Panasonic SDR-S150 3.1MP 3CCD MPEG2 Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom (2GB Card Included)

I don't like to take video for many reasons. You end up with a lot of bad scenes in the middle of the tape, if you review the tape you have to forward to the point where you can begin taping again and it takes far to long to transfer the video to the PC if you want to burn it to DVD. This camcorder solves all those problems. Because of random access of the SD flash media, scenes where you accidently filmed your leg for 10 minutes and didn't notice it till later can be deleted on the fly. It automatically begins to record at the end of the series of scenes so there's no fast-forwarding to find the spot where you can record again. And copying the video to your PC is as easy as pulling out the SD card and plugging it into your computer. You can begin burning a DVD immediately. Now I don't hesitate to video. With 3 CCDs, quality is much better than the previous few single-CCD miniDV camcorders I've owned from JVC, Sony, and Samsung, particularily the white balance and color correctness. On a big screen TV the difference is very noticable. It is dead silent when you video something. With a 4 GB card (which only cost me $29) I get about an hour of video at the highest quality setting. This means an hour worth of high-quality taping will copy to a single current generation DVD. The video camera is very small but feels very high quality and substantial. I ordered this from J & R and they did a great job getting it to me as promised and I paid a very reasonable price.

I've owned this camcorder for a couple of months now. I really like it. I paid just under $400 for it. For the price, I can't imagine a better standard definition flash camcorder.

Pro's
-Tons of manual controls. They're fun to play with. I'm just learning videography, and this was exactly what I wanted.
-The "easy" mode works well. So if you don't want to fuss with the controls, you'll still like this camera. I find most of the menus easy to navigate.
-Really nice image quality when viewed on my 22-inch monitor. I was surprised when I viewed my first footage -- the color was pretty much perfect (vivid but natural, not hypersaturated), no noise under decent lighting, auto focus worked perfectly. The motion was very natural looking.
-Works with my 16gb SDHC card. So I can store about 15 hours worth of video at one time.
-The still-photo mode is also fun and includes tons of manual controls. You shouldn't buy this just for the still camera, but it's a nice extra.

Con's
-Some of the controls are less intuitive. In particular, the four-way macro/ backlighting control is sort of confusing (to me, not necessarily to you).
-Neither photos nor videos look all that great in low light. Even the special low-light video capture is not terribly effective (though still fun to play with). But I did not deduct any points here because I believe that you don't get good low-light images at this price point -- no exceptions. If you want really good low-light images from a flash-based camcorder, then you have to move up to a higher price range.
-The design is slightly awkward. There's really no way to maintain a comfortable, relaxed grip on the body. (Contrast w/ the body of the Samsung SC-MX10 and HMX-10, which allows the camcorder to rest more naturally in your grip). But I'm really nitpicking here because the grip's really not a problem in real-world use (just not ideal).
-Neither the camcorder nor the editing software are Vista-compatible out of the box. You can get them to work with Vista, but it is a bit of a pain. It involves separately downloading a series of drivers and firmware upgrades. The whole process took about 2 hours.
-Panasonic's US website is 99% worthless if you're looking for support for the s150. I had to Google around until I found the upgrades on the Panasonic global website.
-The editing software is of marginal quality.

Conclusion
-I'm very happy with the camcorder itself. All the problems I mentioned are really minor and don't even come close to outweighing the camcorder's many virtues. The biggest problem I had was getting it to work with Vista. But I think it was worth the minor hassle.

I needed a camera that fits in my handbag to carry around everywhere I go. This was my primary priority, second was image quality and the third was to be able to record on a memory based media. And this camera is the best you can get considering all these factors. It is not the smallest camcorder in the world but small enough to fit your coats pocket, very easy to use, just pop the lcd screen and lens cover slide open and you are ready to shoot. There is an auto everything and manual switch where you can override all or some auto functions. I rarely use manual overrides, because not only auto shooting does a decent job but also manual functions are very deep in the menu system that makes it hard to control, and this is one of my few complaints about SDR-150. I wish there was a few quick access manual adjustment buttons.
Image quality is surprisingly good, 3CCDs are really make a huge difference, accurate vivid color rendition, no visible compression artifacts etc. very very good. Another cool function is the Image stabilization system "OIS" works really good. It is hard not to shake this camera in your hand, it is not shoulder mounted, and your grip is even weaker then the old big DV camcorders. There is a finger grip that comes with the package that you can screw on the tripod mount, this way you can also use your ring finger instead of only index and middle finger for additional grip.
For the recording and editing SD cards, or any memory based recording system is the future of camcorders, long gone the days of magnetic media tapes, dv, dvd, hard drive all kind of rotating mechanisms, motors, gears, pulleys, belts etc. which makes the camcorder heavy, big, unreliable, vulnerable to dust, water, shake, vibration, heat and cold. These systems also need bigger batteries because they need lots of energy to drive the mechanisms. Another drawback of some older systems that you have to transfer your files to your editing application in real time. 1 hour video will transfer exactly in 1 hour. With this camcorder you can transfer hours of video in minutes. Editing software is altough not very advanced pretty decent, simple and easy to use. It can also output to DVD.

After I bought this camcorder, we have been using it almost everyday, every other camcorder we had owned before was stored in a bag somewhere at home occasionally used. With this camcorder, we have recorded more than our entire collection in just a few months. Yes there are certainly better camcorders out in the market, but you just can't carry them with you all the time.

Highly recommended !

This really is a first class camera for its size... easy to use, good quality output.
Only one thing to bear in mind... the microphone is at the rear of the device... perfect for picking up "heavy breathing" - or side comments on the action.... can be a bit of an embarrassment....

I enjoy this camera alot.
Friendly and photo video even in very low light conditions.
High quality video is eventually going on the tv or computer.
I have some problems with taking out the movies using the program but it's simple to copy the movies through the micromate reader.
I think it's the best product I have ever bought.

Meiri