Panasonic SDR-S150 - Panasonic SDR-S150

Being such a small camcorder, the SD-S150 isn't exactly blistering with ports. In fact, it only has two. The MULTI port accommodates either the headphone adapter mentioned earlier, or a break-out cable sporting composite and S-Video plus stereo RCA audio connections, although all of these are output only. The other port is USB, which allows you to import footage from the camera - although you can simply eject the SD card and use a separate card reader for this as well. With the camcorder in motion or still picture recording mode, the USB connection can also be used to turn the SD-S150 into a webcam, which is a handy bonus feature. If you're into video blogging, the Panasonic will help you upload much better quality video to the likes of YouTube than with most USB webcams.


Editing footage from the SD-S150 shouldn't pose any problems, either. Video is recorded using MOD files, which are basically MPEG-2. The MOD format has been with us for nearly four years, so is now widely supported. We tried Adobe Premiere Elements 3 and Ulead Video Studio Plus 11, and neither had any issues importing and editing the files.

Verdict

Panasonic's SDR-S150 is a curious beast in today's camcorder market. It packs decent image quality into a very handy little package, but high definition camcorders are becoming increasingly affordable. For the time being, HD models using Flash Memory for storage remain quite a bit more expensive, with Panasonic's own HDC-SD5 about the cheapest yet, and that's still some £200 dearer. So, for now, if you don't have the money or don't want to move to HD, the SDR-S150 makes a capable choice for pocket-friendly video shooting. But the days when it's worth paying over £400 for an SD camcorder are numbered.