Panasonic HM-TA20 underwater camcorder

Pocket camcorders might have lost their appeal since the spread of HD-ready smartphones but the amphibious nature of the Panasonic HM-TA20 is still likely to grab the attention of holidaymakers. The HM-TA20 is an underwater pocket camcorder capable of shooting 1080p videos and 8Mp still images up to depth of 3m and also doubles …

[Voland's right hand]

3m - no thanks

That is less than a shallow dive with a snorkel.

If it was 10 I would have bought it straight away.

Three? What's the point? That's not for diving, that is for dipping in a puddle while pretending to do "extreme" sports.

[Some Beggar]

Meh.

This is "splash proof" rather than "underwater".

[David Gosnell]

Interpolated megapixellage

How... quaint. I'd forgotten about that from the 1990s!

[Alex Walsh]

3m?

That's not underwater, that's splashproof. depth is sorted by pressure isn't it? Moving the thing underwater will generate more pressure than holding it still, so you'll be lucky with a puddle. Get an proper enclosure for your existing camera.

[Graham Bartlett]

@Voland

+1 there. 3m is not even the deep end in most swimming pools.Snorkelling, 3m is not even trying.

I'm not any kind of expert, but I've been down to 12m just on a good deep breath. I know it was 12m bcos the boat had a depth sounder on it. My mum dropped a shoe over the stern while we were moored and muggins volunteered to go retrieve it. (Memo: If you drop something slightly floaty, reach for it straight away. Don't flap around like a demented chicken, shouting "oh no, I've dropped it, I've dropped it", while it slowly sinks out of easy reach...)

There are *so* many waterproof cameras that are *so* much cheaper than this. Most are probably not great quality, but I'd rather use something that started life as a proper camera, instead of a half-arsed attempt derived from a cheapjack phone. Or buy a waterproof case for whatever camera you've got - plenty of good waterproof cases for cheaper than this PoS.

Beer icon, bcos I wouldn't trust this gadget in a pint glass, never mind anything deeper.

[Brian 6]

Meh

There is absolutely no chance that u dived down 12 meters to retrieve a shoe on just a deep breath.

[Some Beggar]

[deliberately ignores troll face]

Good luck getting a capacitive touch screen to work under water.

[Scott Mckenzie]

Depth

3m is enough for your average person swimming in the sea/pool or who's going snorkelling.

Sure if you're more into it then great, but i'd wager the number of people who can dive to a depth of 3m, swim around a bit and film it is not that high!

Footage isn't that amazing for extreme sports folks anyway, but again is good enough for family usage.

If the footage was any better, that video would have to be classed as NSFW anyway!

[Anonymous Coward]

Was the girl swimming underwater looking for her bikini top?

[Scott Mckenzie]

Indeed!

Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed....

[Rob G]

Sounds better than the Playsport

So the price is certainly hiked somewhat but at least the audio is better than my (original) Kodak Playsport, which features a very crap mono mic. Apparently the newer one is slightly better in that department but still mono. A plus for the old one is the fact you can swap the battery out.

The stereo sound from the sample video didn't seem that bad at all.

[Robert E A Harvey]

flat nonsense

I really don't understand this flat video camera layout.

How are you supposed to hold it steady, look at the screen, and do things like pan or zoom?