Panasonic HDC-SD40K Review

The Panasonic HDC-SD40K is Panasonic’s smallest and lightest camcorder at 1.8 pounds. It’s very easy to carry around and very easy to use with the automatic just point and shoot settings. Most importantly, the HDC-SD40K takes excellent quality 1920 x 1080 Hi-Def video.  In my opinion Panasonic has the best technology and is the industry leader for producing high quality video.

The SD40K has unusually long battery life for a camcorder in this class, you can shoot for approximately 135 minutes with a single battery charge. The one negative for this camcorder is that there is no internal memory, you need to have a separate SD card. You can purchase an 8GB card for as low as $8 that will record around 100 minutes of HD video.

 16.8x Zoom

This camcorder features a good quality 16.8x optical zoom lens, a very attractive feature for this low price range.

Effective Image Stabilization

A problem for most camcorders in the lower price ranges is that using the zoom will result in very shaky video, but the SD40K has very effective image stabilization which produces smooth video even while using the 16.8x zoom.

Click the following link to see price and reviews on Amazon: Panasonic HDC-SD40K on Amazon

 LCD Screen

The 2.7 inch LCD screen provides a bright, sharp image and is quite intuitive to use.

Connect straight to your HDTV

There is a HDMI (mini out) connector that enables you to directly connect to your HDTV to view your videos.

 Summary

There are 4 reviews on Amazon right now for this relatively new camcorder, 2 give the SD40K the highest 5 star rating and 2 give it a 4 star rating. The camcorder is very easy to carry around, easy to use and it produces excellent quality hi-def video. Very strong zoom and image stabilization for under $250, this deal is tough to beat.