Panasonic SDR-SW20S - Camcorder - widescreen - 680 Kpix - optical zoom: 10 x - supported memory: MMC, SD, SDHC - flash card - silver

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Product Details

• Item Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B0011ULKNE
• Item model number: SDR-SW20S
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,894 in Camera & Photo (See Bestsellers in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 10, 2008

Product Description

Manufacturer 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

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 feet 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 feet with improved fortification inside and out. A dustproof 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.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.The SW20 SD camcorder starts up to record quickly. In quick start mode, recording begins in just 0.6 seconds from the time the LCD is opened. This lets you catch those sudden shooting opportunities.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for its purpose......, May 12, 2008

By	lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Panasonic SDR-SW20 is pretty specific camcorder designed for pretty specific individual. Having wrote that, allowed me to explained some of the good points about this camcorder. First thing you notice is that its a pretty small camcorder and very light. In fact, this camcorder is smaller then some of the point and shoot cameras out there and I brought a p/s camera case to stored this camcorder in. Second thing is that its super easy to use. Its very minimal in design and dial switch with simple on and off button to record. And yes, this camcorder is waterproof and you can dunk it up to five feet as noted. If it waterproof, then it got to be dustproof as well. I haven't tried bouncing this camcorder off the floor but I'll take the manufacturer's word on the shock-proof. It has a 10x optical zoom that worked just fine while recording and an electronic stabilizer that works pretty well. The camcorder do come with several scene modes, manual focus as well as aperture and shutter speed control although its at a pretty basic level. The 2.7 inch LCD worked just fine and its in widescreen mode. The still photo are shot in 4:3 mode. All videos and photos are save on the SD card. I recommended that you get at least 2 gig to get started. It does accept SDHC cards although the manual states that you are better off using a Panasonic brand or else it might not work properly. I'll just buy more 2 gig cards instead.

For the negative side of this camcorder, the video image isn't very good. I would regard the video image to be just average, nothing to blow your mind on but its better then you hope for. The video image really get "noisy" when shooting in dark locations or night times. Its still acceptable but barely at times. Its far superior then the Flip video device but far less then some of the more expensive ones. Let me put it this way, bigger the screen, worst it will look. Smaller the screen, better it will look. This applied even at the XP mode, their highest rating. This camcorder does take still photos but only at .3 mpx, no better then a phone camera. The audio is bit on the weak side and you will get a lot of debris noises no matter what you do.

Reason for my four stars is this, despite of the video image shortcomings, this camcorder fitted my need. I wanted something small, light and bombproof from the elements in a camcorder. I can live with the average video in such a trade off. Due to the size and weight, I can take this camcorder anywhere and used it almost anytime. I like to hike, bike and backpack so this camcorder is perfect. (Of course, bring extra batteries since battery life is pretty short due to the small li-on battery they use for this camcorder.) I supposed it even possible to attached this camcorder to dashboard or on a bike handle and used it that way. The LCD cover does not have to be open for this thing to record. My camcorder fit my needs perfectly but unless your needs are like mine's, you may not be happy with this camcorder since the video image is not as good as bigger ones out there. Just be aware of that.