 Best Sellers | |
Home Panasonic HDC-SD800K 3 MOS Twin Memory 3D Compatible Camcorder (Black) | |
|  | |  | | | Panasonic HDC-SD800K 3 MOS Twin Memory 3D Compatible Camcorder (Black) | | | | | | | |
List Price:
| | |
You Save:
| | |
*Shipping:
| |
| | | SKU:
PANAS-HDCSD800K | | Availability:
Out of stock | | |
|
| | Features | Advanced 3MOS sensor systemHYBRID O.I.S image stabilization2D & 3D video capture capabilitySDXC/SDHC/SD Memory Card Recording
| |
| | Description | The Panasonic HDC-SD800 High Definition Camcorder is a high-end HD offering from Panasonic. Right off the bat a few of the camera's most desirable features include: 1920 x 1080/60p recording, an SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card slot, the option to record in 3D and a quality image sensor system. These features alone give you detailed, beautiful images, a plethora of recording space and the ability to shoot fun and unique movies in 3D with an optional lens. Panasonic's proprietary '3MOS' is a 3 sensor CMOS that adds up to 9.15MP (3 x 3.05MP). These sensors work together with another Panasonic technology, Crystal Engine PRO. This engine is a fast processor which writes those gigantic HD files to the HDD or SD card quickly and efficiently. It also allows for high-res zooming when exceeding the optical range. In addition, the engine works to reduce image noise, rendering beautiful, like-like images. These two work together to produce 1080/60p footage. The "p" means progressive; when recording in a progressive frame rate the footage captures is more vibrant and detailed than even "i", or interlaced, HD recording. Of course the sensor and engine wouldn't be able to do their job without a high-quality lens. The SD800 comes with a 35mm Leica Dicomar lens that sports a 3.45-41.4mm focal length, 12x optical zoom range, 46mm filter diameter and a 1.5-2.8 f/stop. Lens can zoom up to 20x using the Intelligent Zoom; and it features a manual ring for more control and creativity with your shooting. Another way in which the camera works to create clean video is with HYBRID O.I.S. (optical image stabilization). This O.I.S. keeps your shots steady when hand-holding the camera. It reduces the effects of hand-shake for an easy-to-view, clean shot. Other useful tools of the camera include a 3.0" touch screen LCD. This screen provides you with options like, "Touch Zoom" and "Touch Shutter". The zoom function allows you to zoom in by dragging your finger across | |
| | Product Details | | Product Weight: | 3.0 pounds | | Package Length: | 7.5 inches | | Package Width: | 5.4 inches | | Package Height: | 4.2 inches | | Package Weight: | 2.35 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 22 reviews |
| |
| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 22 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 46 found the following review helpful:
 Very Happy With This Camcorder Jun 28, 2011
By DAVID W SHENK
"Julian Dave"
I had no intention of buying a camcorder over $450, however, after viewing test videos on youtube, I was sold on this one. Video from this camera is STUNNING. Some lower priced camcorders have very decent video as well, but lack something that this one has. I previously had a Canon Elura 90 DV tape standard definition camcorder. I had had it with the tapes and wanted to record family videos in HD, even though we don't yet have an HDTV. We will upgrade at some point, and I want as many videos as possible to look nice.
Some of it's best features include:
* Low light sensitivity - the nemesis of virtually all lower-priced camcorders and many camcorders in general. This one seems to do excellent in low light.
* Image stabilization - WOW! it really works on this camcorder. It uses a hybrid between optical and electronic stabilization and, as some of the test youtube videos show, it really works well. So well that I would consider not using a tripod or monopod much of the time.
* Video quality - it does 1080/60p, but I don't think I'll be using that setting at this point. In it's normal 1080/60i mode, the 'HA' quality setting is 17mbps and looks great. Note: I did test videos at all of the quality settings and had the software dump them to a DVD for viewing on our standard def TV. Couldn't really see a difference, but watching them on the computer monitor, yes there is a difference.
