Waterproof camcorders: tough enough or digital bluff?

Natalie Ashett    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts, Travel Gear     camcorder, cameras, climbing, Scuba Diving, white water rafting, whitewater rafting

Guest blogger Natalie jumped at the chance to test the latest generation of waterproof camcorders designed to take the rough and tumble of adventure sports…

Adventure sports and technology don’t always go hand in hand. Being able to climb to 3000 ft is no mean feat, but it’s not always the best environment to start fumbling around with gizmos and gadgets.

Waterproof HD pics and clips

Being able to record stunning vids of the Great Barrier Reef while snorkelling, or pictures of your friends’ faces while you’re white-water rafting is usually a good enough reason to get clicking – but what do the clips look like? And how do these ‘ruggedized’ movie makers perform under pressure?

The problem with mixing expensive equipment with adventure sports is that there’s always a chance that your precious piece of kit could end up in gadget heaven. Drum roll the clever people at Panasonic who’s latest range of hard-wearing, waterproof, touch screen cameras and upright HD camcorders are designed to be used ‘in-action’.

As a technophobe with a slightly pathological fear of heights, I was delighted to be invited along to Go-Ape Adventure Park to try out their new range of cameras 15 metres (45 ft) in the air. Throw in the fact that we were blessed with typical British summer weather – monsoon storms and a little bit of thunder – and it was my idea of a perfect day.

My reason for not mixing too closely with technology comes down to the fact that I have a very profound ‘oops gene’, in others words, everything that I touch gets dropped, heavily, and sometimes stood on. So, you can imagine how apprehensive I was to be handed a very smart looking Panasonic Duel Camera, a HX-WA10 model I’m told, and asked to use it up in the trees. A ‘Duel Camera’ allows you to switch from movie to still pictures – in this case movies are full-HD (1920×1080) and the still images are 16-Megapixel.

I was assured that each new camera in the range is waterproof (to 3 metres), dustproof and shockproof up to 1.5m, although not klutz-proof. If anyone was to put their enduring qualities to the test, I was the girl to do it. I secured my camera around my bra strap, strapped on my harness and got climbing.

Three hours and an assortment of suspended obstacles later, my indestructible Panasonic camcorder and I were back on solid land, unscathed. The camcorder had taken a bit of a beating and I was just a little bit bruised. Despite being lashed with heavy rain, dragged through wood chip and clunked against the odd tree, we were both fine and in working order. I’m now over my fear of heights and my fear of technology. I’m completely sold on Panasonic’s new range. For anyone else who is not convinced, give them a try – if I can make a swish digital camcorder work under those conditions, anyone can.

About the author

Natalie Ashett wrote one article on this blog.

I am Natalie, originally from the North East of England and now live in London. I'm here in London because I believed that old line that this is a city where the street are paved with gold! The other reason I based myself in London is for better access to the rest of the world. I love to travel and am passionate about Europe. I have spent six summers travelling and living in Europe covering everywhere from Sweden to Romania. My interests include British Culture, People & Places, Food & Drink, Art & Literature and Sex. Not necessarily in that order.

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