Performance

Format

The Panasonic SDR-SW20 records standard definition video in the MPEG-2 format. After reviewing multiple high definition camcorders in a row, then landing on this little budget cam, it’s hard to be kind. The SW20 produces a lot of compression artifacting, blocky chunks of pixels. You won’t notice it as much if your video is destined for the web, but beware those planning on playing back footage on a big screen TV.

The SDR-SW20 offers three recording qualities, each corresponding to a maximum bitrate: XP (10Mbps), SP (5Mbps), and LP (2.5Mbps).

Media* (6.0)*

The Panasonic SDR-SW20 records exclusively to SD and SDHC memory cards in capacities up to 2GB or 16GB, respectively. The card loads from the bottom, which makes it inconvenient to change when using a tripod. The waterproof gaskets look to be pretty good at keeping water out. How long can you shoot? Take a look at the chart.

Editing* (5.0)*

The video produced by the Panasonic SDR-SW20 should be welcomed into most editing workflows, from the simplest to the most advanced. MPEG-2 files have been around long enough to enjoy almost universal support. However, Windows Movie Maker does not support this particular brand of MPEG-2. You may want to check around on user forums before you buy.

The camcorder ships with MotionSD Studio 1.3E. This is very basic software that allows you to import clips, edit, and export finished movies.

 

 

 

 

Auto / Manual Controls

Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (5.0)

The Panasonic SDR-SW20 will probably see a lot of use in Auto mode if it’s used by active outdoors people and vacationers. Therefore, it’s critical that the automatic responses be good. In short, they will suffice, but there are some caveats.

The auto exposure mode is incredibly fast. There’s no smooth, gradual lag times here. Panasonic may have been considering that underwater footage is generally all over the place – up into the sun, towards a person, then back down into the dark water – every few seconds. (This is the tragic but predictable curse of home video that induces nausea in so many viewers). The auto exposure has no trouble keeping up. However, the SDR-SW20 has a limited dynamic range. Shots with both strong light and dark shadow will suffer from a loss of detail in one or the other, depending on which is more prominent. To avoid this, try and make sure your subject is evenly lit.

The auto focus is also good, and can keep up with frantic footage as long as the lighting is decent. In darker areas, the focus can take a while to adjust. The auto white balance was definitely the poorest area. Indoor fluorescent lighting, which accounts for most offices and businesses, was a persistent problem. We had to make a manual adjustment before we were satisfied. Outdoor shooting looked fine under most circumstances.

The Manual Control menu, activated by pushing in on the button in the middle of the directional pad, offers a number of one-touch corrections for your video that don’t require much special camera knowledge. Backlight Compensation brightens the image when your subject is standing in front of a strong backlight. Soft Skin detects skin tones and reduces detail in blemishes and wrinkles. The MagicPix mode is a low light setting that allows you to capture detail in the darkest of settings. (Warning, MagicPix allows the shutter to go extremely slow, which creates serious blurring). For a less drastic low light setting, use Auto Slow Shutter, located in the Admin menu.

The SDR-SW20 also has a standard array of Scene Modes, including Sports, Portrait, Low Light, Spotlight, and Surf & Snow. Yes, that’s a third low light mode you’ve spotted there. The Low Light Scene Mode appears to be a little more powerful than Auto Slow Shutter, but not as strong as MagicPix. In the next menu redesign, Panasonic would do well to group these all together.

Overall Manual Control (4.25)

For a camcorder of this size and price, the level of manual control offered is really amazing. This is something that Panasonic has always excelled at in this price range. When in manual mode, you have focus, zoom, white balance, independent aperture & shutter, and gain. There are also a number of one-touch controls, including scene modes, described above.

Because waterproofing and minimal protrusions were such a point of focus in the design, the SDR-SW20 is not a handling champ. Nearly all interface controls are hidden away in the LCD cavity. The buttons are small and hard to feel out with your finger. The four-directional navigational pad (which we refer as the d-pad). For its purpose as an underwater camera, the buttons could have been larger, but they are spaced apart far enough to make them easy to press. Also, the high contrast white-on-black text is also useful.

