Digital Trends

Panasonic VDR-D300 May 4th, 2006 | by David Elrich

Features and Design

The VDR-D300 is a very solid piece of equipment, weighing 23.2 ounces with battery and disc. Although the weight is reassuring forget about spur of the moment videos; this one—like all camcorders—requires a commitment by you, the budding director. The DVD Palmcorder has a plastic and metal silver body with dashes of dark gray. Since it uses 3-inch blank DVDs, the camcorder is quite tall. It measures 2.5 x 3.4 x 5.4 (WHD, in inches).

The standout features of this camcorder are not readily apparent other than the “3CCD” and “Mega O.I.S.” logos on the side of the lens barrel. The VDR-D300 uses a trio of 1/6^th-inch 800K pixel CCDs for turning digital signals into video. Each chip handles a specific color (red, green, blue) for better results than the vast majority of single chip MiniDV and DVD camcorders. Some models like the Sony DCR-HC96 have large 1/3rd-inch CCDs rated 3.1-megapixels delivering excellent results. Remember: just as in digital cameras, the larger the imaging device the better the quality and lower the noise. Mega Optical Image Stabilization is a wonder. Rather than electronic stabilizers that have the potential to degrade image quality, Mega O.I.S. physically adjusts the lens in order to reduce jitter with no impact on video quality. Very cool.   

The front of the VDR-D300 is dominated by a 10x Leica Dicomar optical zoom. It's the only Panasonic DVD model with this higher-quality lens. You'll also find a flash for better stills, a stereo mic and a compartment covering the A/V and USB outputs as well as mic input for an accessory microphone. The latch on this door is a bit flimsy. The right side is fairly plain because it covers the disc compartment although there is a disc eject key. The left is also clean since it's primarily the 2.7-inch widescreen LCD monitor (rated an OK 123K pixels). Open the LCD--which is for display only not a touch screen like the Sony DCR-HC96 —you'll find the auto/manual focus switch, a power switch to increase the brightness of the LCD and a built-in speaker. The top has a cold accessory shoe, a wide/tele switch and a Photo Shot button for taking stills (2048 x 1512 pixels is the maximum in 4:3 mode; it takes 16:9 images with a drop in resolution to 1920 x 1080). Given the hefty price of this camcorder, it was surprising there was no hot shoe. Oh well, guess you can't have everything, even for a thousand bucks.

It's at the rear of the camcorder that things get more interesting. Along with the usual power and record keys, there's a very well-designed mode dial with a joystick control. This joystick lets you easily navigate through the onscreen menus that are for the most part logically designed. Panasonic engineers get a blue-ribbon for this system. There are four operating modes to choose from including recording videos and stills as well as playing them back. There's a pullout .3-inch electronic viewfinder rated 123K pixels with a diopter control and a spot for the lithium ion battery that's rated to last for 85 minutes in best quality video mode (XP). There are delete and menu keys too. On the bottom of the camcorder you'll find an SD card slot (also with a flimsy latch) and a tripod mount.

The VDR-D300 really comes with everything you need including a battery/charger, DC cable, remote, shoulder strap, A/V and USB cables, a 3-inch DVD-RAM disc, a software CD ROM and a 180page owner's manual. Of note is the A/V cable which has an S-video output for better results when viewing directly on a TV. You'll have to buy an SD card for capturing stills.

You may have noticed Panasonic supplies a DVD-RAM disc. Unlike competing Sonys, Panasonic and Hitachi use this rewritable format in their DVD cams. Several years ago, the company had high hopes this would be the de facto DVD recording format but it never happened. To ensure compatibility with many more DVD players, the VDR-D300 also accepts DVD-R and —RW media. Loading a RAM disc and a 2GB Kingston SD card it was time to record video and stills.

Image Courtesy of Panasonic