Panasonic SDR-H80 review

What you need to know

Reviewed by: Joshua Goldman

Reviewed on: 25 June 2009

Tags: Panasonic, Panasonic SDR-H80, zoom lens, hard drive, Web sites

We like:

Full manual controls; 60GB hard drive; 70x optical zoom with stabilisation

We don't like:

Mediocre video quality; USB and power input are located behind the battery

CNET UK judgement:

The Panasonic SDR-H80 has the zoom power of a telescope and offers plenty of storage in a compact body, but the video results aren't nearly as thrilling

Full review:

The Panasonic SDR-H80 is a standard-definition camcorder with a 60GB hard drive for storing up to 14 hours of its highest-quality MPEG-2 video. There's also an SD/SDHC card slot on the side for adding even more storage. But the H80's main attraction is its ridiculously long 70x zoom lens, which, as you can imagine, gets you very close to your subject while you're very far away. Thankfully, there's optical image stabilisation, but there's no amount of stabilisation that's going to prevent this lens from shaking when fully extended. The H80 also sports quite a compact body. It's too bad Panasonic couldn't make room for some better video quality. Continue Reading...