Panasonic SDR-S26

The SDR-S26 has what Pansonic calls “Ultra Zoom” – that’s 70x optical zoom to you and me.. On their website Panasonic have a demonstration showing the camera zooming in on the Moon.

The S26 comes in a range of colours and offers software for easy uploading to YouTube – although this is hardly groundbreaking stuff.

At the end of the day, the S26 is a reasonable camera from a reasonably good camcorder manufacturer. It’s in Standard Definition though at a time when the market is looking towards High Definition.

Pros: a decent camera at a decent price; incredible 70x optical zoom.

Cons: Not great at low natural light (it becomes grainy with noise) but most camcorders do. The lense cap isn't automatic and will annoy some people.

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