Panasonic SDR-H60 60 GB Hard Drive Camcorder with 50x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Ranking: 7.7 out of 10
Manufacturer: Panasonic
Model Number: SDR-H60
Product Code: 037988256419
Price: $549.95 -- get the latest pricing from Amazon
Features:
- Capture video to hard disk drive; 60 GB storage for up to 54 hours of footage
- 50x optical zoom
- Anti-Shock Shield for hard drive protection
- Panasonic's Advanced Mega OIS technology
- Compatible with SD/SDHC memory cards
Buy it now at Amazon!
Description:
The SDR-H60's 50x optical zoom lens has the power you need to take dramatic close-ups or get remarkable shots of even distant subjects. Panasonic's Advanced Optical Image Stabilization (O.I.S.) suppresses the effects of handshake as you shoot. The system uses gyro sensors to detect handshake, then shifts a lens and adjusts the optical axis to compensate. The SDR-H60's 60GB internal hard disk drive lets you record continuously for up to 54 hours in LP mode without changing a disc, tape or other recording media. Panasonic's Anti-Shock Shield helps protect recorded video data from damage due to jolts and impact. The Drop Detect function senses if the camera is falling and moves the head away from the hard disk. You can transfer the motion-image data from the SD card or the camcorder's hard drive right to your PC using your USB port. With the included VideoCam Suite 1.0 software, you can easily put scenes in a different order and delete the ones you don't want. Advanced OIS Optical Image Stabilization Focal Length - 1.8 - 90 mm 35mm Film Camera Equivalent - 40.9-2046 mm [4 - 3], 33.4-1607 mm [16 - 9] Motion Image, and 40.7-2036 mm [4 - 3]/33.2-1658 mm [16 - 9] Still Picture White Balance - Auto, Indoor, Outdoor, and White Set with IR Sensor High Speed Shutter - 1/30-1/8000 (Motion Image), 1/30-1/500 (Still Picture) Backlight Compensation LCD Monitor - 2.7 Wide (123,200 Dots) Pure Color Engine Soft-Skin Mode Easy-to-Use Mode Dial MagicPix Images Microphone Stereo Zoom Wind Noise Reduction Date Recording - Auto Date in Date Code Quick Start - 0.6 secondsGet more product details from Amazon
User Reviews -- Add a new review for this Product
Excellent camera, excellent quality, but hard to convert!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 6.5 out of 10
Created: Jul 31, 2008
Thanks for your feedback
This HDD camera is outstanding and wonderful when you are recording moments in your life. I have had this camera for over a year and used it to film two conventions and other events. I think this camera films beautifully, it is the converting that can drive you crazy. The software that comes with this camera stinks and you will end up buying other software to convert the footage you recorded. I decided to buy AVSmedia, which converts my footage to anything version I ask it to (MPEG, MPEG4, AVI, etc.) Panasonic is not to be fully blamed, though they could have included better software. Otherwise, you will love this camera to death!
Great Camcorder, easy to use!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 6.1 out of 10
Created: Sep 13, 2008
Thanks for your feedback
This camcorder is great, it is my first dive into the consumer video world and so far I am pretty impressed. The zoom is killer, the ease of use is great. I am a tech so I did not feel the need to install the built in software since I feel that the bundled software stinks, that goes for most consumer products. I filmed a couple of videos, plugged the camera into my pc, and voila! There they were, ready for me to watch and/or edit using any software I wished to use. This process took approximately 10 seconds. For those wondering my setup consists of Windows Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 1, but I imagine if I plugged it into xp or the other versions of vista, I would get similar results. The editing software I used is Adobe Premiere elements 4.0, although I am confident that if I plugged the videos into the built in video maker, I would not run into any problems as the format is pretty standard.
br /
br /I only write this review because I feel some of these low ratings are unwarranted. The camera itself is great, and although the picture quality could use some improvement (then again I have not played with all the settings yet) I think this is a great camera for a lower budget, the only real improvement I could see by going to another camera is if a High Definition camera is purchased.
br /
br /Hope this review helps.
br /
br /I only write this review because I feel some of these low ratings are unwarranted. The camera itself is great, and although the picture quality could use some improvement (then again I have not played with all the settings yet) I think this is a great camera for a lower budget, the only real improvement I could see by going to another camera is if a High Definition camera is purchased.
br /
br /Hope this review helps.
Great camera, bad software
Rating: 3 out of 5
Weight: 5.4 out of 10
Created: Aug 17, 2008
Thanks for your feedback
I don't know who came up with the video processing software for this item but they should go back to school. The manual claims to not guarantee that it will work and they were right. I use Windows XP service pack 3 and it only works with Vista or service pack 2. You have to make sure any other program is closed and even then trying to transfer a video to DVD took me a couple of hours becauses I had to keep restarting the program. that said, I am still trying to figure out a way to make it work because the camera is so easy to use and the functions are great. So, a double edged review from me.