* Included software - I have to say I am pleasantly surprised that the included software is very easy to use, seems to do the basic editing and conversion, and doesn't crash. It will burn to Blueray (don't have one) or downconvert the video and put it on DVD. It will also allow you to edit video and just save it back as .mt2s files. I have a Western Digital media player that will play these files, so I think I will be archiving family video on an external hard drive and watching them on the WD. No disc burning is fine with me. I also still have a standard TV and can watch these files without having to have an HDTV. When we do upgrade, these videos will look great.
* Flash for still photos - I'm shocked. I took some photos of my kids in a completely dark room, and it looks like daytime in the photo. How that tiny flash lights up a room like that I don't know. Even illumination edge to edge. No darkness at all near the edges. I have not yet compared the image quality with an 8MP Canon DSLR I have.
Features I'm neutral on:
* "Wide angle" 35mm - Yes, this is better than a lot of other camcorders, but to me, true wide angle is 28mm or less. You can get an adapter to go wider, but another thing to fool with.
* Battery life - It's still a new camera to me, but battery life does not seem to be as long as one would like. I tried some time-lapse recording, and the battery seemed to be used up almost as fast as if I had been recording the entire time.
* Size - I actually was thinking this camcorder would be a little smaller than it was. It just depends on what you're use to. It really is fairly small.
* Which model is it? - Amazon lists it as a HDC-SD800K, box that came just says HDC-SD800, camera says HDC-SD800, manual with camera says HDC-SD800P. Most videos on youtube are listed as HDC-SD800.
The negatives:
* Batteries - This is a new camera and has a newly designed battery. No generics are available as of this review writing. That means $70+ for a second low capacity Panasonic battery.
* Printed manual - I guess I shouldn't complain, at least it comes with a printed manual. But, unlike the Amazon ad that explains that in Cinema Mode, the camera switches to 1080/24p, the manual seems to be "dumbed down" and says that Cinema Mode gives you that movie or film quality. No other details. There are several areas where the manual could give you something to work with, but for some reason, feel the details would just confuse you. This leaves you searching around in the back of the manual for what a setting really does.
* Amazon lists this as "Twin Memory". It is not. It has one SD card slot. No other memory.
EVERYONE should look at test videos posted on youtube for any camcorder you are considering buying. Watch the videos at 720p or higher. Look in the shadows. Look in areas of motion. Apparently some people are not as picky as I am because comments on a video that looked terrible were "Wow! great looking video!".
Summary - Excellent camera if you can spend the money. You will have to buy at least one more battery at considerable cost. This probably won't be an issue in the future as generics should pop up.
UPDATE 12-12-2011
ACCESSORIES
I'm still very happy with this camcorder. I use it with a Transcend 32 GB Class SDHC 10 Flash Memory Card TS32GSDHC10E and have never had a problem. I use a Lowepro Digital Video Case 30 for Camcorders (Black) if I film the kids at the park or otherwise just need protection for the camera. It is very compact, but literally has room for nothing but the camera. Not even a spare battery. Great for putting on your belt if you're walking around and filming here and there, but don't need to bring everything with you.
I also bought the less-expensive of the two wide angle lens converters from Panasonic. I don't think they sell it on Amazon. Something like this is really a must for most people. If you do any filming in your house or other confined areas, you need it. I initially bought a generic one from the auction site and although it mounted on the camera just fine, when you move the camera around, the optics inside the camera move some to stabilize the image. This movement caused clipping of the edges of the video frame, ie you could see the adapter shading the sides of the image. I would go with Panasonic on this accessory.
The more expensive wide-angle adapter allows you to zoom the entire range while being in focus and goes to 24mm, but is quite a bit bigger, heavier and costly. The less-expensive one can zoom to about X3 and goes to 28mm, but it's more portable and I thought easier to use on a daily basis. I won't cry if it gets damaged.
COMPATIBILITY
There still seem to be issues with camcorders like this that produce .M2T or .M2TS files and what you can do with them. I've used Adobe Premiere Elements in the past for editing. I tried the latest version 10 that supports these files. It will save them back in the native format, but makes the file twice as large for some reason. They are large to begin with. I had it upload to youtube and the result was terrible. I haven't done much youtube stuff, so maybe it's me. The software that comes with the camera does basic editing just fine, just nothing fancy, and keeps the files small when it saves them.
