Panasonic today in Japan announced a total of 5 new digital camcorders (without saying anything about a possible release outside Nippon at some point).
Measuring just 58×108×68mm and weighing 300 grams, the SDR-H80 [JP] can surely be called an ultra-compact SD camcorder (pictured above). It features a 60GB HDD (enough to store a maximum of 54 hours of video), an SD/SDHC card slot (32GB max), 70x optical zoom, face recognition technology, a YouTube mode and a USB port.
The camcorder goes on sale in Japan February 5th (in silver, blue and red) and will cost $755.
Perhaps more of interest are the four full HD camcorders Panasonic also presented today [JP]. Next to boasting full HD resolution, all the devices feature a 3Mos sensor and 12x optical zoom.
There are some differences regarding recording media and price.
The HDC-HS300 is particularly well equipped with a 120GB HDD and an SD slot ($1,720).
The HDC-HS200 features a 80GB (and an SD card slot) and costs $1,500.
The HDC-TM300 works with internal flash memory (32GB, optional SD slot) and is priced at $1,600.
The HDC-SD200 has no no internal memory or hard disc but only features an SD card slot (price including an 8GB SD card: $1,400).