Panasonic SDR-S26

387 reviews

May, 2013

Positive
Image quality (61)
Value for money (9)
Portability (9)
Usability (8)
Zoom (7)

Negative
Features (5)

General overview
Price comparison
Product Specifications

alaTest has collected and analyzed 387 reviews from magazines and websites. People are impressed by the zoom and usability. The portability and value for money also get good opinions, but some have doubts about the features.

image quality, value for money, portability, usability, zoom

features

We analyzed user and expert ratings, product age and more factors. Compared to other Camcorders the Panasonic SDR-S26 is awarded an overall alaScore™ of 87/100 = Very good quality.

See all Panasonic Camcorders

Review analysis

(Based on 387 reviews)

Expert Reviews

User Reviews

Review Ratings

(39% of reviews)
Show all 5 star reviews (27% of reviews)
Show all 4 star reviews (16% of reviews)
Show all 3 star reviews (8% of reviews)
Show all 2 star reviews (11% of reviews)
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Features

Image quality
Show positive (37%)Show negative (6%)(Show all)

Value for money
Show positive (53%)Show negative (7%)(Show all)

Portability
Show positive (49%)Show negative (1%)(Show all)

Usability
Show positive (70%)None yet(Show all)

Zoom
Show positive (43%)Show negative (1%)(Show all)

More features

Showing 308 review(s)

Expert Reviews User Reviews

Showing 1 - 10 of 308 Show Reviews: in English | in other languages (82)

Expert review by: Jeremy Stamas (reviewed.com)

Panasonic SDR-S26

70x zoom, and lots of controls, but performance and handling leave a lot to be desired

Gigantic 70x optical zoom; A host of manual controls

Actually adjusting those controls is hard; Terrible sharpness

We were impressed by the huge, 70x optical zoom on the SDR-S26, but the camcorder failed to deliver the goods when it came to video performance. In low light, the camcorder simply didn’t produce a pleasant image, and in bright light it measured the...

Jan, 2010

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Expert review by: Jeremy Stamas (camcorderinfo.com)

Panasonic SDR-S26 Camcorder Review

We know you may be wondering why we're reviewing a 2009 camcorder when we're already a couple of weeks into 2010. Since most of the new 2010 models are still a few months from hitting the shelves, we felt there was still a considerable market for the...

Jan, 2010

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Consumer review by: laura1964-2009 (cnet.com)

Terrible Picture Quality

Purchased this on recommendation of salesperson from store ( and it was on sale). Never accept a recommendation from someone you don't know. This guy apparently had never seen the quality of the video on a TV. Returned it and purchased a Canon FS20....

small, lightweight, easy start up

picture quality was terrible. very grainy and low lit

Jan, 2010

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Consumer review by: BridgesSL (cnet.com)

Poor, poor quality video.

Wish I had read prior reviews before buying but Best Buy let us exchange it with other camera we were looking at with no hassles or extra charges.

This was definitely a case of you get what you pay for...camera with 70x zoom under $200. It was too good to be true

The video quality was horrible. Lighting was a big issue and images were very shaky

Dec, 2009

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Consumer review by: jsd80 (cnet.com)

Small light weight and easy to use

Don't go near this camera if you value your memories.

priced under $300

Very poor picture and filming quality, and when your memories count you only have one sot to capture it in. Very disappointed in this camcorder

Aug, 2009

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Consumer review by: Mayasdad (cnet.com)

Not Good Enough

Pay more and get a High Definition camera....

Easy to use, very small and compact, good manual. 70x zoom

The picture quality is just simply not good enough. In this age of HD flat screen TVs the quality is just very disappointing... Even on a bright day, the video looks like a copy of an analog video. The fact this has a 70x zoom is really a gimmick

Aug, 2009

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Consumer review by: (amazon.com)

Amazon review summary for the Panasonic SDR-S26

alaTest has collected and analyzed 116 user reviews of the Panasonic SDR-S26 from Amazon.com. The average user rating for this product is 3.5/5, compared to an average user rating of 4.0/5 for other products on Amazon.com.

zoom, value for money, usability, portability, battery

69% of reviews on Amazon.com give this product a positive rating.

May, 2013

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Consumer review by: Michael Penney (amazon.com)

Great camera terrible -really terrible software

Te zoom is great, the optics are fine for a cam with a zoom of this power. Obviously low light will suffer when zoomed, but we have been able to get some incredible shots with this camer. Unfornatunatley the software for viewing those shots is right...

Apr, 2012

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Consumer review by: N. Covolan (amazon.com)

Amazing Camcorder

I gave this camcorder as gift to my son and he got very happy. Someday latter I needed to record one event and borrowed from him and I got amazed for the quality of video and sound. Camcorder is compact, easy to use, easy to carry to everywhere and fit...

Apr, 2012

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Consumer review by: BSC (amazon.com)

About as good as expected

I've been using this camera for nearly two years now and I'm pretty satisfied with it. The one thing that lead me to buy Panasonic was that I had good low-light performance from a previous Panasonic camera and I was not disappointed by this one either....

Sep, 2011

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Product Specifications

The SD card camcorder, the SDR-S26, features a powerful 70x optical zoom combined with an advanced optical image stabilization system that corrects hand-shake around 4,000 times per second.The implemented intelligent auto mode function automatically activates several convenient shooting assist functions. These functions include advanced O.I.S.; face detection, which adjusts exposure settings in order to capture faces perfectly; and the intelligent scene selector, which determines shooting conditions and selects scene settings accordingly.The quick start function allows the SDR-S26 camcorder to begin recording just 0.8 second from the time the LCD is opened and this around a third of the time that it takes for a camcorder that records onto DVD discs to start, making it easier to catch those special moments that come with no warning - all in clear MPEG2 DVD quality.The SDR-S26 camcorder features the YouTube Uploader function that makes video uploading super easy! Simply set the camcorder to "Web Mode" and it will record the movie in a YouTube compatible format. After shooting connect the camcorder via USB to a PC and the YouTube Uploader automatically starts. Simply follow the procedure to upload your video clips to the YouTube video-sharing site.The SDR-S26 camcorder offers a function that simplifies the process of copying recordings from the memory card or hard disk drive to a DVD. No PC is required. A DVD disc created this way can be easily played directly from a DVD player.