*

Zoom (4.75)*

The zoom rocker on the Panasonic SDR-SW20 is located on top of the body towards the rear. It’s very small, even for the compact size of the camcorder. This is not a great control for tight, controlled zooms. When zooming, the LCD displays both a progress bar to tell you where in the zoom range you are, as well as the actual numeric value of the zoom.

Zoom Power Ratio (10.0)

The SDR-SW20 can achieve up to a 10x optical zoom and a 700x digital zoom. We recommend NOT breaking beyond the 10x barrier because on a camcorder with such low resolution, your recorded clips will just be a pixilated fiasco—especially underwater, where you need all the resolution you can get. Think of how difficult it will be to swim and zoom at the same time, anyway.

Focus (4.0)

The focus control on the Panasonic SDR-SW20 is not great, but it’s there if you need it. To engage, make sure the camcorder is in manual mode, then push the Manual AF/MF button. An icon appears in the lower right-hand corner of the LCD prompting you to push the d-pad left and right. Unlike Panasonic’s HD camcorders, there is no focus assist mode to help you. You’ll have to rely entirely on the image you see on that 2.7-inch, 123,000-pixel LCD.

Exposure & Aperture (5.64)

Panasonic camcorders offer control of the aperture (referred to as "Iris" by the manufacturer) that can be adjusted independently of shutter speed. This is a great and powerful tool for advanced users. Unfortunately, they routinely omit a simpler exposure tool – a basic "make it brighter/make it darker" setting – that does not require a familiarity with camera terminology. As is it, beginners will likely have to consult the manual to understand how the aperture controls function.

The aperture control is located in the Manual Control menu, which is accessed by pushing on the button in the center of the d-pad. Aperture settings include: f/2.8 (Open), f/2.0, f/2.4, f/2.8, f/3.4, f/4.0, f/4.8, f/5.6, f/6.8, f/8.0, f/9.6, f/11, f/14, and f/16. In between each of these settings is a one-half increment. This is a huge range of settings and should meet the needs of demanding shooters. No other manufacturer offers this much choice.

Shutter Speed (7.6)

The shutter speed is located in the Manual Control menu right next to the aperture controls. Shutter speed can be set independently of aperture, allowing you to get tight control of your shot. Settings include: 1/60, 1/100, 1/120, 1/180, 1/250, 1/350, 1/500, 1/750, 1/1000, 1/1500, 1/2000, 1/3000, 1/ 4000, and 1/8000.

If the Auto Slow Shutter option is engaged (via the Admin menu), the option for a new slowest speed of 1/30 becomes available. In all, this is a great range of settings. As with aperture, Panasonic offers the highest degree of control in this area.

White Balance (6.5)

The white balance controls are also located in the Manual Control menu. Settings here include Auto, Indoor, Outdoor, Manual, and an unusual fifth category, Underwater. The first four are standard on all Panasonic camcorders. Making a manual adjustment is easy. Just point the camcorder are your white or neutral grey target, scroll over to the Manual setting (represented by the icon of a rectangle over two triangles), and push up. You’ll know if the setting didn’t stick because the icon will keep blinking. If it works, the icon becomes solid.

The underwater option for white balance is not actually present in the menu. It is the default white balance setting if you put the camcorder in Underwater mode via the dedicated button in the LCD cavity. The manual gives no information as to what the change is. As far as we can see, it warms the image considerably, likely to compensate for strong sunlight.

Gain (6.0)

Panasonic is the only manufacturer to offer gain in the consumer range of camcorders. To activate, the camcorder must first have exhausted the aperture options. This means the aperture has to be open all the way to f/1.8. After that, you push the zoom in increments of +3dB, +6dB, +9dB, +12dB, +dB15, and +18dB. In between each of these settings is a one-half increment.

Other Manual Controls (2.0)

Underwater Mode - In the LCD cavity you’ll find a button labeled Underwater. Push and hold until a completely unrecognizable icon appears on screen. In this mode, the white balance is automatically shifted to warm the image. The sensitivity of the microphone is also reduced so as to cut back on the recording of motor noise. Why a solid state camcorder would have such a loud motor is a bit of a mystery.

Guidelines - The guidelines feature sections the frame on the LCD into four vertical sections to assist the shooter with the rule of thirds. The lines that appear on screen do not get recorded to your final video.

