Product Description

It's hard to believe such a small camcorder is capable of doing such great things. Panasonic Palmcorder SDR-H18 Camcorder is perfect for extended trips with its internal 30GB hard drive that holds as much video data as up to 22 8cm 1.4GB DVDs. That's about 22 hours worth of high-quality video. The SDR-H18 offers a 32x extended range zoom capability. Panasonic's selectable Optical Image Stabilization system helps reduce blurred images that result from normal handheld movements. Stills and videos may also be recorded on SD or SDHC memory cards. A built-in USB port lets you transfer images recorded on the 30GB hard drive directly to your PC or Mac for extended video storage or editing. Shoot in 4:3 standard or 16:9 widescreen visual modes - fill your TV screens. It's a camcorder for all seasons and reasons. Optical Image Stabilizer (O.I.S.) Recording Modes - XP, SP, LP MagicPix Images for 2 Lux Minimum Illumination Shooting Iris - Auto Focus/Manual (Including Gain) Still Picture Recording, 640x480, 640x360 (16 - 9) MPEG2 Recording Format Wide Mode (16 - 9 Aspect Ratio) Image Sensor (Total) - 1/6 CCD (680K Pixels) Image Sensor (Effective) - 4 - 3 - 340K, 16 - 9 - 460K (Moving Picture) Image Sensor (Effective) - 4 - 3 - 350K, 16 - 9 - 460K (Still Picture) Lens Aperture - F1.8 (Wide)/F3.7 (Telephoto) White Balance Settings - Auto, Indoor, Outdoor, Manual Backlight Compensation Date Recording - Auto Date (in Date Code) On-Screen Display Language - English, French, Spanish Built-In SD SDHC Card Slot PictBridge Compatible Unit Dimensions - 2.98 W x 3.27 H x 4.76 D; Weight - 0.95 lbs. Panasonic USA Warranty 1 Year Parts and 90 Days Labor

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2328 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: SDR-H18
• Dimensions: 6.00 pounds
• Display size: 2.7

Features

• Built-in 30 GB hard disk drive
• 32x optical zoom; O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)
• Pure Color Engine; MPEG2 engine
• Large 2.7-inch widescreen LCD
• One-Touch Navigation for easy, intuitive setting and shooting

Manufacturer Description
Perfect for taking on a trip or recording long events. Extended recording for extended shooting fun.

The internal 30 GB hard disk drive holds as much video data as about 22 8-centimeter DVD discs. That means you can record for around 27 hours without changing a disc, tape or anything else. This SD Card/Hard Disk camcorder is perfect for people who want to shoot for hour after hour without worrying about memory space.

SDR-H18 Highlights

High-Quality Pictures

O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) Panasonic's O.I.S. minimizes the hand-shake that can be such a problem with handheld shots. Because Panasonic's system is optical, there is no image quality degradation.

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.

MPEG2 engine Panasonic's MPEG2 engine is a wide-range, highprecision engine that produces smooth, beautiful moving pictures. Because it precisely records the differences in each frame, it can render fast, complex motions with exceptional precision. The MPEG2 engine also uses the Variable Bit Rate system that Panasonic adopted for the high-end DIGA DVD recorder. Giving LP (long play mode) recordings nearly twice the resolution captured with previous Panasonic MPEG2 recording video cameras, this lets the DVD camcorder record clear, smoothly flowing pictures.

32x optical zoom This 32x zoom can fill the screen with even a distant subject. This lens is not only the powerful zoom offered in a home-use digital camcorder, it also features low distortion. And because it's optical, there is no quality loss -- you get the images in all their natural beauty.

Ease and Versatility

Large 2.7-inch widescreen LCD The large, 2.7-inch LCD monitor displays bright, clear images. You can see even tiny details. It's more fun to shoot and view images on a wide monitor, and it's easier to picture just how the images will look on a TV screen.

One-Touch Navigation for easy, intuitive setting and shooting With One-Touch Navigation, just press the center of the joystick to display an operating menu. The operations you use most often are right on the monitor, so it's easy to change settings or operate the camera without looking away from your subject.

Mode dial Just turn the dial and you're ready to shoot or to view the images afterward. Just rotate the dial with your fingertip to select the icon that corresponds to the mode you want.

Trilingual menu The menu can be displayed in any of the following three languages. You can switch it to view all menus in the language you prefer for easy, comfortable operation.

