Panasonic VDR-D300

At the moment let us review the exceedingly awesome specs of the Panasonic VDR-D300. We trust you'll dig it. Honestly now you might like it. As I always do, we make an effort to ferret out and also show the most awesome finds obtainable anywhere on the net just after the specs.

The Following Review By: Willie Endsley

The Fast Outline:

Negatives: Optical zoom is only 10X; no analog input; no video light.

Positives: Decent low-light performance; vibrant color; solid battery life; acceptable still quality.

In Depth Review:

Choosing a DVD camcorder has typically meant sacrificing quality when compared to MiniDV models in the same price range. The Panasonic VDR-D300 breaks that mold by offering video quality that's noticeably better than that of many competing DVD camcorders, as well as three CCDs for excellent color, even in low-light situations. It also produces decent stills all at a price that's not much higher than that of comparable tape-based camcorders. The Panasonic VDR-D300 is extremely compact for a camcorder boasting three CCDs and a mini-DVD drive. Weighing 1 pound, 7 ounces with battery and disc, it's not a featherweight, but it's still light enough for extended shooting.

The gentle curves at the top of the camera and the placement of all of the important shooting controls within reach of your thumb and index finger make the VDR-300 extremely comfortable to use. Its unassuming silver-plastic shell gives it a plain-Jane appearance, but the camcorder has a sturdy, solid feel that should hold up well in the field. A chrome ring around the lens has ridges that tease you into thinking the camera is equipped with a focus ring, but they turn out to be purely decorative. You'll find only a few buttons on the VDR-D300. Nearly all camera settings are adjusted via a small, five-way joystick on the back of the camera. This works very well with the menu system, which is clearly labeled and easy to navigate.

The Panasonic VDR-D300's Leica lens offers a mere 10X zoom. What it lacks in reach it attempts to make up for in image quality through the inclusion of three 1/6-inch, 800,000-pixel CCDs, the same trio found in Panasonic's MiniDV-based PV-GS300, which promises sharper pictures and better light sensitivity than single-CCD cameras. Along with its VDR-D250 sibling, it's one of the first three-CCD camcorders to feature DVD recording for less than $1,000. Casual shooters will appreciate the VDR-D300's fully automatic mode, as well as the inclusion of five scene modes for special shooting conditions such as sports or sand and snow. Those who prefer more manual operation will find much to like in the VDR-D300, which offers full manual control of shutter speed and aperture, as well as manual focus and white balance.

The MagicPix mode uses slow shutter speed to bring out color in low-light situations, creating a blurred, surreal effect. Though the VDR-D300 includes a flash for use with still shots, when shooting video, the only built-in illumination is the ability to flip the LCD around and use it as a poor man's camera light. It's extremely weak, illuminating objects within only 4 feet. The VDR-D300 can record on three types of mini-DVDs: DVD-R/RW and DVD-RAM. DVR-R discs can only be written to once, while both DVD-RW and DVD-RAM can be overwritten. DVD-R and DVD-RW offer the advantage of being compatible with most set-top DVD players.

The Panasonic VDR-D300 can record still images at resolutions as high as 3.1 megapixels to an SD/MMC card. There's also an unusual 2.2-megapixel 16:9 wide-screen still mode which could prove useful when shooting pictures for use in titling wide-screen DVDs. The Panasonic VDR-D300 is a solid performer overall, with automatic white balance, focus, and exposure all reacting quickly and accurately as we panned across a variety of subjects. The zoom rocker is responsive and easy to control. Happily, the rocker is free of the annoying clicking sound that we've heard in other models.

The Panasonic VDR-D300 's microphone quality is very good. If you find the cameraperson's voice overwhelms the subject's, you can use the microphone zoom function, which increases sensitivity as you zoom in. The wind-noise-reduction feature works well. Bundled batteries typically don't let you go too long between recharges, but the one included with the VDR-D300 is good for as much as 1 hour, 20 minutes of shooting with the LCD on. An optional larger-capacity battery offers nearly 2.5 hours of recording time, quite a lot when you consider that mini-DVD discs store only 30 minutes of full-quality footage. The Panasonic VDR-D300's image quality is among the best that we've seen in a consumer DVD camcorder.

Image sharpness is above average for a DVD camcorder, approaching that of MiniDV cameras such as Panasonic's PV-GS65. We noticed far fewer video-compression artifacts typical of DVD-based units. Outdoors, video looked very good, with accurate, saturated color and no visible chromatic aberration or color fringing.

Indoors, the three CCDs come into play to offer far better color in low-light situations than you'd get with single-CCD cameras. Only when lighting conditions were closer to dark than dim did we see a significant loss of color. The MagicPix mode attempts to compensate for this by lowering shutter speed, but it's mostly useful for still subjects due to blurring of moving objects. Still images had good color but lacked sharpness in heavily textured areas. Overall, still quality is decent--acceptable for candid shooting, but you wouldn't want to use it as your primary still camera if you plan to make larger prints.