a durable water proof camera to use swimming, surfing, or any other adventurous outdoor activity. For the money I think it's a great bargain.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect outdoor camera! Caution on widescreen flag, August 1, 2008

By 

ZAM (NC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Panasonic SDR-SW20 Waterproof Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom (Red) (Electronics)

This is a fantastic camera for use outdoors or in any area that has a lot of light. I would not recommend this for indoor use though. It is just not very good in low lighting conditions. If you already have a good camera for indoor use, this is an excellent second camera. This is a perfect beach camera, pool camera, boat camera. It has a decent zoom, and I've found battery life to be more than adequate. I got a 8gb SDHC card to go with it and that seemed to be a good size.

I have done two beach trips with this camera and the DVDs I've made have came out with some amazing footage. Stuff you really can not get without a waterproof camera. I can put it in my pocket and wade into the ocean or the pool and take it out when I want to record some stuff.

Two cautions:
1) The file format does not set the widescreen flag properly. My first videos I transferred got me VERY worried because the image was squished. I searched around and used a program called SDCopy (do some google searching and you will turn it up) to "fix" the flag and convert the MOD files to mpeg2. It works wonderfully, i'm annoyed that I have to do this, that's why I can't give it 5 stars.

2) After submerging it water can get on the lens and in the mic. A few shakes and a wipe on your suit or with a finger gets it back ok again - oh yeah and hit pause so you don't record this! I think the first time I submerged it the next 5 minutes of footage had a water spot on the lens and the sound was distorted.

Overall, as long as you are aware of the limitations, this will be a great camera. It's inexpensive and waterproof, but not meant for low light.

32 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't meet expectations, June 21, 2008

By 

A. Yamaichi - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Panasonic SDR-SW20 Waterproof Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom (Red) (Electronics)

I bought this camcorder for my backpacking trip on Mt. Whitney. I figured since the manufacturer claimed their product was waterproof/dustproof/shockproof (surprised there was no lens cover), that this would be a good fit for the environment I would be placing the camcorder in. It is very easy to use and the menu was easily figured out. I did record while it snowed and it performed fine afterward. However, what I wasn't prepared for was the poor and low quality of the pictures and video that I took on this trip. I was severely disappointed and had to spend time on Photoshop to make the photos look decent. The videos also had a lot of contrast and the sound quality on the videos were fuzzy and muffled. I liked the look, weight, easily handling and use but that's about it. I'm returning the product.

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