Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #184 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: SDR-S26EB-K
• Released on: 2009-02-10
• Dimensions: 2.22 pounds

Features

• SD Card Format
• 2.7" Wide LCD
• 70x Zoom with Advanced O.I.S.
• 0.8 sec Quick Start
• Intelligent Auto Mode

Manufacturer's Description
The SDR-S26 camcorder features a powerful 70x optical zoom combined with an advanced optical image stabilization system that corrects hand-shake around 4,000 times per second.

Get up close with High Optical Zoom
You can’t always be close to what you are shooting, so the new Panasonic 70x High Optical Zoom brings subjects closer than ever before. It gives you the power you need to take dramatic close-ups or get remarkable shots. But with long-distance zoom shots, even a tiny bit of hand shake has a huge effect on picture quality.

That's where optical image stabilization comes in. Panasonic's Advanced O.I.S. shifts a corrective lens as you shoot to help eliminate the effects of hand shake, so you get clear, sharp shots even at high zoom levels.

Advanced Optical Image Stabiliser
Advanced O.I.S. ensures beautiful shots even with high-power zooming. Using the Advanced O.I.S technology, gyrosensors detect hand-shake and the lens unit shifts to continuously adjust the optical axis, so that videos are perfectly sharp and blur-free. Just lean back and enjoy capturing videos in their full natural beauty for the most clear and amazingly beautiful videos - even when shooting long-distance zoom shots. The known typical hand-shake effect is no longer a concern.

Intelligent Auto Function
Panasonic’s highly acclaimed Intelligent Auto (iA) function detects shooting conditions and automatically selects the most suitable shooting mode, to record stunning images without the hassle of adjusting settings.

A total of five functions, including Face Detection, Advanced O.I.S., Intelligent Contrast Control and Intelligent Scene Selector that were inherited from previous Panasonic camcorder models, iA mode produces outstanding results under virtually all shooting conditions.

Face Detection
Face Detection Captures faces beautifully - even in dim or backlit scenes. it automatically senses the ambient lighting and adjusts the exposure accordingly, so faces are bright and easy to see.

The focus also prioritizes the faces, and skin tones are smoothed.

Faces in the center of the frame serve as the reference for adjustments, but the function can detect up to 15 faces in all.

Intelligent Scene Selector
The Intelligent Scene Selector function analyzes the shooting situation and automatically switches the camcorder to the Scene mode that will give you optimal results.

This mode is ideal for shooting wide landscapes and sweeping vistas, such as at the ocean or in the mountains. It balances the exposure over the entire frame to prevent brighter parts of the image, such as the sky, from being washed out or having blown highlights.

This mode captures faces beautifully. With Soft Skin mode, complexions are automatically enhanced to make faces attractive.

The camcorder automatically uses this mode for scenes with particularly strong contrast, such as when you're shooting a spotlit area on a darkened stage. It captures the well-lit subject perfectly and prevents washed-out areas.

In dim lighting, the camcorder automatically switches to a slower shutter speed so that images across the entire frame are bright and easy to see.

Intelligent Contrast Control
By detecting the intensity of the ambient light and adjusting the exposure accordingly, Intelligent Contrast Control prevents blown highlights and blocked shadows.

This helps render natural-looking, highly nuanced images with proper contrast.

Quick Start function
The Quick Start function allows the SDR-S26 camcorder to begin recording just 0.8 second from the time the LCD is opened and this around a third of the time that it takes for a camcorder that records onto DVD discs to start, making it easier to catch those special moments that come with no warning -- all in clear MPEG2 DVD quality.

The SDR-S26 camcorder offers a function that simplifies the process of copying recordings from the Memory Card or hard disk drive to a DVD. Simply connect the camcorder to a VW-BN1 DVD Burner (optional) and press the button. No PC is required. A DVD disc created this way can be easily played directly from a DVD player.

Take Me On Your Travels
Convenient for travellers, the new World Timer function eliminates the need to manually reset the camcorder time when crossing time zones. The user simply selects the destination from the displayed map, and the time is adjusted automatically. Time can be set for two different locations, such as home and a destination. The user can switch between them by simply pressing a button.

YouTube Uploader
All new Panasonic Camcorders come with VideoCam Suite software, which makes it easy to upload video clips to the YouTube website. You simply connect the camcorder to the PC using the USB interface and the software automatically starts up. Then, the user just follows the specified procedure to upload a video clip to YouTube. Once again, Panasonic camcorders have come up with a truly unique style to expand the fun of video shooting even more.

Box Contains

Customer Reviews

Everyday No Nonsense Panny Cammy
I've had it for two days now and the picture quality is perfectly acceptable in a non hd way.

It replaces my 6 year old canon mvx150i that has finally filmed its last film. The panny is far better quality and because it is sd card and not tape there is no motor noise on the recordings.

I opted for a standard dvd quality camcorder simply beacause it keeps things simple for now. hd files would fill a dvd very quickly and pc's tend to struggle with such large files. When this runs out of life I'm sure I will upgrade to a hd one when blu ray recorders will be cheaper and more reliable and feature on all pc's. The software is very easy to use, quite basic but once you have uploaded to a pc via usb you can easily cut bits out add fade and various effects etc.

Pros:
The zoom is very good but you will need a tripod to use it to it's full extent, OIS works very well (cameras without an image stabilizer aren't worth having), the iA (intelligent auto) mode is superb and adjusts lighting etc for different occasions such as people or landscapes, THIS CAMMY IS SMALL just 11cm long, 6cm high and 6cm deep so fits in any pocket, it starts up in less than a second and it will start recording 3 seconds before you do! so you won't miss that important beginning, suprisingly good quality filming with artificial light.

Cons:
Not great at low natural light (it becomes grainy with noise) but most camcorders do. The lense cap isn't automatic and will annoy some people.

Great camcorder panny!

panasonic sdr 26
Fab camcorder , good points , zoom , size , lightweight , battery life , design , software , price , bad points , still photo quality not great , i have an old samsung camcorder which at the time of purchase was reasonable , this panasonic beats it hands down at everything , buy it and you will not be disappointed

Small but not beautiful
Neat and very small camera with enormous zoom. Picture quality is good for a none HD camera but it has some irritating faults. Key amongs these is the frequent failute to recognise a face which then results in too low exposure until "face recognition" suddenly clicks in and then the face "Lights up" to proper exposure.
The viewing screen is very difficult to use in bright light and this aggravates the menu system which is hard to see in bright light - just when you want to set the camera for bright scenes but can't because you can't see the menu!
That said, it is a very easy and convenient camera in most respects and I would still recommend it as I don't think any of the issues I raise are that much different in other similar cameras.