Customer Reviews

Panasonic SVAV20 MPEG4 eWear Digital Camcorder/Still Camera (Silver)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I did a lot of research about this camera before buying it and now I can't help but wonder what people were thinking!! I agree it's a cute camera that is good for carrying around in your purse or in your pocket. But I think that if you have ever used ANY kind of camera before, there is no way you will accept the quality of pictures that this camera produces (even if it's just for email).

Pros:
1) Its really small and cute. It attracts a lot of attention.
2) It is easy to use.
3) Even the 32 MB card that comes with it takes a good amount of photos and mpegs.
4) The mpegs are pretty easy to transfer on email.

Cons:
1)All the photos are blurred if you are not at the EXACT distance you should be shooting from.
2)The camera is much better off without its zoom feature
3)You can absolutely forget about taking shots indoors or at night (or dusk, for that matter). Bright sunlight (but not direct sunlight) is the only way you can get visible images. The flash is not much of a help.

Conclusion: It takes really bad-quality images. Maybe if it cost 40-50 $, I might be a little bit more satisfied with it. But for anything above that, I would not recommend it to anyone.

This is a nice looking gadget. Very poor picture quality. Can not get the software to work for music recording. Having problems with the camera shutting down . Thought it was a defective battery so bought another and the same problem. Camera shuts down before i can even get to menue. All i can say is that is is cute. I bought another tiny camera for my purse that takes video and stills and that camera [didn't] cost [that much] and i get excellent 8 by 10 prints.

Because Panasonic went waaaay overboard with copy protection, you must use only their software to hook up the unit to a Windows computer (If you have only a Mac, then this is NOT an MP3 player for you.)and download. You can NOT just copy songs onto the SD memory card. And you have to use the same computer every time so forget about one at home and one in the office. Compared to any other MP3 I've seen or used, this is a nightmare. Another problem? You MUST also have it plugged in to the battery charger or it won't connect. So you have to have two cables hooked up to add or delete a song. What a pain!
Also it doesn't display as much information as you'd like when playing the song. You also cannot control the playing of the song (pause, stop, etc.) unless you open the LCD and press the tiny buttons. Only volume is accessible when it's closed.
As for the other functions, the camera is of quite low quality, only useful for sending small web photos. The movie mode works okay, but no better than some pretty cheap digital cameras.
The only good feature is the nice pocketable size. But you have to keep track of all the cords, etc. to make it useful anyway.
I got this as a gift and was excited about it until I started to use it. I suspect I'll be "re-giving" this one.

I just got this last week and i think its great for what i use it for. if ur trying to make a movie, this is definitely not the camera for you because the quality isnt the greatest. but, since the quality is best in 320 x 240, its perfect for the computer, and letting people download ur stuff. if ur ganna do this though, ur gonna have to download a program to convert the video file to .avi, or some other well known video file.
This is awesome for just catching those little moments that you couldnt with a regular digital camera. if ur looking for just a mp3 player, dont get this, get an mp3 player. it is kind of annoying to only be able to delete music through the computer. i also suggest to get a bigger memory card if you want to record lots of stuff.
the included software is okay. just remember that to connect you must plug the charger cord in as well as the USB cord ( i had a little trouble with this lol).
Overall, i love this camera! i just say 4 stars cuz of the downside to the mp3 player.
i hope this helps!

I thought the camera was good for what I bought it for. But having trouble sending pictures through email. What am I doing wrong

to the reviewer below me: Did you ever think its because YOU'RE holding the camera sideways?

I got this camera and I cannot get the JukeBox to work!
The sftwr is awful, how do you convert your WMA music files to MP3 on that software, do you need the CD to send it to the SDcard?
Why dont they allow you to use other software?
Come on Panasonic... you can do better...

1.) 2X zoom doesn't work while capturing video. 2.) At "Super Fine" setting you get only 19 minutes on a 128MB SD card 3.) Captured video pauses quite often 4.) It takes video & pix SIDEWAYS! You need software like Micro$oft MovieMaker 2 to rotate the video to the correct orientation 5.) Uses DRM so you can't just copy your mp3 to the device except through the included software, which is AWFUL 5.) You can't delete music files from the device; you must use the software 6.) No graphic equalizer

I just got this camera for christmas and I love it!
These other reviewers must be crazy!!! Obviously your not
going to get a camera as good as say the sony handycam ($1,500)
You get what you pay for idiots. If you want to record huge boring family vacations do not buy this camera! But if you just want to have fun and record little tid-bits this camera is for you. Who wants to watch more than a 3 minute movie anyway! I agree that the quality isn't up to standard but who cares the coolness makes up for that!!!! The other reviews are quite discouraging and seem to be written by idiots! Dont despair this is a great camera. Maybe look around a little more if your a SERIOUS PHOTOGRAPHER! Good Luck