We could have thought that DVD camcorders would quickly replace cassette models; however, these are rapidly making way for those which use hard drives or memory cards.  The Panasonic SDR-H250 combines the two recording modes in a relatively compact camcorder.  Is this the ideal beginner’s model?

Handling

The SDR-H250 has a rounded rectangular shape that while it offers a firm grip, is neither light nor too discreet.  Either way, in hand this camcorder is very enjoyable and has the ideal placement of buttons.  The dial accompanied by a joystick allows almost total control of the SDR-H250.  Like on numerous Panasonic models, most manual settings are accessible via menus and there are practically no shortcuts.  Manual controls (white balance, iris and shutter settings) are indeed an option but you will have to go through menus to use them.  The location of the battery lengthened the shape of this camcorder but it especially hides the USB connection (behind the battery). This means that you will have to plug it into the wall to transfer data to your PC.  We also noted the absence of a viewfinder and the rather poor definition LCD (hard to manually focus) whose viewing angles are rather small.  As is commonly the case for general public models, there is no headphone or microphone jack for more precise control of sound.  Finally, note that it is impossible to change the memory card if the camcorder is placed on a tripod.

Image quality

Images produced by the SDR-H250 are of good quality but precision is still inferior to that of the Sony DSC-SR190.  Colors are flattering with some saturation and actually a slightly cooler white balance reinforces this impression.  The SDR-H250 is relatively sensitive but grain rapidly invades the image.  Also, like on most Panasonic camcorders optical stabilization functions perfectly. As for the photo mode, it produces 3 million pixel files that are of honest quality but there is rather soft rendering on the sides.