I bought the SDR-S7 to use as a compact, always-wit more
I bought the SDR-S7 to use as a compact, always-with-me tool for recording video blog entries. I wanted something compact that shot good quality video (not HD, just good SD). The Panasonic has lived up to that task very well. It produces good quality video for a consumer camcorder of this type, it's incredibly compact, has optical zoom and a useful array of manual controls, and it uses standard SD cards instead of some weird proprietary format. The built-in microphone records in high-quality stereo, it does pick up some environmental noise but there's not much you can do about that on any device at this price level!
I use a Mac, and I've had no problem importing the video files into iMovie for editing. The trick is to have iMovie '08 or '09 and to plug in the camera or card reader *after* you start iMovie. That has worked 100% of the time for me and I've been able to import with no problems. I haven't used the Windows software so I can't comment on it.
The only downside to this camera is a result of the size - the battery life is limited to a little over an hour, and there is no cold shoe, microphone input, or auxillary lighting. If you need lighting you can buy a light bar that will screw into the tripod mount, that's probably your best bet. If you need an external mic then you won't find that option on *any* camera at this price level.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with this camera.
Pros:
small size
good quality video
uses standard SD cards
replaceable battery
optical zoom
Cons:
no mic input
relatively short battery life
no on-board light less
Panasonic SDR-S7 Flash Memory Camc…
Panasonic PV-GS120 3CCD MiniDV Cam…
Sony HDR-UX1 AVCHD 4MP High-Defini…
Photokina 2008 : Samsung HZ1 with …
Canon FS21 Dual Flash Memory Camco…
Canon Optura 60 MiniDV Camcorder w…
Sony DCR-TRV280 Digital8 Handycam …
Samsung HMX-H104 HD SSD Flash Memo…
Panasonic PV-GS320 3.1MP 3CCD Mini…
0 comments
Post a comment