Panasonic SDR-S7

+ Small and compact, inexpensive

- Image quality is very very poor. It dosen't come close to our 10 year old HI 8 sony camcorder. A camcorder has to shoot good quality images before anything else so all the hype about SD card technology, size etc is a white elephant.

+ Ultra-light weight, small size, good image quality (Much better than the Samsung SD card Cam I tried).

- Sub 50min recording time from the battery, but this does pretty much match the recording time on my 4gb SDHC card. One the battery runs out my card is full too.

+ useful given the light weight

- Not the greatest image sharpness or battery

+ Can easily slip in pocket; no fuss to carry around and use. Simple menu system, clearly laid out and ideal for users who don't want dozens of options which they'd never use.

- The trigger is not ideally placed. The camera won't record without the screen extended (so not possible to film discreetly) Battery life poor compared to larger models .

+ ease of use battery life

- poor picture quality

+ Very small. No discs or CDs to store. One large memory card (16GB) Holds Hours of recordings.

- So small: where has it got to?

+ I'm not the most patient person with instruction manuals, but this camera was a cinch to get up and running. It's tiny, it's light and it works fine for everyday kind of videoing.

- The image quality isn't bad, and for the size and price it probably deserves a higher rating than I've given it, but like for like it can't really compete with more expensive models with better lenses. I'm undecided as to whether I think the manual lens cover is a minus point, but I guess it was done that way to help keep the prices down.

+ Really small size. Easy to work and an 8gb card gives tonnes of room if, like me, you're only making 2min clips at a time.

- The files are saved as .mod on the sd card. Would've been better if they were a file that was instantly recognised by media players (though they work fine once associated).

+ Incredibly small camcorder. Very simple to use. Perfect for impromptu recording of events.

- Image quality is slightly compramised - but to get equivalent size and usefulness you've got to spend a lot lot more.

+ Very light and easy to use

- Uncertain how waterproof it might be (used in field work)

+ Easy to use, light weight and fits easily in the palm of your hand.

- Battery life could be improved.

+ Size and weight brilliant. photo quality not that good but fine for what we want and good value for money.

- None does what it said it would

+ lightweight and easy to use - pick up and go.

- no SD included and no idication that one would not be included so couldn't use one until we got one

+ first camcorder and extremely easy to use. Very compact and light. Ideal for home use and catching special moments quickly when out-and-about.

- not too good at capturing images in slight shadow

+ very compact and easy to use

- auto exposure sometimes a bit dark. I would have preferred a bigger battery (it's tiny) at the expense of a bit more size and weight

+ Better than my old Hi8 camera, for outdoors.

- Indoor areas need to be well lit.

+ size weight fits in a pocket easy

- no view finder can be a bit awkward in bright light

+ Firstly it is so straight forward to use even a child wouldnt struggle with it. It is very very light which is not such a plus for a heavy handed person like myself but to most would be. The battery life is reasonable and the recording quality is great. Overall i am very pleased with this purchase.

- The only bad point i would say is the lens does not have much of a wide angle. I wasn't sure to what to expect on this front but found it hard to record the whole of one room because of this (for dancing purposes). The battery could do with lasting a little longer but spares are quite reasonably priced. Overall a fabulous basic camcorder.

+ The size - fits easily into my trousers

- Battery life could be better, but that would probally add to the weight and size

+ amazingly small and easy to use

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Small size Low weight Easy to use

- Complicated process to make DVD

+ Very easy to use, so easy. Very light and compact.

- None

+ Love the size. Lightweight, simple to use. Ideal first camcorder.

- Looks a bit plastic-ky. Think a case (even a basic one) should be included as standard.

+ I wanted an alternative video source to my Casio Exilim Ex-Z1200 still camera which produced quite good quality H.264 video but maximum of 10 minute continuous clips. The Panasonic video was not quite as good as the Casio but was still quite acceptable. The Panasonic is easy to use and pocketable with a decent viewfinder screen a 10 x optical zoom and a few useful colour balance and exposure manual options in the menus. I quite liked it but, alas, it was stolen a week after I bought it and I decided to replace it with a more expensive high definition AVCHD camera. If you are happy with standard definition the Panasonic SDRS7EB-K is amazingly small and quite good value for what it does.

- The .MOD "DV Quality" files produced by the Panasonic were twice the size of the Casio H.264 files for the same clip length and the video quality was not quite as good. Before importing the .MOD files into Sony Vegas Pro 8 edit suite I had to rename the .MOD files with a .MPEG extension and Vegas then recognised the files and worked fine with them.

+ Brilliant image quality, small and light - pick up and go!

- Cant think of any - if youre after lots of features maybe not for you

+ Small and easy to use, editing software is great and simple.

- None

+ Reviewer left no comment

- Doesn't take good quality images or footage in poor light.

+ Small, compact and light. Very good moving image and sound quality. Easy to operate. Good functionality. Supports SDHC memory cards.

- Relatively disappointing still image quality.

+ It's one of the smallest (quality) camcorders around, and the format it records in is easily dragged to your computer. It gives great image quality when used outdoors in daylight.

- Forget about filming in low light. Don't expect loads of features.

+ Easy too use

- Night time picture quality could be better

+ The size of it is amazing! It is absolutely tiny!

- None!

+ Size, Weight, SD card format

- Image quality, awkward to use

+ Easy to use, small and compact.

- Battery could be longer, it powers off within a minuet of the low battery warning.

+ Cheap, light and compact, can support high capacity memory cards.

- Poor battery life, shutter doesn't open and close automatically, doesn't save files as .mpg.

+ Very small fits in pocket easily

- None

+ Small and compact and light

- no bad points

+ Very small, very light, easy to use!

- None

+ compactness

- none so far

+ Excellent overall starter package, decent battery life and very easy to use, very light to handle as well.

- None.

+ very compact, easy to use SD card, easy to use video, easy to carry in a pocket, good quality pictures for price and size.

- none found.

+ It's cute, compact and easy to use just point & shoot!

- Not just any SD card works in the recorder - it likes to spit them out!

+ lightweight - easy use- small size

- very poor video quality, playback is extremly bad espcially if you have a lage lcd/plasma tv - image has high pixel distortion

+ Comes with excellent video editing software. Small size - fits into the palm of your hand so very light. Good image quality. Zoom works well.

- Nothing bad to report

+ Smaller than i would have imagined, even smaller than the average digital stills camere. Very impressive.

- So small, it makes it difficult to hold it steady!

+ Ideal size for storage, carrying and use. Excellent overall package for the compact size

- Nothing really - maybe just slightly longer battery power per charge

+ Very easy to get started and very compact.

- image quality isn't brilliant when played back on tv but is as good as can be expected for the price

+ Size and ease of use.

- None noticed.

+ I was looking for a simple video camera as a present. Key things that were important were: ease of use, long battery life, easy to transfer images to a computer. Out of the box the instructions were simple to follow. Operation is very straightforward. As the camera is small and light it is easy to brace it against your body and avoid camera shake. Battery life seems reasonable, but perhaps more charging is necessary than I expected.

- Can't say yet as we have not transferred any video to computer for processing. From looking at the screen the images seem reasonably clear, so the camera will probably be good enough for general family shots.