50x Optical zoom
This 50x zoom lens has the power you need to take dramatic close-ups or get remarkable shots of even distant subjects. But with long-distance zoom shots, even a tiny bit of hand shake has a huge effect on picture quality. That's where image stabilization comes in. Panasonic's Advanced O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilization) shifts a corrective lens as you shoot to eliminate the effects of hand shake, so you get clear, sharp, blur-free shots even at high zoom levels. It's an essential feature for getting the most out of this incredible zoom lens.
Note: SDR-H40 has a 42x optical zoom.
Advanced O.I.S. (Optical image stabilizer)
Panasonic's Advanced O.I.S. is a new image stabilizing function that achieves around eight times higher precision than our previous system. The system uses gyro-sensors to detect hand-shake, then shifts a lens and adjusts its optical axis to compensate. And while our previous system checked and compensated for hand-shake around 500 times per second, the new Advanced O.I.S. works around 4,000 times per second. Advanced O.I.S. enables finer, more effective hand-shake compensation. Also, because the system is optical, image quality is not lost. With Advanced O.I.S., you'll capture images that are clear, sharp and beautiful on a big screen TV.
O.I.S. Lens
The lens moves up/down or left/right and bends the incoming light to correct hand-shake. The hand-shake correction frequency has been increased from 500 to 4,000 times per second.
High-quality MPEG2 engine
Panasonic's MPEG2 engine is a wide-range, high-precision search engine that produces smooth, beautiful motion pictures. Because it precisely records the differences in each frame, it can render fast, complex motions - like those of athletes in the thick of the action - with exceptional precision. The MPEG2 engine also uses Variable Bit Rate technology that Panasonic developed for the high-end DIGA DVD recorder. Giving LP recordings nearly twice the resolution captured with previous Panasonic camcorders, this lets the camcorder record clear, smoothly flowing pictures.
High-quality wide mode (16:9) and 2.7” LCD
Advanced wide mode produces images that make for beautiful, dramatic viewing on a wide-screen TV. The CCD also feature a wide 2.7” LCD, making it easier to frame shots when shooting in 16:9 mode. You can enjoy shooting and viewing in wide (16:9) mode.
Pure colour engine
The Pure Colour Engine LSI converts the CCD output signal from a complementary colour filter into an RGB signal (containing the three primary colours in light) at an early stage and extracts the low-frequency luminance component from the RGB signal. This innovative engine also achieves truly superb colour reproduction for high-zoomed pictures.
Recording functions
Edit with disc navigator
You can do some polished editing using just the camera itself. For example, you can delete scenes right on the spot or change the scene sequence to create your own scenarios.
Playlist edit
It is easy to change the sequence of the scenes you've recorded, and then play them back. (You can record up to 99 sequencing patterns on each side of the disc for easy playback.)
Easy deleting
This function makes it easy to delete the scenes you don't want and to save the ones you do. You can also split up motion pictures and delete only parts of them.
Hard disk drive
Holding as much as 43 DVD discs (SDR-H60: 60GB1), the internal hard disk lets you record continuously for up to 54 hours2 without changing a disc, tape or other recording media.
1 A 60GB hard disk utilizes a portion of the storage space for formatting and other purposes. Usable capacity will be less. 1 GB means 1,000,000,000 bytes. 2 In LP mode.
Anti-shock shield
Helps to protect recorded video data from damage due to jolts and impact. The drop detect function senses if the camera is falling and moves the head away from the hard disk and the floating structure protects the hard disk, should the camera fall or be dropped. Also, the buffer memory automatically backs up data, while the camera is falling.
Help mode
Not sure what a certain icon means? Just switch on the Help mode and select the icon. It's explained for you on the LCD monitor. This makes it easier to learn the icons, and you spend less time reading the operating manual.
MagicPix® Images
MagicPix® Images gives you smoothly flowing pictures even in dark places, where it's normally difficult to capture good shots.
One-touch navigation and joystick control
The joystick makes the camcorder very easy to use. As you shoot, just watch the image in the monitor and follow the navigation icon. You can handle a number of operations quickly and easily without taking your eyes off the subject.
