I have used this for video and still pictures. The picture quality is excellent. Connecting to computer easy. It is very small and lightweight. It is comfortable for still pictures, but I cannot use the video on/off with my hand in strap. It is too awkward. Also, it does not allow you to download to computer more than once. Intended to be downloaded to disk. This was not made clear before buying. This model is low end. Missing some of features of HDC-TM80P and HDC-HS80P. But for me it is great. I am an amateur and just want to point and shot and not fuss around. Panasonic HDC-SD80K HD SD Card Camcorder (Black)
I ordered the camcorder(Panasonic HDC-SD80R) from 6 Ave through Amazon. I took advantage of free shipping and it was here before the guarantied delivery time. The camcorder was packaged well. You need to order a SD card (8 or 16Gig) class 6 or 10, Mini HDMI to Std. HDMI cable, MTS file converter software (recommend BRORSOFT MTS/M2TS)to change files to MP4 for editing and Youtube, recommend extra battery, and charger (the charger that comes with the unit charges the battery in the camera). Most of the high end companies like Panasonic, Sony, Canon, etc. record the videos in MTS format(native Bluray and AVCHD files). The software included with the camera will allow you to edit and burn AVCHD DVD discs. These are standard DVDs that will play in many BluRay players. So if that's all you want to do great. Now if you want to do some serious DVD editing like using Roxio Creator 2010-2012 you will need to convert the files to MP4s. I tested several MTS converson software packages and really like BRORSOFT MTS/M2TS $29. The unique thing about this program it allows you to use CUDA or ATI multi-threading.(speeds up rendering by 3-5 times) You need a $50 video card for this i.e.. ATI or Nvidia. Even a slow computer 2 GHZ or faster will handle video files if you install one of these cards. I must admit when I first got the camcorder I thought about sending it back because Windows Media Player and several other players didn't like the MTS/M2TS files and my editing software didn't recognize those files. The HD Writer AE 3.0 does a good job making AVCHD DVD disks. The zoom, stabilization and picture quality is awesome for this price camcorder. It will fit in a shirt pocket and has a good battery run time.
Good zoom works very well for a day approaches and bright places Soledad excellent, but for low light if you need some accessories to give greater illumination to the area of ''shooting. Very light which allows for smooth loading and the quality of video and pass video to the computer is simple and makes working with the format and work with iMovie iFrame makes it very simple.
I was very excited (at first) reading the other reviews about this nicely valued, easy to use HD camcorder. In all fairness to this model, it is easy to use along with it's features. The main reason we don't like it, well read on please. I had thought it was going to fit my needs of making HD video recordings and then uploading some onto the internet. It was for certain websites so we can sell something. That was the biggest stumbling block of all. Getting the videos to upload onto the websites. As an experiment, we had tried uploading onto You Tube under private so we could see the HD video under our account. We kept getting an error message saying that the website could be busy OR our internet connection had failed which was untrue. And, that we should try again later. Which turned out to be the standard after several trys. This camcorder's going back. It's too much of a hassle for our uses. Perhaps just basic recording, watching HD videos on your HD monitor, or on the PC/Laptop monitor and burning DVD's is the best applications for this. I'm nothing of an expert on video making. The included software does a nice job ALL leading up to getting a video to share online and then our problems began. Oh well. BOTTOM LINE IS: Go directly to You Tube, IF that's your desire in putting your HD video access there, OR for other things (i.e. other web site access as well). Their's will facilitate getting it published online a lot faster and smoother than will the HD writer software.
Alright, so this is my first review ever, of anything. Today I received this camera and here are my initial impressions. This camera is small...and when I say small, I mean really really small. But as ladies always claim, small does not mean it is short on performance.
When it was received the battery was almost dying. A few (3-4) hours of charging brought back the life in the battery. It seems that the most of the controls are digital and can be operated through touch screen. However there are few controls that are both digital as well as manual. I think this is a nice feature. It seems that the hand strap might not hold for long, just does not seem to be sturdy enough.
As I indicated in the begining of this review, this are just my initial impressions. I plan to use the camera more in upcoming week and I will update this review, after that. - Panasonic'
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