Capture crisp, vivid images, even in low lighting, with MagicPix Leave the light off. MagicPix gives you images with color even in dim lighting (1 lux). Light is gentle and easy on the eyes, so you can snap shots of sleeping children without waking them up.

Soft Skin mode When this function detects skin tones, it softens the focus in that area. This has a skin beautifying effect, which makes wrinkles and lines appear less noticeable. When turned on, this function makes blemishes and moles look less conspicuous, while preserving resolution in areas of the picture outside of the skin.

Instant LCD/EVF saves battery life When you open the LCD, the power switches on. Shut it and the power goes off. Pull out the viewfinder and the power switches on. Store it and the power goes off. Instant LCD/EVF reduces the time required for operating the camera.

Networking

USB 2.0 (HS Mode) and Video Class compatibility USB 2.0 compatibility lets you upload DV data to a PC at high-speed over a single USB cable. Video Class compatibility allows real-time transfer of DV moving picture data over the same USB cable.

Use an SD/SDHC memory card to transfer image easily SD/SDHC memory cards are the ideal recording and storage media for today's visual communication and networking. They make it easy to instantaneously transfer image data to a PC or printer.

Customer Reviews

Every person will have diff Camcorder needs, this one fit mine
My current camcorder is over [..], and I found that I just wasn't using it much anymore. Two reasons: It was a little big to carry around, and it recorded to tape, so deleting 'bad' scenes was not practical until it got to the PC. All the new camcorders are plenty small enough to carry around.

I like the workflow of digital cameras in that you can easily delete the garbage shots after taking them. I wanted the same for a camcorder, which meant DVD or HDD was my choice, despite the possible reduction in end quality as compared to tape (HDD/DVD compress the image, tape doesn't). DVD was out for me since its capacity is very limited, and I just don't trust writing to DVD (I've had too many fail while closing the session on my PC). So it's HDD, even though I compromise image quality over tape.

I also wanted a long zoom lens. With a long zoom lens you have to sacrifice the larger CCD's, and larger CCD's allow for better image quality. Another compromise.

This left me with three final candidates in my price range: Sony DCR-SR42, JVC Everio GZMG155 and Panasonic SDR-H18. The Sony specs list 40x zoom, but the number that counts is the focal range (1.9 to 76), which actually gives you about the same true zoom as the other two (they advertise 32x). So they are equal there.

The final difference came down to price and the image stabilization. Only the Panasonic had optical image stabilization, which generally does a better job than electronic. This is especially important for these long zoom cameras. So the SDR-H18 won, and it was the least expensive also.

Considering the 'compromises' I had to make to go HDD and long zoom, I'm very happy with the image quality when played back on a standard def TV (haven't tried HD TV yet). It's at least as good as my old Digital-8 Sony image. The image stabilization is better than I expected - I had no problem holding the shot steady free handed at 32x.

BTW - No need to install the included CD. Windows XP recognized the camera and mounted it as a hard drive. Just copy the movies to your system like normal works. You may want to rename them to MPG files though, and set the widescreen flag in the file since the camera doesn't. Search for sdcopy.exe for a free simple utility to copy, rename and set the flag for you.

The only downsides I noticed so far:
Very low light feature on camera is useless as compared to Sony's IR mode. The Pana just makes the exposure time huge, which means you can only record still scenes in very low light. Not a problem for me though as I don't find the need to record in the dark much! Normal indoor light is OK, but not great.

The supplied battery won't last very long on a charge. Amazon has a battery CGA-DU21 which will 3 to 4 times as long for a very low price.


Update on experience with it: I have had the chance to try the video on a 42" LCD HD TV using the S-Video connector. It's not HD for sure, but the quality was acutally pretty good. I expected it to magnify the compressions issues to the point of being distracting. Others in the room actually commented how clean the video looked (the sample was from video taped outdoors in bright light).
One additional negative to add is that you can't delete a shot until you are in playback mode. I'd like to be able to delete it as soon as I've finished shooting it from the record mode thus saving a couple steps. Overall, no regrets.

Great camcorder with a hard drive
Overall this camera is a great value.

It is lightweight, easy to use and creates high quality video images. If you have large pockets you can carry it in your pocket. It will make a bit of lump, but it's doable. I have done it.

SELECTABLE VIDEO QUALITY
This camcorder let's you choose the video quality. At the highest video quality it still can capture 7 hours of video. I can't imagine needing that much. I don't think there's anybody on the planet that would appreciate watching a 7 hour video, let alone one that's over 20 hours long in lower resolution mode.