PRE-REC function
This clever new function records three seconds of images even before you actually begin shooting. The images are held temporarily in the camcorder's internal memory, before recording onto the SDHC/SD Memory Card begins. This helps ensure that you won't miss the start of a moment you want to record, such as when an event begins all of a sudden.
Power LCD Plus
You can set the 2.7” widescreen LCD to any of five brightness levels for optimal viewing in a variety of lighting conditions. When shooting outdoors on a sunny day, make the LCD brighter. When shooting indoors, lower it. This not only makes the LCD easier to see, it’s also easier on your eyes.
Quick search & access with Disk navigator
Unlike videotape, you don’t need to rewind or fast-forward to search for specific scenes. The video camera LCD screen displays a list of the recorded scenes for quick and easy searching.
Editing functions
These HDD models record in VBR format. VBR (variable bit rate) recording automatically varies the bit rate (amount of data in a fixed time) depending on the subject being recorded. This means if a subject with sharp movements is recorded, the recording time is reduced.
Moving image recording time (approx.)
Capacity / Image quality
HDD
SDHC memory card
SD memory card
40GB*
60GB*
16GB*
8GB*
4GB*
2GB*
1GB*
XP (Super fine)
9 h
14 h
3 h 20 min
1 h 40 min
50 min
25 min
12 min
SP (Fine)
18 h
27 h
6 h 40 min
3 h 20 min
1 h 40 min
50 min
25 min
LP (Normal)
36 h
54 h
13 h 20 min
6 h 40 min
3 h 20 min
1 h 40 min
50 min
* Usable capacity will be less.
Note: These figures vary depending on the pictures being recorded.
One-touch DVD copying
The HDD camcorder's USB Host function lets you connect directly to a DVD burner via a USB cable. You can then copy recordings from the hard disk to a DVD disc by simply pressing a button.
VideoCam suite 1.0 Transfer data
You can transfer the moving image data from the SDHC/SD memory card or HDD directly to your PC.
Edit
It’s easy to put scenes in a different order and delete the ones you don’t want.
Save the results
When you are finished with your video production, you can save the edited version onto an SD memory card or a DVD disc.
Panasonic's Advanced O.I.S. is a new image stabilizing function that achieves around eight times higher precision than our previous system. The system uses gyro-sensors to detect hand-shake, then shifts a lens and adjusts its optical axis to compensate. And while our previous system checked and compensated for hand-shake around 500 times per second, the new Advanced O.I.S. works around 4,000 times per second. Advanced O.I.S. enables finer, more effective hand-shake compensation. Also, because the system is optical, image quality is not lost. With Advanced O.I.S., you'll capture images that are clear, sharp and beautiful on a big screen TV.
O.I.S. Lens 
Panasonic's MPEG2 engine is a wide-range, high-precision search engine that produces smooth, beautiful motion pictures. Because it precisely records the differences in each frame, it can render fast, complex motions - like those of athletes in the thick of the action - with exceptional precision. The MPEG2 engine also uses Variable Bit Rate technology that Panasonic developed for the high-end DIGA DVD recorder. Giving LP recordings nearly twice the resolution captured with previous Panasonic camcorders, this lets the camcorder record clear, smoothly flowing pictures.
The Pure Colour Engine LSI converts the CCD output signal from a complementary colour filter into an RGB signal (containing the three primary colours in light) at an early stage and extracts the low-frequency luminance component from the RGB signal. This innovative engine also achieves truly superb colour reproduction for high-zoomed pictures.
Helps to protect recorded video data from damage due to jolts and impact. The drop detect function senses if the camera is falling and moves the head away from the hard disk and the floating structure protects the hard disk, should the camera fall or be dropped. Also, the buffer memory automatically backs up data, while the camera is falling.
Help mode
This clever new function records three seconds of images even before you actually begin shooting. The images are held temporarily in the camcorder's internal memory, before recording onto the SDHC/SD Memory Card begins. This helps ensure that you won't miss the start of a moment you want to record, such as when an event begins all of a sudden.
Power LCD Plus
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