AUTO WHITE BALANCE
My only negative (that really matters) after using the camera for 5 months or so is this. I find that it hunts around for the correct level, going way too cool then back warm again then back to cool, and does this unpredictably. Not all the time, but enough that it is annoying and ruins the video you are currently shooting. This usually only happens when filming inside. I have found that if I'm shooting in daylight, I lock it there and it isn't a problem. It's too bad, but using the white balance in manual mode is recommended.
I did connect this camera up to an HDTV at a friends house. The video quality is outstanding. Others in the room were saying "What type of camera is that?" and "WOW!" I'm willing to live with its few quirks. The end product is beautiful video, and that's the point.
28 of 28 found the following review helpful:
great almost Pro camera! Jul 25, 2011
By Daniel Meek
I had been waiting a long time to find a camera with high visual fidelity without all of the consumer oriented junk that comes with most home cameras, and this is it. I will go from the most annoying problems/features, and move up from there.
Color Quality:
The 3 CMOS sensors (3MOS they call it) does an excellent job at color accuracy. However, the auto white balance will occasionally decide that it is time to shake things up and pick some random and incorrect white balance, but this is easily avoided by using one of the presets, or by taping the auto white balance button which will check the white balance, and then lock it at that setting. You may still want to use the auto white balance if you are moving from room to room, or from inside to outside, but in general I would avoid it. I have never seen a 'consumer' grade camera have color accuracy that looks so true to life! Just look up youtube videos of what this camera can do! Same recording setup, so this will do the same quality as the 900 series versions.
Exposure:
The automatic settings for the exposure are a bit slow, and not drastic enough when moving between light and dark areas. In some cases this is a good thing, as when you are in a relatively controlled environment and you don't want it messing with you (which I like), but many home users will be annoyed by this. The camera does support Zebra Striping, but only at 99%+, when you really want it at about 80%. Somewhere between 85-90% the scene is over exposed, and color begins to wash out, or sometimes bleed together. The exposure controls are easy to adjust, and the screen on the camera is of good enough quality to notice the problem, and there are tools like a histogram and a central box with an exposure rating so that you can know exactly what is going on with your scene (in fact there are so many great tools built into the camera that I am not going to get into all of them, but it is a breath of fresh air for those who know how to use them!).
Lens:
This is perhaps the last weak point that I have found on the camera. The lens seems cheap (which is to be expected), and because it is a consumer camera it cannot be replaced. The zoom works great, and has a nice variable speed to it. The problem of it's cheapness comes when things are out of focus and the way out of focus objects look. On a nice lens you can do many creative things with off focus camera work, things out of focus here just look bad. Again, this does not effect things in focus, and they look sharp and wonderful!
Motion:
The standard FPS on this camera is 30FPS, which is quite nice, and makes motion look very good. Most pans look clean and sharp, and when you do move too fast the motion blur is quite natural looking, and minimal instead of being sharp and choppy. I took the camera on a driving test, and did notice that it was difficult to read street signs as you pass them, but things in the center 60% of the screen where perfectly clear and clean. Also, the motion stabilization is astounding! The hybrid stabilization is wonderful, and when you need more there is a menu button to press and hold which basically makes the image stay as still as possible (though the image quality seem to be hurt by this). I have shaky hands and usually use a tripod (which this has the standard hookups for), but I may venture to hold it more because I know that it works so well.
Audio:
While the big brother 900 series cameras come with surround sound, the little SD800K sports stereo. Personally I didn't want surround sound as I believe it to be a gimmick on a camera (how on earth are you supposed to get 5 channels of separation on a device this small? It is impossible!), and I have been pleased with the overall quality and reproduction of sound on the microphone. The wind filter works great, the camera does not try and compress the sound so you get a vibrant hi fidelity sound with relatively quiet noises still audible in loud environments, and the zoom mic feature works as expected. Personally I do most audio in post, but it is nice to know that there is a solid mic system if I needed it.
