Enhanced Optical 78x Zoom with Advanced O.I.S. and new Active Mode

Despite their small size, these new camcorder models are equipped with an incredible 70x optical zoom lens, incorporating high quality optics as well as an Enhanced Optical 78x Zoom function that uses the effective area of the CCD to further extend their zooming power at the wide-angle setting. The user can capture beautiful images of sweeping landscapes and pull in distant subjects for impressive close-ups.

To combat the effects of hand-shake, which becomes increasingly noticeable at the high magnification zoom range, Panasonic has incorporated Advanced O.I.S to suppress hand-shake and provide clear zoom shots without degradation. The Advanced O.I.S uses gyrosensors to detect and correct hand-shake at a rate of 4,000 times per second. This superb correction performance is critical for a high zoom lens and provides smooth, steady images while zooming, without any loss of quality. Plus, the addition of a new Active Mode produces clear, sharp images even when shooting while walking.

33mm Wide-Angle Lens

The 33mm wide-angle setting is especially convenient when shooting video indoors or in tight spaces. It makes it possible to shoot at a close distance from the subject while fitting both the subject and the surrounding area into the frame. As the operator is able to be physically closer to the subject, the voice of the subject can be clearly recorded, which is an important aspect in video recordings. The new wide-angle setting allows users to capture beautiful, wide landscapes and large groups of people in the frame, making it highly versatile in all kinds of situations.

Intelligent Auto with new AF/AE Trackingand Intelligent Contrast Control

The Intelligent Auto (iA) function, which automatically selects the most suitable shooting mode, has evolved even further. It now includes an AF/AE Tracking feature that tracks a moving subject to ensure that it continues to be recorded in optimal focus and exposure settings, even if the subject moves or turns to one side. This keeps the AF/AE settings constantly optimised for sharp, clear images of a moving subject.

Alongside the new iA AF/AE Tracking, a new Intelligent Contrast Control feature that automatically adjusts brightness to maintain the best possible contrast, has also been added to the five advanced functions from previous models, including Face Detection, Advanced O.I.S., and Intelligent Scene Selector. Each is activated as required by simply pressing the iA button to capture beautiful images under virtually all shooting situations.

SD Card Recording

The SDR-S50 records onto SDXC/SDHC/SD Memory Cards (sold separately) so has fewer moving parts, making it highly resilient to external impact. With its small size and lightweight design, the SDR-S50 is ultra-portable for take-anywhere convenience to capture your memories anytime, anywhere. With VIERA Image Viewer, you can play back video recordings simply by inserting a SDHC/SD memory card into a Panasonic VIERA TV[i] for dynamic, large screen viewing, without a PC or external playback device.

New Wind Noise Canceller feature

A new feature in 2010, Wind Noise Canceller automatically isolates and suppresses wind noise only, to help ensure natural ambient sounds and voices are still recorded.

iMovie - Mac Compatible

The SDR-S50 works with iMovie editing software

New Long Recording Mode(H.264/AVC)

In addition to the conventional MPEG-2 (XP/SP/LP mode) recording format, the new models support the H.264/AVC (LXP/LSP/LLP mode) format with its higher compression ratio. The H.264/AVC format records up to 106 hours and 40 minutes of movie images (in LLP mode)[i], which is nearly double that of the MPEG-2 format, while maintaining the same high image quality as MPEG-2. This eliminates the worry of running out of recording space when using a small-capacity SD Memory Card. The H.264/AVC format's excellent compatibility with PCs also allows video clips to be played and saved on a PC, or uploaded to websites such as YouTube[ii]. Video clips can also be transferred to Apple's Mac computer with the iMovie application. By using the VideoCam Suite software that is supplied with the camcorder and a DVD burner (optional), video clips can be converted to MPEG-2 and saved onto a DVD disc.

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