Customer Ratings & Reviews

This HC-V380 is essentially the exact same camera as the HC-W580 with the exception of a few features: + 380 has manual, built-in lens cap (simply slide a switch), whereas the 580 has fully-automatic lens cap + 580 has sub-camera built into the view finder + 580 supports HDR (High Dynamic Range) The image stabilization in video mode worked incredibly well -- way better than anything else I have ever used -- up to the default 90X optical + intelligent zoom. You can actually enable a mode to allow up to 3000X with the digital zoom, but expect to use a tripod if you are zoomed anywhere close to that 3000X. Admittedly, it is not so good for photos. I found it difficult to press the shutter button without jostling the camera too much, especially when zoomed in, thus resulting in somewhat out-of-focus photos. But the video quality is awesome and I did not buy this to be a DSLR! If you want to be able to see some really cool detail in moon craters (using a tripod), or if you want to be able to take high-quality 1080p video of people on the field of a pro football stadium from the nosebleed section, this is the camcorder for you!

I purchashed this camera based on its reputation for use as a camera to record things that are as far away as 3/4 of a mile. I have used cameras with much higher zoom but this one works better than any others I have used. Even at full zoom at 1000 yards the picture is incredibly clear, even while being played on a TV. For the price, and for recording at distance, this camera would be tough to beat.

Only using it now for a couple of weeks but happy so far. FYI: The only thing out of the box is that there's no sd card included, I didn't catch that when I made the purchase.

Lightweight, simple to use, great results and very compact. The only downside is that I couldn’t find Panasonic original spare battery packs so I had to purchase a compatible one.