Screen and Menus:
I love it! My largest hesitation of buying this camera is its reliance on touch, but I really wanted the 3MOS, and just about everyone is on a touch system these days. My fingers are quite fat and callous, and I hate HATE smart phones and laptop touch-pads because they do not listen to my fingers well. This screen allows you to push into the screen a bit, is very responsive, and doesn't feel like I am going to damage or dirty the screen by using it. The menu system took a little bit to figure out, but is already 2nd nature after just one day. Most controls you need while recording are available by just taping the menu, and then right once, and it gives you access to white balance, focus, shutter, and iris. The touch focus is surprisingly effective, no replacement for a true manual focus, but it is not bad. The rest of the menu system is laid out in a logical order, and it is easy to find things. Only complaint is that some of the icons are less than iconic, and I had to look them up in the manual to figure out what they were.
Technical Specs, and other things of interest:
Battery life gets about 1.5 hours as advertised, and there is a large battery (way overpriced at the moment) which can bump it up to about 2.5-3 hours. There is also an equally overpriced external battery charger available.
There are 3 basic shooting modes: IFRAME which is a fully key-framed nearly uncompressed mac standard, but I found to be of poor quality (I believe this is the fault of my memory card, but the compression on the other modes is quite good so it is fine), Standard 1080P at 30FPS with various levels of compression (just stick with HA mode and all will be nice and clean, the lower quality modes degrade quickly), and 1080P 60FPS which my memory cards were surprisingly fast enough for but my computer is not. I will note here that the 1080/60 mode is used and required for 3D recording (30FPS per eye) and you must have a fast enough memory card for this to work properly, but from what I have read the 3D isn't all it is cracked up to be yet. However, 60FPS looks great if you have a device fast enough to play it back! I have a core2duo paired with a 9800GT, and cannot play back 60FPS material smoothly in this format (but it played back beautifully in H264 at 60FPS), but next year when I upgrade the PC all should be well (GT580 here I come!)
There is in fact only one SD card slot. The description says there are 2, and it is simply wrong. Pay a little extra and get fast memory. SD card memory ratings are a little less than reputable, so go to newegg or a similar site and read reviews of actual speeds. For full quality 1080/30 you will want no less than 17MBps. I went with some PNY Professional memory rated at 20, and reviews say it does about 18. I bought 2 32GB cards which is plenty of space for what I do, and it kept up with the 60FPS recording which writes at 24MBps, so I am quite satisfied with it.
The recording format is 1080P 30FPS and runs on a modified AVCHD codec. The software that came with the camera did not recognize this format (and it is supposed to be able to edit footage from this camera lol). My good old Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 was unable to open the file so I download the trial for CS 5.5 and it worked fine, so I guess it is finally time to upgrade. Windows Media Player (whatever version is built into Win7) plays back perfectly, but QuickTime and VLC did not. Even the God-like powers of AVSp (a great program for video cleanup, pre-production, and file/color-space conversion) was thwarted and could not open my clips. When editing in Premiere 5.5 I had no problems with key-framing issues on things like fades or other cues, which is a huge problem with many low end cameras and strange video codecs, so that was a relief.
The AVCHD format was quick and easy to edit with in Premiere 5.5, but as it is modified from the standard it seems to confuse a lot of software. Rendering on my C2D 2.6GHz, 4GB Ram, 9800GT card, took about 7.5 min of rendering time for every minute of video in 1080/30, I went to lunch while rendering the 1080/60 so I do not know how long that took, but suffice to say a Sandy Bridge i5 paired with 8+GB of ram and a GT460+ video card should be used for editing. I am holding out for ivy bridge for my upgrade and will just have to deal with the slow rendering time for now.