 

 

 

 

Still Features

Still Features* (3.5)*

The SDR-SW20 does have a dedicated still shooting mode, unlike the HD models we’ve seen from the company this year. Unfortunately, it can only capture images at 640 x 480 (VGA), which is at the bottom end of the spectrum compared to most other camcorders. Though the SDR-SW20’s specialty is underwater video, Panasonic could have fattened up the camcorder’s Photo mode options. After all, 640 x 480 is only 0.3-megapixels. The average point and shoot camera can capture about 23 times that resolution. Images on the SDR-SW20 can be saved in High or Standard quality, and up to 27,150 images can be saved on a 4GB SD/SDHC card. Other options consist of a 10 second Self Timer and Shutter Sound effect.

The SDR-SW20’s Photo menu can be accessed by pressing the Menu button while in Photo mode. The Photo Manual Control menu contains the following options:

The main menu (Admin menu) can be accessed by pressing the Menu button while in Photo mode. The Admin menu contains the following options:

 In Photo Playback mode, the Photo menu contains the following items:

 

 

Still Performance* (6.59)*

The still performance of the Panasonic SDR-SW20 was tested by shooting an X-Rite Color Checker chart at an even, bright light, then exporting the stills to Imatest imaging software in order to determine color accuracy, noise, and saturation.

The SDR-SW20 produced a color error of 6.98, according to Imatest. This score is actually a little better than most of Panasonic’s HD camcorders, ironically. Of course, the HD camcorders produce a still resolution almost seven times higher, making them more preferable overall. The noise from the SW20 was about 0.89%, a good, low number. Despite this, the images look undeniably noisy, which we’ll have to chalk up to low resolution. The saturation measured 94.46.

Overall, the 640 x 480 stills produced by the Panasonic SDR-SW20 are simple too small to be of use to most people.

Still Resolution* (1.5)*

The still resolution of the Panasonic SDR-SW20 was tested by shooting an Applied Image ISO 12233 resolution chart at an even, bright light, then sending those stills over to Imatest imaging software. At best, the camcorder was able to produce a horizontal resolution of 335.2 line widths per picture height (lw/ph) – with a 2.88% clipping and -7.24% undersharpening. The vertical resolution measured 291.6 lw/ph – with a 5.16% clipping and a -6.75% undersharpening.

The clipping in both these scores was quite high, which could cause some errors in the accuracies of the score. However, they match up closely with older, similar Panasonic camcorders. Clipping occurs when (in this case) a percentage of the black pixels bottomed out, falling below RGB values of zero. We see this frequently in camcorders taking still pictures, but usually not this bad. When testing, we shoot across a range of exposure levels, and this was the best the camcorder could do.

 

 

 

 

Handling and Use

Ease of Use* (6.75)*

While Panasonic has one of the cleanest menu systems for certain parts of its operation, there’s definitely a learning curve involved in engaging manual controls. For a camcorder this basic, Panasonic still bombards the shooter with an array of options. That is, of course, a strength and a weakness. Most SDR-SW20 owners will probably never dabble with Gain or White Balance, the options are there just in case Mom took a film class in college. In Auto mode, the SDR-SW20 is simple to operate—it’s not as idiot-proof as Sony’s Easy mode, but the menu is trimmed down and all the shooter has to concentrate on is hitting the Record Start/Stop button.

All controls are located within the LCD cavity, which is disadvantageous for making adjustments on the fly. The four-directional d-pad on the left side is not as welcoming as a Joystick, but what would you expect on a budget underwater camcorder? Make all or most adjustments prior to diving in—Auto mode might be your best bet for most aquatic shooting environments. For the best experience, make a date with the instruction manual before you even leave the house. It’s not always apparent what the little icons on the screen signify.

Fortunately, the SDR-SW20’s media of choice is one of the easiest to work with. Just throw your SD/SDHC card into your computer and the .MOD files are readily available. No real-time capture is necessary, and the .MOD files are compatible with most major editing software.

Handling* (6.0)*

Obviously, the SDR-SW20 is on a different plateau from most conventional camcorders. The ocean, pools, and rainy days are the intended shooting environments for this compact camcorder. It’s worth noting that the SDR-SW20 can only stave off the threats of water up to 5 feet deep—after that, it’s a crap shoot as to whether the SDR-SW20 can hold its own. This limits the fun factor a bit, so most shooters will want to stay within the shallow end of the pool and take advantage of low tide. Hot tubbers—you’ll be just fine….

