It goes underwater; small, sleek design
Fiddly controls; average video quality
Spare batteries
The cool factor of waterproof gadgets is high, even when there's a subsequent trade-off in performance, as is the case with the Panasonic SDR-SW20. Anyone going any deeper than snorkel depth will need to look elsewhere, but at least the price reflects the compromises made for that cheerily tough exterior
6.1 Good
Reviewed by Rich Trenholm
Anyone who's ever dropped their mobile phone in their pint will appreciate waterproofing. While you can't really drop it in your Carlsberg, the rugged Panasonic SDR-SW20 standard-definition camcorder will survive a spill or spot of rain. Available now for around £260, will it stand up to the beatings of most sea-side holidays?
Design
Available in red or silver, SW20 has a small, sleek design. It's less round than most camcorders, with a slim and flat form factor closer to a mobile phone's candy-bar body -- but larger -- than a camcorder's barrel shape.
This makes it easier to hold the camera with a different grip: the standard thumb-at-the-back grip or a thumb-at-the-front grip. A second record button on the front right-side of the camcorder makes shooting easier with different hand positions. It also has a textured surface for extra grip.
The 69mm (2.7-inch) LCD screen flips out, but unusually doesn't twist over for self-portrait shooting. The small size means the controls are placed in the screen well rather than at the back, which makes it harder to see both the screen and the buttons you're pressing at the same time. This can be a problem when focusing manually, when you need to use the click pad and still look at the screen
The headline feature is the SW20's robustness. It can be submerged up to a 1.5m-maximum depth for swimming and snorkelling. It's also shock-proof and can stand up to being dropped from up to 1.2m. Its seals are designed to keep dust and water out, with a hatch for AV Out and USB connections and another protecting the battery and SD/SDHC memory card slot.
The battery is closer to a compact camera than the usual chunky camcorder cell, although this does mean that higher-capacity power packs cannot be swapped out with the bundled battery.
Features
The SW20 boasts a 1/6-inch CCD. It manages a focal length of 43.4-439mm with its 10x optical zoom lens, shooting at 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios. Stills are captured at a rather meagre VGA resolution, good enough for Internet sharing, but not much more.
The stereo zoom microphone follows the 10x zoom, so you will be able to hear what you are focusing on, even if it is further away. This isn't as effective underwater, though, especially when underwater mode is activated. This reduces the sensitivity of the mic as well as adjusting the white balance.
Footage is recorded in MPEG-2 format to SD or SDHC cards. Long play mode grants just under an hour of footage with a 1GB card, while a 4GB card will record the same amount of time at maximum quality.
Adjustments available include backlight compensation and portrait-enhancing, soft skin mode. There are also two low-light slow shutter modes, although they can cause blurred video. Scene modes include surf and snow for holidaymakers.
Performance
The quick start feature sees the SW20 start up in 0.6 seconds,
although this is effectively a standby mode and will have an impact on
battery life. With moderate use of the quick start feature, the battery
lasted just over an hour on one charge. It's definitely worth investing
in spare batteries from Panasonic.
Because the SW20 only packs a 1/6-inch CCD sensor, video doen't look great as a consequence. Footage is not as crisp as we'd like and fine details are lost. Colour isn't bad, though, and exposure copes well with moving from dark to light contrast areas.
Low-light performance isn't much to write home about either, with lots of gritty noise. This may be an issue underwater as well as shooting at night. Footage is fine for Internet sharing, but compression artefacts and noise look poor on larger screens.
Conclusion
The novelty of waterproof gadgets takes a long time to wear off
and we'll never tire of drop-testing products. The Panasonic SDR-SW20
certainly has the fun factor, looks great and is highly affordable. But
this cheery toughness comes at a price in terms of image quality, and
besides, it's still not robust enough for more extreme pursuits like
scuba diving. If you're happy to stick to the shallow end, the SW20
does the job.
If you the only thing you're planning to wet is your whistle, you could pay a similar amount of money for the similar-sized Samsung VP-HMX10.
Edited by Shannon Doubleday
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