In daylight, the camcorder showed excellent responses to changing light and focus. The lowlight performance was predictably poor, with lots of detail loss and grainy looking video. This is a tough little camcorder, though. We dropped it, sunk it, and gave it a rough going over. It took the abuse. For the right market, this could be the camcorder to consider.
The Front (3.5)
The SDR-SW20 looks like a retro flashlight with its two-tone color scheme and rectangular design. You won’t find many external features on this pocket-size cam, due to its highly compact size and specialized underwater design. The SDR-SW20’s 10x optical zoom lens has an aperture range of f/1.8-f/2.4 and is capable of the following focal lengths:
43.9mm – 439mm (4:3 / 16:9 Video) 43.7mm – 437mm
The SDR-SW20’s built-in stereo microphone is located below the lens. Have no fear—the microphone is waterproof. You may not be able to hear distinct words and particular sounds while submerged in the Atlantic, but the glug-glug of underwater audio is definitely charming.
The Right Side (4.5)
On the right side, the SDR-SW20 harbors an extra Record Start/Stop button toward the lens-end of the camcorder. While an unusual location for a record button, shooters who want to hold the SDR-SW20 from underneath will take advantage of this alternative position. Avid swimmers/cinematographers will most likely utilize this Record Start/Stop button to their advantage—the breaststroke is uninviting for traditional camcorder grip.
You’ll notice that the SDR-SW20 is devoid of a hand strap. Alternatively, Panasonic offers a wrist strap that can be worn like a bracelet. This doesn’t help with gripping, just drop-prevention. The SDR-SW20 is shockproof up to four feet, so if you’re highly prone to accidents, take extra caution. If you let it loose in the water, remember that it’s only rated to a depth of five feet.
At the back end of the SDR-SW20 you’ll find a rectangular plastic door that opens via a small plastic tab. Underneath the door is the AV out, USB, and DC in terminals. At least Panasonic didn’t throw these ports in the battery chamber—a crucial design flaw that plagues most of its camcorders.
The Back (3.5)
The chrome Record Start/Stop button is the only area of activity here at the SDR-SW20’s minimalist back end. You can access the Mode dial here, but we’ll cover that in the next section.
The Left Side (4.5)
Nearly all of the manual controls and menu interface are located here on the left side, hidden in the LCD cavity. Once you flip open the SDR-SW20’s 2.7-inch LCD screen and lunge into the LCD cavity, you’ll be transported back to the days of joystick-less panel control. The SDR-SW20 is one of the few Panasonics not to feature a Joystick, and shooters will pay for it when they attempt to navigate with the clunky control buttons. Obviously, the designers had to make some concessions in order to keep the integrity of the waterproofing, but it comes at the expense of handling. We recommend configuring all your manual control settings before you dive in. Automatic control will probably be your friend in most situations.
The round control panel is located in the middle of the LCD cavity and contains the four-way directional pad and selection button, and following buttons: Manual AF/MF, Auto, Underwater, and Menu. The Delete button is located outside of the control circle and the round mode dial is situated at the top right corner of the LCD cavity.
The Top (3.75)
Up top, a Zoom toggle is all you get. The SDR-SW20’s zoom rocker is thin plastic strip that rocks forward and backward to zoom in and out. The rocker is very small, even for the diminutive size of the body, and won’t be a great solution for tightly controlled zooming.
The Bottom
The bottom of the SDR-SW20 holds hidden treasure. Here, a thin plastic enclosure pop opens via a small sliding tab to reveal the SDR-SW20’s non-upgradeable battery and SD/SDHC card slot. A rubber gasket lines the enclosure, acting as a waterproof seal.