STANDARD AND WIDESCREEN FORMATS
Multiple formats are user selectable. You can select a standard aspect ratio or widescreen format. I prefer widescreen because that's how my TV's are formatted. The only downside of selecting widescreen is that it will only playback in widescreen format on the camera's monitor or directly connected to a TV, and through the free software Panasonic provides. However, the widescreen format won't auto upload to Adobe Premiere Elements video editing software without first loading the footage and then using an obscure "interpret footage" command to force it back to widescreen. Once you know how to the use the interpret footage command to the uploaded scenes it literally takes a second to make the conversion back to widescreen. Windows moviemaker has the same problem and if there is interpretation function I am not aware of it. Finding the command in Adobe Premiere Elments is the hard part. It took calls to Panasonice and Adobe to solve the problem. Adobe support solved the problem. This is simply a camera sofware output issue that Pansonic should probably fix in future releases of the firmware / software.

VIDEO FORMAT AND HARD DISK SPACE
Video files are a proprietary mpeg format that takes a while to read, load and render in Adobe Premiere Elements. And, of course, be prepared for using up a lot of hard drive space to load and store all of the files. However, this is true of any digital camera output. I use a 320 gb external hard drive to store work in progress video files. When finished editing I transcode and burn to DVD and delete the files from my hard drive.

For the average person who only wants to take videos and directly view on their TV this camera is very easy to use.

The display adjusts to a full range of brightness which means it can be used on a bright sunny day. The adjustment is a separate button, not some command buried in the software.

Overall, it is a great value. The provided software works, but you can do much better with an upgraded video editing software or even Windows Moviemaker. Although with Windows Moviemaker it can't read the widescreen format. It's compressed to a standard aspect ratio so everybody looks skinny.

I first bought another brand of video camera but it's output couldn't be read by anything but the bundled software. That camcorder was returned in favor of this unit.

Optical image stabilization is on by default (you can turn it off). The OIS is good although it won't over come full zoom hand held video quality. At full zoom you'd do best to have a tripod.

Low light level is good, but it isn't a night vision camera.

There is a slot for a removable flash card. I popped in a 2 gig card. The last one I bought was only $12. You can record video or stills using this media. This is handy if you want to take stills (see below). I seldom use this feature because I have a Canon SLR with Canon L series lens and I don't shoot in automatic mode with the Canon camera.

STILL CAMERA CAPABILITY
Single camera jpegs can be taken in a 640x480 format (complete with a shudder release sound effect). Still picture quality is acceptable but it isn't a SLR digital camera. Quality is much, much better than a cell phone. Quality is on par with what you had 5-6 years ago with your typical digital still cameras. You don't buy this camera for taking stills although I have even used this at work to capture closeups of quality issues and then switch back to video mode to tell a story surrounding the defect. Let's put it this way, it's a better video camera than a still camera, but for the majority of people who buy point and shoot cameras this works just as well unless you are taking photos you plan on blowing up to poster size.

EDIT: UPDATE 11-30-07
After twice, sometimes three times a week use, I can still say the camcorder works great. I used it for the fall volleyball season for my daughter's high school team. I recorded every game and gave it to the coach for her to review (her request). Using the camcorder reaffirms my purchase decision. Processing a couple of hours of video to minimally edit and transcode to a DVD takes hours. That's a function of the software. Quality was high for a very dimly lit gyms.

I also produced a 36 minute end of season banquet video using mainly still shots interspersed with some video from this camera. This camera's output was easily integrated into the final video production.

SMOOTH TRANSITIONS
One nice characteristic I noticed was the transition between scenes was smooth. I was able to pause the camera during playing sequences and there was jumpiness (is there such a word?) when I paused and restarted the recorder. This may not seem like a big deal but I have had cameras where the camera would shake or move when you function the pause or record button. Obviously, this is a pretty well engineered camcorder to pay attention to such details.

LOW LIGHT PERFORMANCE UPDATE
Low light performance is better than I described earlier in this review. For example, I mounted the camcorder on a tripod and recorded the sports banquet speeches and presentations. The banquet room was dimly lit. The video came out just fine. It is very similar to the colors you see with the human eye. Things tend to become grey at low light levels. However, like I said earlier, you can't expect to go out at night in the country and shoot videos by moonlight. It's not a night vision camera.

