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I bought the camcorder MAINLY for its 70x optical zoom. I'm a UFO hunter and the one necessary requirement is to get as close to the faraway object as possible. Most UFO footage is not of a clear object because the zoom is not adequate to examine detail so what you see on forums and YouTube is usually blurry blobs. But with a 70x optical zoom you should be able to see aliens looking out of their portholes! However, it is still amazing that videographers still wind up with something, especially night footage. I hadn't seen an actual Panasonic SDR-S26 so when I received it I was surprised by its small size and I thought that would be a problem for my big hands but, fortunately, I was able to wrap my fingers around its tiny body and operate the controls without too much trouble. I'm an old 35mm SLR person and I have to have a viewfinder for full confidence that I'm going to be able to record whatever I'm looking at through the viewfinder, using my free eye to center the object in the viewfinder. This camcorder, as well as most modern models, does not have a viewfinder, you're on your own using the flip-out LCD screen which is widescreen as opposed to a more square screen (4:3). However, in the past using older camcorders I found out that even having a viewfinder is not necessarily a solution for the viewfinder has to be able to resolve small objects and some viewfinders just couldn't do it. I tested the camcorder by videotaping whatever was flying over NYC from airplanes to helicopters to birds. Let me tell you that my first attempts were totally disappointing as I was not able to find the object on the screen before it flew out of range. In order to be more successful you have to open the view to wideangle and then zoom in, a tricky thing. UFOs are usually small objects so seeing them with naked eyes is a challenge. Then to try to find it on the LCD screen and zoom in trying to hold the camcorder as steady as you can is going to be the ultimate challenge. So, I've resigned myself to just having the camcorder with me in case I witness something out of the ordinary and I don't have to get close to videotape whatever the action is. The other night, as Jupiter was visible with the Moon nearby, I decided to see if I could record them. Total failure for Jupiter as the camcorder could not focus on the tiny light dot so that when I zoomed in on it Jupiter just became a bigger, blurry blob. I then turned to the Moon and after stabilizing myself against a building wall I was able to hold a mostly steady shot as I zoom in on various parts of the Moon. But at no time was I able to see a razor-sharp image on the screen. I thought that when I played the footage on my computer screen it would be different but it wasn't. It was impressive footage because of the magnification but Moon craters and marias just were not worth the effort. So, while this camcorder can be appreciated by those who do not have my needs, and I haven't used it to its full potential, thanks to its small size I'll be able to have it with me at all times to again, catch that possibly once-in-a-lifetime event which I'll then sell the footage to the news and buy myself a Mosrite The Ventures bass!Read full review
What I like about this camera is the 70x zoom, the quality of the picture and how easy it is to transfer videos using the sd card. I dislike the editing software that comes with it I don't understand it much. The videos are in MOI form so I had to download a converter to change type to wmv so I could use windows movie maker software to edit instead. But I love this camera :)
The Camera has many good features to control the quality of the pictures.The battery does not hold a charge for a long time.However,the Camera is not very expenive and is worth the price.I recommend that you buy an extra battery.They are cheap on Ebay.
I love the small compact size. It is easy to hook up to the TV for review. I bought an extra battery to make sure I can have hours of recording
works good easy to use nice features such as ois stabilizing system.looks great pretty fancy case real light weight