A review of the Panasonic SD-SW20 Waterproof SD Camcorder

The Panasonic SD-SW20 Camcorder has a very modern design with its availability in red and silver and with its small and portable size. It is small enough to hold with one hand and very light with a weight of only 224g and dimensions of 115x63x34mm. There is a flip out monitor on the left side which reveals most of the controls behind it. When closed the flip monitor is tight and compact with the body.

The most impressive of the Panasonic SD-SW20's features is the Waterproof feature which allows you to use the camcorder is seawater down to a depth of 1.5m, the Shockproof features which protects from drops of up to 1.2m and it is totally dust proof. The use of SD memory card allows the SD-SW20 to be so much more portable and can be used in a wide variety of different sports activities, not only those that involve water. With less parts and mechanisms to break compared to DVD camcorders or hard disk camcorders, the Panasonic SD-SW20 is extremely robust and tough, you could even let the kids have a go with it. It also has a 10x zoom and an ultra fast start-up time of 0.6 seconds.

 

The location of the controls being underneath the flip screen, proved to be a bit of a problem for us, with the small dimensions there is no room for them to be on the back so you have to move the camcorder to the side or twist your head around it to see what your pressing. A small flaw really. The image quality was slightly let down by the CCD and images were ok but slightly grainy and lost slight detail. Battery life was good and lasted for a good hour of shooting if not more.

 

The Panasonic SD-SW20 is a great waterproof, shockproof and dust-proof camcorder and provides all you need for the outdoor sporting holidays such as snowboarding or shallow snorkeling, with image quality slightly compromised. Its good value and easy to use too.