In conclusion, while this is the little brother (or perhaps red headed step child) of the 900 series cameras, it has the same video quality and punch as the high end cameras with a much lower price tag, while sacrificing very little. Personally I am a fan of removable media because if the media dies then you replace the media instead of the camera. I believe the surround sound on the upper cameras is a joke, and stereo is just fine. This has the same exact CCD array, and is just as good if paired with fast enough memory. In short, buy this camera, it is great and a dream to work with. If I had the money I might spring for the version with the internal HDD for higher quality iFRAME recording, but that was out of the price range when considering the need for updating the PC and Adobe suite. It is not a pro quality camera in its feature set, but the video quality is comparable, so I would suggest it for those just getting into upper end equipment but do not want to commit $2500+ on a 'professional' camera yet. The lack of accurate auto color balance, and poor auto exposure would make this camera annoying for those who are clueless on how to adjust manual settings.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 Definitely Recommended... Jul 20, 2011
By all_about_soil
This camcorder has too many pros. It is very easy to use first of all. It also has very good image stabilization and picture quality. It works very well in low light which I find as the biggest pitfall for many of the camcorders I have used so far.
The zoom range is very attractive and the image quality still holds even at those "higher" zoom levels. I am making videos of my 2-year-old daughter and we love the performance of this camcorder. Its relatively light-weight makes it easier to use during events (such as graduations, weddings, etc) and/or outdoors.
The battery is the biggest problem with this unit, but if you buy a spare one as I did, you will be good to go. Overall, we love this camera and highly recommend to anybody who is interested in a decent mid-level camcorder.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Great camera, good features, BUT OOPS......! Aug 04, 2011
By Randy Ripplinger
"randyrip"
I have worked in television for 21 years and now produce video for a public agency. I purchased the HDC-SD800 because Panasonic eliminated all the useless frills on the higher-priced models. This camera has the same lens, MOS chip, and useful features needed, but at a much lower price.
BUT OOPS.....!
Even at this writing Amazon advertises this camera as a "Twin Chip" camera. Sorry, not so! There is only one chip slot on the camera. I was disappointed because that limits my ability to shoot longer performances, etc. I am keeping the camera, but I wish Amazon would remunerate customers who bought this camera because of the "Twin Chip" advertisement.
(BTW, I belatedly learned that the Panasonic website makes no allusions to "twin chips.")
173 of 248 found the following review helpful:
 Warning--Wait to buy this camcorder!! Apr 30, 2011
By H. Macarthur
"Turkishtaffy2"
Panasonic makes great products and the new HDC-SD800K is no exception. It delivers as promised in full 1080/60p. However I give Panasonic an overall poor rating for launching this new unit without availability of key accessories. First, Panasonic has made a design change to the battery from the previous model (TM700K), and I have to admit it does perform better. However, the newly designed battery VW-VBN130 and high capacity VBN 260 are not available!! I specifically bought this camera for my son's wedding, and only have the battery that came with it. This will give me only 1hr of recording time. After corresponding about this situation with Panasonic they first told the accessory battery would not be available for several months. They then told me the battery for the TM700K would work in the 800k, so I ordered two of the VBG-260's. But guess what....Panasonic was wrong. The old model battery VBG-260 does not fit the 800K. Then, I went as far asking if they had a loaner VBN-130 or 260 to get me through the wedding, but they said, " they don't do that." So much for customer service, and being a loyal Panasonic customer (I own two Viera plasmas, cordless telephones, two blue ray players, and I thought they would have at least made an effort to help. But no. Their customer support is very inflexible and as such I got a canned response. I never would have expected this from a world class company like Panasonic). So, I then went to the internet and could not find the VBN-260, except at Amazon UK, however they wont ship to a US address. And, of course B&H has it, but they are charging full price , $168each!
Second, the only way to charge the battery is while it is mounted on the camcorder, unlike the old TM700K that comes with an off-camera charger. What a design blunder. Doesn't Panasonic realize they had a great set up with the 700K? The off-camera charger made it possible to charge a spare battery while using the camcorder. And, to boot the new accessory battery charger BP20 is, guess what....also not available!! Panasonic, you have totally blown this product launch. My advice to anyone interested in this otherwise fine camcorder is to wait 4-6 months until spare batteries, and the stand alone charge is available. Amazon, you shouldn't carry a new line until CRITICAL accessories like spare batteries are available. PEOPLE, DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT NOW!!
See all 22 customer reviews on Amazon.com
| |
| |
| |  | |  |
|
Recently Viewed
| You may also like ...
|
