Ultra-compact waterproof camcorder with an affordable price

Overview: I have the Canon Elura2, which is compact in its own time, but now seems too bulky and heavy. I came across the Panasonic SW20 and SDR-S7. I finally bought the SW20 for its compactness. However size does have its price….

1. Body/Size: I’m very impressed with the body. The camera is very compact, about 4.5 by 2.5 in. and a little more than an inch thick. It sits comfortably in the palm of the hand. Its shape is literally a rectangular block: no lens, no button that stick out, which make it easy to slide it in and out of a pocket. It is also very light, about half a pound. In short, it is a camera I can carry anywhere anytime, and I think this the strongest selling point of the camera. The right and left sides of the camera body are made with “grainy” hard plastic material, which help gripping but somewhat make the camera look cheap.
The lens of the camcorder recesses into the body, so without a lens cap it is not prone to smear.
2. Picture: I don’t expect excellent quality from a small camera, simply because smaller cameras have smaller lens and are unstable. However I’m surprised to see, in broad daylight, the quality of SW20 equal or even better than that of my Mini DV Canon Elura. In low light the performance of SW20 suffers, though. The camera has a low-light mode to deal with low-light conditions but it does not help much. However, I found that in normal low-light situations such as lighted stages, wedding halls, the picture was acceptable. So I would say that overall the picture quality of SW20 is just average.
Since this camera can be used underwater, I need to mention that that under the water the light is reduced and thus affects the picture quality. SW20 has a button that can be activated for underwater usage. However, this mode is designed to accommodate outdoor underwater light, not for indoor conditions such as indoor swimming pool.
The camera has different formats, widescreen 16:9 , or regular 4:3. A good point is that you can playback a widescreen recording on a regular 4:3 TV screen by selecting playback format as 4:3 (otherwise the picture looks weird, objects in the movie are elongated to fit the 4:3 screen). It also lets you record in high quality(XP), standard(SP) or low quality modes(LP).
3. Handling: this is the weakest point of the camera. Holding the camera, adjusting the zoom, or pushing the record button is uncomfortable. The camera is designed so that your index and middle fingers control the zoom button on top, and your thumb controls the record button at the back. It’s very uncomfortable to hold the camera this way for long (my Elura and the old Sony has the index finger controlling the zoom on the right side and the thumb controlling the record at the back). Also, you practically cannot hold the camera with one hand, you have to use your left hand (assuming you are right-handed) to hold the LCD screen to make it stable. Once the recording is underway it is not easy to zoom or stop/start without causing a big shake to the camera. I strongly suggest that you try the camera at the store first, do not look only at the picture and buy from an online store. Many times I’m so tired that my thumb cannot control the record anymore, I have to use my left hand to turn on and off the button (and again, every time like this it shakes the camera).
The camera has a second record button – this is a good feature- that allows you to hold it underhand like holding a flash light. In this position it’s comfortable, the thumb controls the zoom button and the index finger control the record button.
Menu navigation is difficult due to the small buttons placed in a dial shape. The camcorder is a point-and-shoot camcorder, most of the time you take the options provided by the automatic mode and don't need to use the dail to adjust. However in playback mode you do have to use the buttons intensively to move back and forth and this could be a problem if you have big fingers.
4. Memory
The camera uses SD memory card, which is a big plus since SD cards are the cheapest in the market. I bought one 4G card at Fry’s for $17 (no rebate, I hate filing for rebate, BTW). I have a big complaint: no memory card is included with the camera package. Panasonic should include at least a 2G card, given the cheap memory nowadays. 4G card allows me to record for 50 minutes at the highest quality, which is very reasonable. The recordings on the SD card can be copied to your pc hard disk. There is a trick that I learned from the web: the movie files haves extension .mod which can only be played by the camera but if you change them to .avi, then you can play them on your computer.
The camera works with class 2+ SD card, which is very good. You don’t have to worry about buying a wrong card. Just any SD card on the market works (higher class cards, such as class 6 card, just helps you to copy files to your computer faster but does not help the recordings)
5. Battery:
Battery life is just about average, it lasts about 45 minutes and takes about 2 hours to charge. There is no external charger. You have to plug the camera to charge, which means you cannot use the camera while charging. I recommend an extra battery, which does not break your bank if you buy from ebay. I paid for $16 on ebay, battery and charger included (and the battery is of 1400 mAh, better than the one supplied with the camera package, which is only 1000 mAh).
6. LCD screen: the flip-out 2.7 in LCD screen, which can be swiveled but it has a pretty narrow viewing angle. Just a little tilting makes the picture look darker. Its resolution is just average. The screen is covered by a plastic glass for waterproof purpose, which makes it reflective and difficult to see in a bright sunlight.
7. Features: here are some interesting features:
- Waterproof: SW20 has a feature that most cameras don’t: waterproof. Indeed, besides size, this is another strong selling point of the camera. However, it can only be used underwater not deeper than 5 feet. The second record button mentioned above is perfect for underwater recordings, where you are above the water level and need to submerge the camera to record fish or a swimmer, for example. I tried several underwater recordings in outdoor pools and I am very satisfied with the picture quality as well as the audio (listening to the sound “glug, glug” of the underwater audio is really exciting). I checked all the plastic lids to the chambers that house the battery, the SD card etc… and found that they were watertight thanks to pretty heavy rubber rings built around the lids.
- Electronic Image Stabilization: SW20 is also equipped with EIS, which is a must for ultra-compact cameras. I remark that this feature degrades the picture quality a little bit when it is turned on.
- Zoom: zoom on the camera is rather weak, only 10X, while most other have 30X-60X. The limited zoom capacity is another trade-off since ultra-compact cameras don’t have enough room for longer lens.
- Manual controls: I’m surprised to see that although SW20 is designed for point-and-shoot purposes, it has all the manual controls: manual focus, white balance, independent shutter and aperture, and even gain.

Conclusion: this camera has serious handling problem and average picture quality, but don’t take me wrong, I still like it. I am willing to tolerate its flaws for its size, its waterproof feature and its very reasonable price (I bought for $334 from Amazon). For those who don’t care about the size you should definitely look elsewhere, there are plenty of camcorders, some slightly bigger, that have good handling, much better picture quality and many more extra features (other than waterproof).

Note: if you don’t care about waterproof, consider the sister Panasonic SDR-S7, which is of the same size and weight, and $50 cheaper(however, if you go this far, why not shelling out a few more bucks to show off underwater recordings to your kids, spouse, or friends).