We are in a bit of a nostalgic mood as we look back to some gadgets we may have overlooked in the past like this camcorder introduced in the 2009 CES.
The Panasonic SDR-S15 may look like a run-of-the-mill camcorder, but at £155 with free delivery, it certainly deserves a second look. Sporting a no-nonsense, ultra-compact design which also comes in pink and red, the Panasonic SDR-S15 affords you the ease and carry-about convenience of a digital camera, like the Olympus Stylus 7010 with all the perks of a competitive camcorder.
You can thank SD/SDHC Memory Cards for the SDR-S15’s diminutive chassis, however, don’t think that you’re being short-changed because of its size. Ease of use would probably be its middle name. Are you in a hurry to capture that special moment? You can start recording just 0.6 second from the time the LCD is opened. The Intelligent Auto Mode function includes Face Detection and the Intelligent Scene Selector means that you can let the SDR-S15 handle shooting conditions so you can concentrate more on shooting. Connect the SDR-S15 to a Panasonic VW-BN1 DVD burner and you can copy from camcorder to disc without a computer.
Here’s one truly convenient feature a lot of tech-challenged folks will surely appreciate. The new YouTube Uploader function automatically records in a YouTube-compatible format. Just hook up the camcorder via USB and you’ll have your video on YouTube after a few clicks.
Reviews, however, were not too favorable. Jonathan Bray of PC Pro held back in recommending this device saying that the “video quality is sadly lacking.”
A year later, Panasonic comes back in CES with a slew of brand-new camcorders, one of which appears to be an upgrade to the SDR-S15. The Panasonic SDR-50, which also records directly to SDHC cards, has a 33mm wide-angle lens with 7x optical zoom lens and an “Intelligent Auto Mode” that scans the environment before setting up the camcorder into its optimal recording setting.
Source: Panasonic
