Regular readers will know of my fondness for manuals – the paper type that is. I have long maintained they should be supplied in a form making them immediately accessible when you need them; that is, they should be tucked away in the camera bag / backpack for easy access to read at a moment’s notice.

At no time has that been truer than right now playing with the Panasonic HX-WA10 waterproof camcorder. Most products we get as reviewers are not brand new. They have done the rounds of earlier reviewers in the pecking order and sometimes they arrive with no memory cards, USB or charging cables missing and so on. It’s rare, but it does happen.

Rarely though does one arrive with a memory full error. When it does, it can be very entertaining to see what previous reviewers have shot when it comes to camcorders. Funny what people get up to. And while the waterproof Panny did arrive in this state (memory full), I could not for the life of me figure out how to place it in play mode in order to delete whatever files were there.

This camera came sans manual which didn’t help.

Now switching from record to playback should be pretty obvious you would think yes? After 40 minutes I gave up and downloaded the manual from the ‘net. And there it was on Page 65. Well not quite, as the index pointed me to Page 65 which then told me to look at Page 40. It was actually on Page 42 in the end.

It seems the record button switches between record and playback as well as turning on the record action. I would never have picked that one and a rare user interface error for Panasonic engineers.

So what of the rest of the camera?

The design is of the pistol grip type with a lift up and swing around 2.6” monitor. Images are gathered by a ½.3”CMOS sensor with 16.9 megapixels. The lens is F3.5 ~F3.7 with a 5x optical zoom. The digital zoom is …. Oh who cares …. Image stabilisation is electronic not optical, and focus, white balance and iris can be operated either manually or set to automatic.

Controls are pretty basic; the back has the switches between still and video mode and a tele/wide rocker. Underneath the flipout screen, all controls (Menu, directional arrows, Set, Rec/Switch and On/Off) are membrane based to assist in the waterproofing of the camera. A mini-HDMI port and USB port are under a lockable panel cover as are the battery and SD card.

The bright orange and gunmetal grey body is made of an alloy and is quite heavy but easily held comfortably. Rounding everything off is a tripod mounting point and adjustable wrist strap.

The menu system is reasonably easy to follow and comprehensive. The only criticism I would have there is that as the camera is designated as waterproof to 3 metres if you are snorkelling, there is no way you can operate the menus with gloves on. Even the record on/off might be tricky as will the zoom rocker. To minimise this, I would be setting all the manual controls on the safety of dry land first.

Shooting underwater has its own set of challenges so don’t be too disheartened at your first few goes. Practice makes perfect and the two major things to recommend are framing your subject and light levels (and be aware the bright colours you see on TV shows about the Barrier Reef etc are due to artificial light!). Sadly the built in light is a flash only not a constant light. If using the HX WA 10 for stills underwater, make sure the flash is on.

And one last thing while on that subject. Have you ever seen the keys belonging to a boatie? They generally have a floaty device attached so that if they are dropped overboard, it’s not goodbye keys forever (have you priced a humble Holden car key lately?).

This camera – indeed all waterproof cameras I have tested – sinks. Quickly. If it goes beyond 3 metres + an unknown built in safety margin, it will probably either die, or be lost forever.

Get the idea?

At $499 it’s not a bad price for a multi-purpose camcorder-cum-camera. It is sturdily built, takes decent footage and as a weekender for the beach, water ski-ing or in the snow, does an admirable job.

Vendor: Panasonic Australia www.panasonic.com.au

We liked

Reasonable price, well balanced and easy to grip, bright colour to see if dropped, excellent manual controls

We disliked

Silly record multi-button, no light just a flash buttons may be cumbersome to use with gloves on, no HDMI cable supplied..

Auscam Scoreboard

• Performance                     8/10
• Documentation                 7/10
• Features                          7/10
• Setup                              7 /10
• Value for Money                8/10
• Help Functions.                 7/10

By David Hague

David is the owner and publisher of AusCam Online. He has a background in media dating back to 1979 when he first got involved with photojournalism in motorsport, and went from there into technology via a 5 year stint with Tandy Computers. Following that, he ran a software distribution company on the Gold Coast and was one of the first to recognise the potential of Microsoft Windows.

Moving back to WA, David wrote scripts for Computer Television for video training for the just released Windows and Office 95 among others, and was then lured to Sydney to create web sites for the newly commercial Internet in 1995, building hundreds of sites under contract to OzEmail including Coates Hire, Hertz Queensland, John Williamson, the NSW Board of Studies and many, many more.

He went back into full time journalism as the Managing Editor for Channel 7's 'Gadget Guy', Peter Blasina's publications VideoCamera and Pixelmag, before starting Australasian Camcorder magazine when these publications were shelved. He lives at Sydney's Avalon Beaches nearly on the ocean front with dog Budweiser and in his spare time is a nut for motor sport, road safety, fishing, science fiction - especially Dr Who - and technology.

David can be contacted via david@auscamonline.com