Advanced shooters are not going to like handling the SDR-SW20—it has no viewfinder or hand strap and limited external controls. This is a strictly consumer-driven design that offers two distinct grip methods. You can grasp the SDR-SW20 traditionally by latching onto the right side, thumb mounted over the rear Record Start/Stop button. Or, you can hold the SDR-SW20 from underneath, thumb hovering above the side-mounted Record Start/Stop button. When you’re swimming, the latter method makes the most sense, as your body will be somewhat horizontal.

For a camcorder that looks like the back of a chunky cell phone, the SDR-SW20 is relatively comfortable to hold. There are no controls on top, aside from the Zoom toggle, to tango with overshooting fingers. The SDR-SW20 is shock proof up to 4 feet, so it can take a minor beating. We dropped it in the office from about 5 feet and it still powered up without a problem. The port covers are also lined with gaskets to keep water and liquid out. In order to make sure the port covers are locked tight, a red strip embedded in the release tab will disappear to notify the shooter that the cover is closed entirely.

The control panel is not the same as a Joystick, and you’ll have to get used to the downgrade. For Manual control freaks, the LCD cavity control panel will not be very exciting to use, but on a $400 vacation camcorder, this is to be expected. The Zoom toggle could be worse—it’s on the small side, but offers enough control for smooth movement, as opposed to jerky Zoom tabs found on other pocket size cams.

Menu* (6.5)*

Panasonic’s menu interface is uniform across all of its consumer camcorders. The SDR-SW20’s menu is simple and well-organized. Options are logically laid out in two distinct areas: the Administrative menu and the Manual Control menu (this is our terminology, not Panasonic’s).

The SDR-SW20’s Administrative menu is accessed by pressing the Menu button, located in the LCD cavity. The Administrative menu contains the following options:

To access the Manual Control menu, press the button in the center of the d-pad. When this is activated, a small menu appears in the lower right corner of the screen. The options are spread out across three "pages." A fourth page appears when you hit the Manual Focus button, an external plastic button in the LCD cavity. The Manual Control menu is composed of the following items:

Portability* (9.0)*

Portability is the name of the game with the SDR-SW20, aside from its waterproof and shockproof capability. The SDR-SW20 is slightly longer than a Blackberry Pearl when stood up vertically, and about twice as thick. The SDR-SW20 measures 33.8mm x 63.4mm x 115.4mm (1.33in. x 2.50in. x 4.54in.) and weighs approximately 224g (.49 lbs.) without the supplied battery pack and an SD/SDHC card. You can easily pocket the SDR-SW20, or fit it into a small tote bag—fanny packs are back, so take advantage. SD/SDHC cards take up almost no space and are fairly durable. A backup battery or two should definitely be purchased, in addition to an extra SD/SDHC card if you plan on shooting in the highest quality (XP).

LCD and Viewfinder* (4.0)*

The SDR-SW20 is equipped with a 2.7-inch LCD screen with a 123,000-pixel resolution. The LCD screen is protected by a thick glass pane that is mounted with a rugged rubber gasket. Unless you unscrew the plate, we don’t see water or liquid seeping into the screen. The LCD screen flips out 90 degrees from the body of the camcorder and rotates up to 270 degrees. Though the resolution is low, the SDR-SW20’s LCD screen offers a crisp picture that is visible underwater. You won’t find any LCD controls on the LCD panel—all playback control is governed by the control panel. The SDR-SW20 is not equipped with a viewfinder.

**

Battery Life*** (7.5)*

We tested the life of the SDR-SW20’s VW-VBJ10 battery pack by recording continuously in Manual mode with EIS disabled. The SDR-SW20’s battery lasted a total of 74 minutes and 57 seconds (1 hour, 14 minutes, and 57 seconds). This brief lifespan can be attributed to the SDR-SW20’s enclosed battery design, which eliminates the possibility of a larger pack. The SDR-SW20’s battery is the size of most cell phone batteries, so you’ll have to stock up on multiple batteries for lengthy vacations.

