Panasonic announces three ultra-zoom camcorders

CES 2009: Two HDD models, one SD card

8 January 2009 17:13 GMT / By Verity Burns

Panasonic has added a further three camcorders to its 2009 line-up, consisting of two HDD models and an SD card model, all of which feature the world's first 70x optical ultra-zoom lens.

All three models also include an advanced optical image stabilisation system which helps reduce blur and Panasonic's Intelligent Auto technologies, which detects the shooting conditions automatically and selects settings to suit.

Other features shared by the trio include Face Detection, which adjusts the exposure so faces are captured perfectly, the Intelligent Scene Selector, which determines which Scene mode will provide the optimal results, and easy YouTube upload.

While the SDR-S26 will require an SD card the SDR-H90 offers an 80GB internal HDD to record up to 72 hours of content, while the SDR-H80's 60GB internal HDD will capture up to 54 hours. Both HDD cameras have an anti-shock shield that protects the hard drives from the effects of any knocks or bangs.

All three camcorders are due to be released in April 2009, and currently it's only American pricing that has been released.

The SDR-H80 will have a pricetag of $449.95 (around £295) and will come in four colours, silver, black, red and blue models; while the SDR-90 will cost $499.95 (around £330) and come in black only. Finally, the SDR-S26 will be priced at $329.95 (around £215) and will come in champagne, black, blue and red models.

No European pricing has been announced just yet, but we'll update you when we get the information.

Full tags

Cameras, Camcorders, Panasonic, CES2009