Review : Panasonic VDR-D300 Camcorder

The Panasonic VDR-D300 is very small, especially when considering the fact that it has a mini-DVD drive and is a three CCD player and recorder. The The Panasonic VDR-D300 is designed for comfortable extended usage, with all the controls located at one spot and can be manipulated with your thumb or forefinger easily. Another good things about The Panasonic VDR-D300 is the weight of the camera - coming to a little under 1.5 lbs (including the disk and battery), it is pretty comgortable for extended shooting, especially with the nice curves on it that make it easy to handle and light on your forearms. While The Panasonic VDR-D300 has a silver plastic shell, it still feels pretty solid and it seems like it will last a long time.

The Panasonic VDR-D300 has a small joystick (five-way) on the back of the camera to help go through the menu and actually makes it pretty easy to navigate through it. It also helps give the Panasonic VDR-D300 a clean, no-clutter appearance. One good change that Panasonic makes with the Panasonic VDR-D300 is the text labeling of different icons and buttons to help clarify what they really mean. And with the joystick instead of the usual buttons, it makes it very easy and comfortable to select different functions and options like the macro control

T he Panasonic VDR-D300 has a very high quality imaging (three 800,000 pixel 1/6inch CCD), even though that is balanced out by just a 10x optical zoom on it, which is below average for a camcorder.

The Panasonic VDR-D300 lends itself well to tripod use. The DVD door opens at the top and the battery snaps on the back, so only the SD card slot is blocked when it's mounted on a tripod. T he Panasonic VDR-D300 features a very useful automatic mode for shooting videos and taking quick photos, along with different scne modes which include snow, sand, sports and more. The Panasonic VDR-D300 also provides manual settings for adjusting the white-balance and shutter speed. And given the fact that you can use it on a tripod because everything is on the back or the top of the camera other than the SD card slot, you will have some good shooting times with this camera.

You can record media on the Panasonic VDR-D300 on DVD-R/RW/RAM. DVD-RAM is compatible with only very few selct top DVD players, so the best option (at least according to me) is to go with the DVD-RW which allows overwriting of stuff.

T he Panasonic VDR-D300 can take pictures at a resolution of 3.1 MP and also has another setting of 2.2 MP 16:9 wide-screen mode. The Panasonic VDR-D300 has quick autofocusing and white-balance adjustment that makes it a breeze to use. Another good feature of the Panasonic VDR-D300 is the noise-reducing microphone that helps record sounds exceptionally well. And the microphone also has a zoom in feature to help focus on a specific subject's voice of sound instead of the cameraman.

The battery life of the Panasonic VDR-D300 is also exceptional with the normal batteries lasting nearly one and half hours, and the extra battery pack taking it to over 2.5 hours. It's a shame that the mini-DVDs can record only half an hour or so at a go though.

All in all, the Panasonic VDR-D300 is one of the best camcorders available out there - it's small, it's loaded with features, it's easy to use, and it is affordable considering all that you get with it (it is available for $699-$899 based on the outlet and extras). There are hardly any other camcorders that even come close to it.