 

 

 

 

Audio / Playback / Connectivity

Audio* (3.0)*

Audio options on the SDR-SW20 are slim, as to be expected. You won’t find Mic or Headphone jacks, and you certainly won’t find an accessory shoe—the camcorder is too small and consumer-oriented. The onboard Mic does in fact have a Zoom function, which is becoming a new standard in the camcorder world. Underwater, there is not much that can salvage your audio. When the camcorder is put into its special Underwater mode, the sensitivity of the mic is reduced to cut down on the recording of the motor hum.

Playback* (3.0)*

Just like any other Panasonic, Playback is accessed by shifting the Mode dial to either Video Playback or Photo Playback. A screen filled with icons will appear. The icons can be browsed through using the Directional pad (d-pad) and the Select button cues a particular video clip or photo. The video clip or photo will then begin playing within the entirety of the LCD screen. Playback controls are governed by the d-pad and clip volume is controlled by the Zoom toggle.

The playback mode in action

In Video Playback mode, the Administrative menu contains the following options:

 

Connectivity* (5.0)*

Ports are scarce on the SDR-SW20, but well-guarded from water infiltration. On the right side, toward the rear, is a burly hatch that swings down to reveal the A/V, USB, and DC jacks. The port cover has a rubber gasket that sits flush with the slightly raised panel that contains the connections. In order to assure the post cover is closed entirely, a red mark will appear within the door’s latch until it is completely closed.

Along the bottom of the SDR-SW20 you’ll find another rugged hatch with a gasket that contains the battery chamber and SD/SDHC card slot. With an enclosed battery design, you can’t upgrade to a larger pack, so stock up before Disney World. The bottom hatch also displays a red mark until the door is shut tight and locked in place.

*All the ports - AV-out, USB, and DC power -

are located on the right side*

 

 

 

 

Other Features

What’s in the Box?

The Panasonic SDR-SW20 ships with the following items:

• VW-VBJ10 Battery Pack

• AC Adapter

• AC Cable

• AV Cable

• 2-way Hand Strap

• USB Cable

• CD-ROM

The SDR-SW20’s battery is small, so you’ll need to bulk up in order to last throughout a day at the beach. An SD/SDHC card does not come standard, so invest in a high capacity one—8GB and up—to provide enough recording space.

Other Features* (3.0)
**Underwater Mode* – The SDR-SW20’s Underwater Mode is not what you might think. You do not need to engage Underwater mode before taking a dive—the auto mode will be fine. It’s the audio and White Balance that is affected by Underwater mode. When Underwater Mode is engaged, an audio filter is activated to reduce motor hum. Also, the White balance shifts to warm the image.

*Fades *– The classic fade in/fade out is possible on the SDR-SW20. Choose between black and white.

Quick Start –In a mere 0.6 seconds, the SDR-SW20 will spring into action at the flip of the LCD screen when Quick Start is engaged. When the camcorder is in standby mode, it consumes half the power than usual recording.

 

 

 

 

Comparisons / Conclusion

Comparison
Sanyo DMX-CA8

Sanyo’s latest underwater camcorder features a 1/2.5-inch CMOS chip that offers up to 8MP of effective resolution. In the highest quality, the DMX-CA8 (under $500 MSRP) can only capture video in 640 x 480 at 60fps/6Mbps, frame rate priority. What will this mean for quality? We’ll let you know when we get our hands on one later on in the year. The DMX-CA8’s MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression could help it, but we’ll see how it tangos with the processing.

The DMX-CA8 only has a 5x optical zoom, as opposed to the SDR-SW20’s 10x optical zoom. Handling is another main course—the DMX-CA8 is an upright pistol grip that may suit some shooters more than others.

Both camcorders can travel down five feet into the water and feature electronic image stabilization. The DMX-CA8 pushes the envelope with Face Detection (Sanyo calls it "Face Chaser"), and an included Adobe Premiere Elements 4.0 bundle. This may be a try before you buy scenario, but that Premiere bundle sounds pretty enticing.

