Review of FullHD video camera Panasonic HDC-SD60

    Good day,% username%!
    I got a new toy - FullHD camcorder Panasonic HDC-SD60 and I hasten to share my impressions and a small overview of the functionality.
    Panasonic HDC-SD60


    Appearance and a few numbers


    The camera is quite small and light and sits well in the hand.
    Panasonic HDC-SD60

    The set of buttons is minimal:
    • above - a button for switching between intelligent automatic mode (iA) and manual mode (manual), an image stabilization system (OIS) mode switch, a zoom control lever and a photo snapshot button
    • behind - switching the playback, video, photo modes (IMHO is not a very convenient switch, but you need to switch not often)
    • under the LCD screen - recording, zooming, menu, lighting control and delete button
    • 3 interface connectors are hidden under the panel with the screen: HDMI, USB and AV / composite output, as well as an on / off button and a memory card slot

    Everything else is controlled through a very responsive touch screen (it will be difficult for people with thumbs to operate, but for them there is an unusual / unusual shape stylus in the kit)
    Now about the characteristics:
    Image sensor1/4 "MOS
    Lens apertureF1.8 (WIDE) / 3.3 (TELE)
    Optical zoom25x
    Compression formatMPEG4-AVC / H.264 (AVCHD standard compliant)
    Image resolution1980x1080, quality: HA (17Mbps / VBR), HG (13Mbps / VBR), HX (9Mbps / VBR), HE (5Mbps / VBR)
    Recording mediaSD / SDHC / SDXC memory card
    Weight (excluding batteries)255 gr.
    Dimensions (WxHxD)51.5 x 65.5 x 112.0 mm


    Technology


    Beautifully about the technology of this camera is written on the official website , I’ll add that I don’t lie. And almost copy-paste with pictures:

    Intelligent Zoom and Optical Image Stabilizer

    In fact, intelligent zoom is optical zoom (25x) + a bit of digital + adding sharpness in the end, the picture is the same as if there was a 35x optical zoom The
    Optical image stabilization
    optical stabilizer is updated (I don’t know what’s new), it works just fine before: we go along the gravel road , and the picture is as if we are shooting from a tripod

    Wide angle lens

    image
    This is exactly what was so lacking in the previous chamber - no longer need to push into the edge of the room to remove what is happening from this room (even wider ...)

    Familiar faces

    Familiar faces
    Most liked camera feature. The bottom line is this: we “show” the camera up to 6 people (from 1 to 3 photos per person) and shoot. In this case, the camera will automatically focus on familiar faces, and not on left passers-by. And also, if you turn on the special mode, the camera will take photos (5 megapixels) if one of these 6 people smiles. The camera stubbornly does not want to memorize animals, although sometimes it recognizes the dog's face as a face.
    Face recognition
    And if you forget who your name is, you can point the person at the camera and she will tell you how;)

    Tracking Auto Focus

    Tracking Auto Focus
    The bottom line is simple, we poke on the screen someone and the camera will focus on this object, and if a person is selected, it will adjust the brightness / contrast so that the face can be seen with maximum quality.


    Auto shooting mode / scene selection

    image
    The bottom line is simple - the camera itself will choose the most suitable shooting mode (auto, portrait, panorama, evening) depending on factors: lighting, presence of faces, focusing range

    Manual shooting mode


    The mode for those who do not trust the AI or for the conditions when this same AI begins to go crazy. Here the choice is given:
    • auto / manual focus
    • aperture / shutter speed / white balance settings
    • counterlight compensation
    • skin color alignment
    • night mode (slow shutter speed)
    • macro shooting


    Recording time


    Together with the camera, he purchased a 32 GB SDHC memory card, it allows you to record about 5 hours of video in the highest quality available (1980x1080 17 Mbps). This is all wonderful, but the battery lasts for a maximum of 2 hours of shooting, and it is not yet possible to buy additional and / or increased capacity (they are not on sale in Russia). So, if they call on the shooting of the event, you will have to take an extension cord with you =)

    Finally, about the shooting itself


    As I already said, the camera shoots with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080i), after the old miniDV camera, the picture looks just perfect: on the trees you can see twigs, on the dog you can see the fur , and on the parquet there are all scuffs . I won’t tell anything about shooting during the day, since it’s clear that the picture is beautiful, clear and juicy, hand shake does not affect the picture in any way - says Panasonic OIS's long-loved image stabilization
    So, shooting at night or in low light conditions. There are several options: use the built-in illuminator (super bright LED), use the night mode or not use anything. It makes no sense to tell, watch the video:
    Night mode
    With and without built-in light (shot at night in a closed room, the light was only a little from the street lamps)
    I didn’t use anything (about 8 pm Moscow time)
    Well, just look at our new dog


    A little bit about the photo


    As I wrote earlier, the camera itself can take photographs during shooting with a resolution of up to 5 megapixels (interpolation of course, really 3 megapixels) when there are familiar and / or smiling faces in the frame.
    The quality of the photos is rather mediocre (this is when compared with a normal camera). There is a flash, which means you can take a picture at night.

    General impressions and price


    Prior to that, I used a Panasonic NV-GS320 3-matrix miniDV camera (and even earlier mustek dv3000), a bit strained the process of transferring video from a tape to a computer. Now everything has become simpler, and the video is better (1080i vs 576i).
    And most importantly, the price: 17,490 rubles + memory card ~ 4,000 rubles (at the time of writing, the price of the camera ranged from 17,337 to 21,720 rubles)

    PS: Any questions? Ask - I will update the review as necessary.

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