Simple to use, great price
Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 3.4 out of 10
Created: Dec 12, 2008
Thanks for your feedback
I bought this camera based on a Consumer REports recommendation. IT is a great product, small, light and very simple to use. Simple functions makes it easy to use by everyone.
br /
br /I just wish it had a Flash for its still picture function. It doesnt include a memory stick, it should.
br /
br /
br /I just wish it had a Flash for its still picture function. It doesnt include a memory stick, it should.
br /
Excellent Camcorder
Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 3.4 out of 10
Created: Nov 30, 2008
Thanks for your feedback
Excellent Camcorder for the price, got it few days from 6th ave. Did lot of research and decided on this. Upgraded from Panasonic MINI-DV. Seen people complain about the software, but I found it good software. But you have to upgrade it from panasonic web site, go to support and upgrade the software and you will have the latest software for the product.
br /
br /Pros: Small size, nice optical zoom, BIG hard drive
br /Cons: Video quality little grainy in low light, but all camcorders in this price have the same issue
br /
br /Pros: Small size, nice optical zoom, BIG hard drive
br /Cons: Video quality little grainy in low light, but all camcorders in this price have the same issue
Great Little Camcorder
Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 3.4 out of 10
Created: Jul 6, 2008
Thanks for your feedback
This was great for our recent vacation. The size is so convenient. We were also interested in automatic adjustment for the sun and it performed wonderfully. We have only used it for a short period but so far it is what we wanted.
Works for us!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 3.2 out of 10
Created: Dec 18, 2008
Thanks for your feedback
We bought this camera to capture life with our new baby girl. So far, it has worked great. It seems to hold a charge for quite some time (we haven't ran the battery dead yet) and is very easy to operate. I was able to upload our videos to our PC with no problem.
br /
br /I know the big complaint has been the accompanying video editing software, but we're not "techie" folks, so we will likely never even attempt to use that software.
br /
br /I do wholeheartedly recommend buying and using a SD card with any camera; if you store only to the HD and something happens to that HD, you're out of luck completely, whereas with the SD card, you may be out whatever was on the card (which is why you should upload frequently), but at least you can get a new card.
br /
br /I know the big complaint has been the accompanying video editing software, but we're not "techie" folks, so we will likely never even attempt to use that software.
br /
br /I do wholeheartedly recommend buying and using a SD card with any camera; if you store only to the HD and something happens to that HD, you're out of luck completely, whereas with the SD card, you may be out whatever was on the card (which is why you should upload frequently), but at least you can get a new card.
The camera sucks!!
Rating: 1 out of 5
Weight: 3.0 out of 10
Created: Dec 24, 2008
Thanks for your feedback
Still photos look awful. Poor quality, dark, washed out. Details are hilarious. And the movies are recorded in a proprietary format which makes it very difficult to share. For whatever reason, each video has three files: one for video, one for audio, and one for who knows what?
br /
br /DOES NOT RECORD IN ANY STANDRD VIDEO FORMAT!!!
br /
br /I regret buying this piece of garbage.
br /
br /People who are giving this a good review either have low standards, or know nothing about what constitutes a good camera.
br /
br /
br /DOES NOT RECORD IN ANY STANDRD VIDEO FORMAT!!!
br /
br /I regret buying this piece of garbage.
br /
br /People who are giving this a good review either have low standards, or know nothing about what constitutes a good camera.
br /
Great Camcorder -- Terrible Software
Rating: 3 out of 5
Weight: 2.8 out of 10
Created: Sep 7, 2008
Thanks for your feedback
We haven't had the H60 very long, but so far the camcorder is meeting our expectations. The VideoCam Suite 1.0 software is another story...a story of frustration and disappointment. The software has a number of serious flaws:
br /* License agreement allows for installation only "on a single camera at a single location." My wife and I use different PCs for photo-related processing, so that's a problem.
br /* The user interface and editing procedures are anything but intuitive. I spent several hours yesterday trying to figure out how to do simple edits. I work with software everyday of my life. VideoCam Suite is among the worst software I've encountered. Maybe things will improve with practice, but at this point, I'm not a happy camper.
br /* The camcorder manual basically says that you MUST use this software to process images recorded on this camcorder--no other software will work. So far that appears to be true. Did Panasonic come up with a proprietary file format?!? I'm still trying to find a work around for that flaw..
br /
br /This is my first camcorder, so maybe I would have run into these problems with a different manufacturer, too. In summary, it's a very nice camcorder with typical Panasonic quality. But they really messed up by using what appears to be a proprietary file format and very lame, mandatory software.
br /* License agreement allows for installation only "on a single camera at a single location." My wife and I use different PCs for photo-related processing, so that's a problem.
br /* The user interface and editing procedures are anything but intuitive. I spent several hours yesterday trying to figure out how to do simple edits. I work with software everyday of my life. VideoCam Suite is among the worst software I've encountered. Maybe things will improve with practice, but at this point, I'm not a happy camper.
br /* The camcorder manual basically says that you MUST use this software to process images recorded on this camcorder--no other software will work. So far that appears to be true. Did Panasonic come up with a proprietary file format?!? I'm still trying to find a work around for that flaw..
br /
br /This is my first camcorder, so maybe I would have run into these problems with a different manufacturer, too. In summary, it's a very nice camcorder with typical Panasonic quality. But they really messed up by using what appears to be a proprietary file format and very lame, mandatory software.
If I only would have known about the editing software!
Rating: 2 out of 5
Weight: 1.8 out of 10
Created: Sep 29, 2008
Thanks for your feedback
I am rating this a 2 only because you HAVE TO use the lousy software that comes with it.I would like to say that J. Henry said all that was going through my head. I don't have the patience for this...if I could just convince my hubby to try the comparable Sony we were looking at....it just didn't seem to be as user friendly....that might be something I can learn to deal with and overcome! Great Camera, lousy software and no way around it!