SDR-H40GC-S

This 42x zoom lens has the power you need to take dramatic closeups or get remarkable shots of even distant subjects. But with long-distance zoom shots, even a tiny bit of hand shake has a huge effect on picture quality. That's where image stabilization comes in. Panasonic's Advanced O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) shifts a corrective lens as you shoot to eliminate the effects of hand shake, so you get clear, sharp, blur-free shots even at high zoom levels. It's an essential feature for getting the most out of this incredible zoom lens.

Panasonic's Advanced O.I.S. is a new image stabilizing function that achieves around eight times higher precision than our previous system. The system uses gyro-sensors to detect handshake, then shifts a lens and adjusts its optical axis to compensate. Advanced O.I.S. enables finer, more effective hand-shake compensation.

The HDD camcorder's USB Host function lets you connect directly to a DVD burner via a USB cable. You can then copy recordings from the hard disk to a DVD disc by simply pressing a button.

The Crystal Engine is a special image processing circuit for 3CCD camera systems. It processes the R,G and B signals from the three CCDs individually, so it gives both moving and still pictures exceptional quality. And the Pure Colour Engine converts the CCD output signal from a complementary colour signal into an RGB signal at an early stage and extracts the low-frequency luminance component from the RGB signal. This innovative engine also achieves truly superb colour reproduction for high-zoomed pictures.

With One-Touch Navigation, just press the centre of the joystick to display an operating menu. The operations you use most often are right on the monitor, so it's easy to change settings or operate the camera without looking away from your subject.

Simply press the Power LCD button and the LCD becomes brighter, making it easier to see outdoors or in other brightlocations.

Power LCD Extra
Power LCD Extra lets you adjust the LCD brightness in two steps by simply pressing the Power LCD button. Plus 1 mode increases brightness by 80% for easy outdoor viewing, and Plus 2 mode emphasises contrast when shooting in strong sunlight conditions such as when skiing or at the beach.


Power LCD
Plus You can set the LCD to any of five brightness levels for optimal viewing in a variety of lighting conditions. When shooting outdoors on a sunny day, make the LCD brighter. When shooting indoors, lower it. This not only makes the LCD easier to see, it's also easier on your eyes.

When this function detects skin tones, it softens the focus in that area. This has a skin beautifying effect, which makes wrinkles and lines appear less noticeable. When turned on, this function makes blemishes and moles look less conspicuous, while preserving resolution in areas of the picture outside of the skin.

Leave the light off. Colour Night View gives you images with colour even in dim lighting (1 lux). Light from the LCD is gentle and easy on the eyes, so you can snap shots of sleeping children without waking them up.