An external remote simplifies playback control and can also be used for recording - handy if you want to set the D-Snap in a hidden place and play Alan Funt. For family gatherings, the camera’s AV output connects to any composite audio-video input. A speaker on the top delivers usable sound for on-the-spot playbacks. The record button is more conveniently situated at the top of the rear panel where you can press it with your thumb. Because they’re so close to the screen, it’s slightly awkward to manipulate the buttons. A button panel facing the LCD provides easy access to the camera’s main playback features. The 2.5-inch LCD screen flips out and swivels to accommodate almost any shooting angle it’s bright and crisp. The camera’s design is simple and compact. Trying to take a snapshot of a toddler in motion is an exercise in frustration. The resulting pictures are predictably poor and blurry, especially in low light. The shutter delay is about 1.5 seconds, and the camera takes another one or two seconds to recover from each shot. The D-Snap also takes still photos, though they’re relatively small (640 x 480 pixels). If you’re intent on re-creating the style of early silent movies, you might like this feature otherwise, it’s mostly a gimmick. Whatever the setting, the MPEG-4 movies are grainy and jumpy. (1GB cards are in the works from Panasonic and SanDisk, but pricing has not been announced.)įor longer recordings, you can use the D-Snap’s MPEG-4 mode, which captures images at resolutions from 176 x 144 pixels to 320 x 240 pixels, for one to 10 hours of recording time. Additional capacity is pricey: a 512MB card from SimpleTech will run you about $285. That isn’t much if you’re trying to record someone’s wedding, graduation, or birth. However, you’ll fill up the included 512MB Secure Digital card in about 20 minutes (10 minutes in fine quality mode). Aided in part by the camera’s built-in image stabilization electronics, the quality of these videos is remarkably good, comparable with tape, although not quite the DVD quality touted by the manufacturer. The SV-AV100’s most useful feature is MPEG-2 video recording, which it performs either at 352 x 480-pixels at 30 frames per second (normal) or 704 x 480-pixels at 30 frames per second (fine). You may not consider this an advantage, but your extended family will. It’s no more obtrusive to operate than a digital still camera, and its limited recording capacity means that you have to choose your shots carefully. A little thicker than a tin of Altoids, the D-Snap packs VHS-quality video recording in a package small enough to fit in your pants pocket. The Panasonic SV-AV100 D-Snap SD Video Camcorder will win beauty contests for its size as well as the brevity of its recordings. After all, it’s the sheer capacity of videotape that enables Uncle Phil to make the family sit through the entire three hours of your cousin’s second wedding. When it comes to home videos - and the camcorders that make them - smaller really is better.
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