LETTING YOUR DAUGHTER USE IT -- A CASE STUDY FOR EASY TO USE
I let my daughter use it for a high school video project. She's no videophile or technical whiz. With me providing a simple 30 second tutorial on how to use the camera she was able to record usable scenes for her class project. She did it for her team and another team. I think that's testimony for how easy the camera is to use. The only problem she had was finding the volume control function for playback.

ONE LAST COMMENT
This camcorder does not have a standard viewfinder. It only has the display on the flip open door. I have had no problems without a viewfinder except on sunny days when the sun is directly shining on the LCD screen. Then, and only then, is viewing the image somewhat difficult.

Again, this camcorder is a great value for the money. Truly, it is a best buy.

Great Camera
This is a great camera and while my budget wasn't my primary concern, getting the right product was. Before ever knowing what the price was I had read a review of this camera on CNet.com. The review gave this camera high praise from its editors and put it on the short list of good quality cameras on the market today. So once I read this article I went looking for a few more opinions and the consensus was that this camera would get the job done. So when I went pricing and found out that it was only $400 I thought I was either going to get a great camera at a great price or there was some big conspiracy on the internet and this thing is really a piece of crap. It's not a piece of crap and it is a great camera at a great price.

If you are a gadget person and you are looking for a camera that has a feature set that you may never learn how to use, but are happy that they are available, then this camera is not for you.

There is no view finder for example. However, we don't use view finders any more and if you are like me, I point and laugh at people that look through view finders when they have a perfectly functional 2.5" inch color display in front of them.

Also, this camera doesn't have a light. Now this could be important, especially if it's your intention to shoot in low light situations like a darker room. The picture quality won't be great in low light but if you are like me and like to shoot things in the daytime or in rooms where electricity is present, then this shouldn't be much of a problem for you.

The camera is simply functional and its buttons and switches are designed to provide the user with function that they will most likely use. There is a zoom button, volume button, burn to DVD direct button, record button, menu button, delete button, etc, you get the idea. The view finder is used to view what you are recording and it doesn't double as a touch screen display, which is perfect for me as I have oven mitts for hands. The multi switch is actually a little joystick like you would find on a video game (although it's much smaller) and your thumb can operate all of the onscreen menus with a flick of this joystick. This camera comes with an optical zoom level of 32x. Optical zoom is what the lens creates and in my opinion is the only zoom you should use anyways. However, if you need to view beyond 32x, the camera has a digital zoom of 1000x. The digital zoom is simply the brain inside the camera creating what it thinks is the image based on zoom levels. You would need a very high powered and expensive lens to get to 1000x zoom but who needs that? At 32x you are very close to your subject and the best part of this camera is that if you shake like an Epileptic in an Arcade like I do, the image stabilizer system is second to none. It realizes what you are focused on and then reduces and sometimes illuminates the shake that often times ruins a video. This feature and the zoom are by far the best features a camera can have and Panasonic has hit it out of the park by putting so much focus on it.

Most importantly is the format of the camera, HDD (Hard Disc Drive), like you find in your computer. MiniDV is the standard technology but it is a dead technology. If you want the best of video output then stick with this technology but be warned that the day of the tape is going away. DVD camcorders aren't really DVD's like the ones we rent from the video store. They are 2" discs that record about an hour of footage in a quality setting, which simply isn't enough. The HDD camcorder you are looking at has a 30GB drive which is equivalent to 22 mini DVD's. Moreover, there is an expansion slot on the camera for external memory cards. This slot may not mean much today but we are at the beginning of the HD SD card revolution and soon the general public will be able to buy a 30 GB SD card which five years ago was unheard of. So in essence this $400 camera could double its recording capability without the need to upgrade to another model. This is a big deal.

Here is the procedure that you will use with this camera. You will record little Jimmy getting mauled by the family dog. You will then plug the camera into the computer and upload all the videos to your video file. You will use the software that came with the camera or some other commercially available product and you will edit the video to your hearts content. You will then use your onboard DVD burner ($40 at buydig.com) and burn a copy of the video onto a full size dual layer DVD that can store up to 8 GB of video footage. Then you can give the video to your local law enforcement to show them why it's a bad idea to own a Pit Bull.

This camera is cost effective, it's memory will expand as far as technology will go, you won't be buying 2" DVD's and miniDV cartridges, you won't be storing them either, you will buy full size DVDs that you can burn and play on standard DVD players, and most importantly you will have a good camera that won't break the bank. Now get buying.