Pentax Optio W30

To be fair, let’s cut the Pentax Optio W30 ($299.95 MSRP) some slack. It’s a waterproof digital camera that is capable of shooting video, not a dedicated camcorder. That being said, the Optio W30 can only shoot in 4:3 aspect ratio and features a 3x optical zoom lens. The 1/2.5-inch CCD is capable of huge still image resolutions, but video can only be shot in 640 x 480 at a maximum 30fps. Video performance lacks with an inaccurate color palette and noisy low light performance, but what would you expect? With a $100 price gap, the SDR-SW20 will give you better Manual control, image quality, and handling. Still imaging goes to the Optio W30, hands down.

*Olympus Stylus 1030SW *

Olympus’s Stylus 1030 SW underwater still camera ($399.99 MSRP) just may give the SDR-SW20 a run for its money. This digital camera has a 1/2.35-inch CCD with 10.1 effective MP. It’s shockproof up to 6.6 feet, waterproof up to 33 feet, freezeproof up to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, and crushproof up to 220 pounds. The 3.5x optical zoom is heavily overshadowed by a 2.7-inch LCD screen (230,000-pixel display) and 29 shooting modes, including Behind the Glass and Underwater Snapshot. The downside? Video is recorded as Motion JPEG AVI clips at a maximum of 640 x 480 30fps in the highest quality. That’s an inefficient compression that will fill up your memory cards quickly. Yes, the Stylus 1030 SW sounds great, but you’ll have to head to Best Buy in order to put it to the test.

Panasonic SDR-S7

The SDR-S7 ($299 MSRP) is the landlubber’s version of the SDR-SW20. Both camcorders feature a single 1/6-inch CCD with a gross pixel count of 560,000. The main difference between the SDR-S7 and the SDR-SW20 is size and the SDR-S7’s lack of waterproof capability. The SDR-S7 is one of the most compact camcorders out there, rivaling certain cell phones. If you could care less about taking a dip in the pool and documenting the shallow end, then save $100 and opt for an SDR-S7. It comes equipped with the same great array of manual controls.
Who It’s For
Point-and-Shooters

The Dad who wears tropical button downs and beige Panama Jacks will most likely be the prime target for the SDR-SW20. It’s compact, easy to use, and waterproof. As long as you don’t travel below 5 feet, the whole family will be able to capture what it’s like under the sea.

Budget Consumers

At $400, now we’re talking. If you don’t care about video quality and oodles of Manual controls, the SDR-SW20 will be a trusty piece of equipment at the bottom of your above-ground pool.

Still Photo / Video Camera Hybrid

640 x 480 as a maximum still resolution? Moving on…

Gadget Freaks

The underwater part is the coolest thing about this camcorder. That’s it.

Manual Control Freaks

Panasonic’s Manual Controls are fully-stocked, even on a $400 budget cam. Iris, Shutter Speed, White Balance, Gain, and Manual Focus are all part of the deal.

Pros / Serious Hobbyists

Only for their own personal movies will the SDR-SW20 suit the needs of a pro.

Conclusion

The Panasonic SDR-SW20 works as advertised. It shoots video. It goes underwater. It can be dropped. The fact that the camcorder doesn’t a stellar job at any of these tasks should not come as a surprise, given the relatively cheap MSRP of $399. There are lots of caveats. The video, for instance, has a very low resolution, even for its meager specs. If the footage is destined for YouTube, it will look fine. But if you’re thinking of blowing this up on your new 50-inch HDTV, be prepared for disappointment.

The stand-out features – being waterproof and shockproof – also have limits. It’s submersible to five feet, so you can’t take this in the deep end of the pool. (Be careful, too, because the camcorder sinks if you drop it.) The camcorder can definitely take a fall onto hard surfaces, but that has its limits. A five foot drop to carpet? Sure. The solid state recording means no skipping or easily damaged data. But a ten foot drop to concrete? Probably not.

Because the designers had to worry about waterproofing the body, the SDR-SW20’s handling is less than ideal. The traditional joystick has been replaced with a less effective and awkwardly placed directional pad. All of the buttons are small. The design also omits the standard hand grip, so you’ll want to tether this to your wrist to avoid dropping it.

Overall, the Panasonic SDR-SW20 is a solid performer for a specific audience. Adventure seekers, vacationers at water parks, and snorkelers will have their needs met. Point and shooters will appreciate the fast auto responses, and there are enough manual controls to keep advanced shooters satisfied.

 

 

 

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