![]() The H80 avoids filling the frame with grain, but colour performance is suspect, looking washed out and blotchy, and edges become overly soft. There are flaws however, principally with the low-light performance. Combined with responsive auto correction, particularly the focus, there's a raft of tricks onboard to ensure you can capture excellent movies with the minimum of fiddling around with the settings. Even at full magnification there's barely a hint of a wobble, and it's possible to achieve steady, gradual close-ups, even shooting handheld.įor a lightweight cam like the H80 this is a remarkable achievement. It's no surprise Panasonic has been talking up the H80's 70x optical zoom: it's fantastic. Hit this and a 10-minute counter will begin – the maximum length of clips for You Tube – and when you export footage to the MovieCam Suite software provided Web enabled clips will be ready to share online via a You Tube account.įinally, the 2.7 in LCD panel opens up to reveal the SD card slot, access to the auto and manual settings – where you can decide just how much of the work you want the camcorder to do for you - and, on the frame of the screen, the menu button and function toggle. ![]() Otherwise, you'll be looking at a nauseatingly shaky mess.The body of the cam has been stripped right down with the sturdy zoom and record button the only controls to concentrate on, both sitting neatly under the natural finger and thumb position.Īlong the left flank there's also a Web mode setting, which is the first indication that this cam is capable of a little bit more than your average pocket shooter. The OIS system is good, but only out to about 20x unless you have incredibly steady hands and don't breathe. Worth repeating, however, is this camcorder's need for a tripod when using the full zoom range. That said, if you still live completely in a low-resolution world, the recordings are destined for video-sharing Web sites, or you simply want to capture the moment no matter how it looks, the H80 should be satisfactory. Low-light performance isn't great, either, but that also is expected from standard-definition models. Video is soft with readily visible noise and digital artifacting, a lot of purple and green fringing around high-contrast subjects, and merely OK color reproduction with highlight clipping. The bundled software has "one-click" uploading to YouTube as well.įor all its features and ease-of-use, the H80 produces video typical of standard-definition consumer camcorders. Pressing it starts a 10-minute countdown keeping your recordings within the site's upload parameters. If you're considering the H80 for recording clips for video-sharing sites, YouTube in particular, you'll probably be happy finding the camcorder's Web mode button. Press it again and you'll enter a more traditional Auto mode. However, if you don't feel like thinking about settings, press the iA button and the H80 will adjust depending on the subject and recording environment as it corresponds to a Scene mode. From Manual mode you can also choose a Scene mode that will optimize shutter and aperture settings for what you're shooting. You can then move the joystick up to get control of shutter speed, aperture (labeled Iris), and white balance. As mentioned earlier, a single press of the Manual AF/MF button will let you control focus using the joystick. ![]() Panasonic included both full manual and full auto shooting options. ![]() ![]() Inside the LCD cavity is where you'll find the SD/SDHC card slot for additional video or photo storage and an AV out. The last one is particularly handy because you'll want to shut OIS off when the H80's on a tripod. This includes buttons for accessing manual controls, turning on Panasonic's Intelligent Auto (iA) mode, and enabling the optical image stabilization (OIS). If you dread going into menus to make adjustments, Panasonic dots the H80 with several buttons for quickly changing between shooting options. Flipping out the LCD exposes a five-way joystick and Menu button on the left side of the screen. There's a Power/Mode dial at the top back for selecting whether you want to record movies or still photos or play them back. Though it doesn't come off as stylish as Sony's competing 60x zoom Handycam DCR-SR47, it still looks and feels good.Ĭontrols are pretty typical for this type of camcorder and nothing is so horribly positioned to make using the H80 uncomfortable (though the Record button is a touch too close to the battery). Considering the lens/storage combo in the H80, its overall design is impressively small. ![]()
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