Quick Review Camcorders: Panasonic SDR-S100

Three CCDs are packed into this miniature body, each measuring 1/6”. Video in bright light exhibited very rich blues and greens, though some of the yellow parts of the spectrum lost their brightness. Overall, this camcorder performed admirably against similarly priced cams, such as Panasonic’s leading 3 CCD consumer camcorder, the PV-GS250.

Low light performance was not quite so good. In full automatic mode, the picture got very noisy. The PV-GS250 did significantly better. Panasonic does give the option of manual gain, a digital correction tool which boosts the overall signal to offset the lack of light. Increasing the signal also means increasing the noise within that signal, so too much gain is a bad thing. Like PV-GS250, there are eight settings for gain increase, giving you a wide range from which to choose a balance between brightness and noise.

The body looks like something out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s exceptionally sleek and uncomplicated, designed with style and ease of use in mind. The widescreen LCD opens from the side. A cover on the rear conceals a USB port and a multi-purpose A/V, S-Video, and headphone jack. Unfortunately, the design has precluded an "unsightly" bulges like an expandable battery. This is, essentially, a must-have feature for most users.

A switch on the back shifts between automatic and manual control. The automatic adjustments are very good. The white balance can drag a bit, but the other controls are quick and accurate. Manual controls are excellent – nearly equal to the PV-GS250, in a body half the size. They include zoom, focus, aperture, shutter speed, white balance, and gain. The difference is one of accessibility. A larger body, like the PV-GS250, can hold more dedicated buttons. The SDR-S100 requires you to troll through the menu for some of the adjustments. Happily, the four-way navigation pad is probably the best navigation system of any mini-cam.

The SDR-S100 also takes sharp-looking stills, with a large feature set. There are four resolution sizes (max. 2048 x 1512), including a 1920 x 1080 widescreen size (a feature rarely offered on camcorders). All of the manual features from the video mode are also available in still mode, with a pop-up flash to aid in low light.

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The SDR-S100 records video and stills directly to a removable SD card, and this process may bear some explanation. Video is compressed into the MPEG2 format. Panasonic has touted the creation of a new and improved compression, and it has made a number of improvements over previous compression engines. However, MPEG2 is still compressed video, and cannot quite compete with uncompressed MiniDV footage. That gap may close soon, but for now, the difference is easily marked in a side-by-side comparison.

The included SD card is 2GB, enough to hold 100 minutes of the lowest quality video, but only 25 minutes of the highest quality. This is obviously not a lot of room, but SD cards are growing in capacity every year, with a steadily falling rate. Be prepared for SD cards as big as 32GB in the foreseeable future.

Editing can also prove to be problematic, as MPEG2 files cannot be imported by most of the major at-home editing software. The SDR-S100 ships with a rudimentary editing program called MotionSD Studio.

At $1000, the SDR-S100 is no doubt a steep investment. The ultra-compacts often come at a high cost, as do the first generations of new technology. Because this camcorder combines both those elements, your reservations are understandable. The closed battery slot means that you'll never be able to purchase a longer-life battery - real downside. However, the excellent performance and great manual control set indicate that Panasonic is headed in the right direction.

Panasonic SDR-S100: THE BOTTOM LINE... Rating: 197.94

Likes

-Still Performance -Portability -Manual Control

Dislikes

-Automatic Controls -Handling -Closed Battery Port -Audio -Ease of Use

 SDR-S100 Compared to the...

Sony DCR-PC1000 Rating: 215.38	JVC GR-X5 Rating: 224.72	JVC GZ-MC500 Rating: 218.38	Panasonic PV-GS250 Rating: 230.89	Sony DCR-DVD403 Rating:210.65
Better	Better	Better	Better	Better
-Ports -Low Light Performance Automatic Control -Hot Accessory Shoe -LCD -Ease of Use -Audio -Widescreen	-Digital Still Capability -Wide Angle -Ports -Low Light Performance -Automatic Control -Audio -Widescreen -Ports -Close Battery Port -Accessory Shoe	-Ports -Low Light Performance -Automatic Control -Audio -Widescreen -Handling	-Manual Controls -Digital Still Capability -Low Light Performance -Audio -Widescreen -LCD -Handling -Ports	-Low Light Performance -LCD -Handling -Automatic Controls -Audio -Ease of Use -Widescreen mode -Hot Accessory Shoe -VCR Mode -Ports
Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal
-Optical Zoom -No Microphone Input -Battery -Wide Angle	-Optical Zoom Specs	-Optical Zoom -VCR Mode -LCD -Wide Angle -No Accessory Shoe -Closed Battery port	-Video Performance -Automatic Controls -Imager Specs -Optical Zoom Specs	-Digital Still Capability -Optical Zoom Specs
Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse
-Manual Control -Portability -Handling -Navigation System -Digital Still Capability -Video Performance -VCR Mode -Battery	-Manual Control -Portability -Navigation System -Video Performance -VCR Mode -Wide Angle -Ease of Use -LCD -Handling -Wide Angle	-Manual Control -Portability -Navigation System -Digital Still Capability -Video Performance -VCR Mode -Wide Angle -Ease of use	-Portability -Ease of Use -Slightly Better Wide Angle -VCR Mode -LCD	-Portability -Manual Controls -Navigation System -Imager Specs -Video Performance

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