Panasonic HC-V160 Camcorder Review

Panasonic HC-V160 is a compact 8.9 MP camcorder that comes with 77X intelligent zoom and 32.3 mm wide lens. The handy V160 lets you capture videos in different modes and click images as well

Compact and durable design

The Panasonic HC-V160 is made of durable high-quality plastic that gives it a decent look. The entry-level camcorder weighs 181 grams and is equipped with the 2.7-inch LCD monitor. Buttons are placed on the LCD panel as well as on the body. Panasonic has added a pretty stylish button layout and included “Menu” button on the top and an “Enter” button on the bottom. In the middle is an oval that houses the directional buttons. The display hides-up buttons and port on the left side of the camcorder when the door is closed.

The camcorder has a mini-HDMI port, an A/V jack, and mini-USB port so you need to go for a more advanced model if you need a mic jack. But we missed some of the wireless connectivities such as Wi-Fi, NFC etc.

On the top, zoom in & out and image capture buttons are available to capture videos and images with ease. As well as there is a slide button that lets you switch from video recording to playback. On the top right, you would get a video recording button to start or stop the video recording.

Feature rich

Panasonic HC-V160 comes with image stabilization, which is common nowadays, but Panasonic added this in the budget category. It corrects a slight hand-shake with even high-zoom shots. You can cover more people in your shots as it comes with 32.3 mm wide lens. This comes handy when you are capturing video or images during any gathering or party and want to frame more people.

The V160 is equipped with BSI sensor that captures clear images and videos in dimmy condition. It comes with several creative controls that enable you to add effects in the video such as miniature, 8mm movie, silent movie and time lapse.

If you are new to the device or don't want to record manually, then can go for iA (intelligent auto) mode. This is a useful feature as it automatically makes the settings as per the lighting conditions and activate functions to deliver optimum results.

The camcorder has intelligent 77x zoom capability, which means nothing is far from you. In the compact body, they have added the ultra-telephoto intelligent zoom. It lets you capture close videos of objects which are faaway from you.

It comes with recording options of AVCHD or iFrame (MP4). Video quality maxes out at 17 Mbps 1080p so there are still some benefits in the video quality department if you opt for a more expensive Panasonic camcorder.

You can include an SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card to record videos in the device as it doesn't have internal memory.

Capturing life's moments made easy

The HC-V160 is not a high-end camcorder yet it's an affordable one that lets you captures nice full-HD videos at 1920x1080p. This is a good consumer camcorder for casual users to capture life's moments. While testing this device we captured some of the videos in different light conditions. It is capable of recording videos with true colors. It produces noise-free quality videos though a little noise can appear when you zoom to above 38X. This captures quite soft, sharp and quality videos as well as comes with different recording modes allowing you to make your video special one. Its in-built mic records clear sound even from a distance. Using an external mic you can get better sound quality, as it captures all surrounded noise as well, an external mic will help it to filter out the rest noise.

With HC-V160 you can also click still images, however, the quality is not that good. It produces decent quality images, but noise can be seen easily.

Battery Life: It comes with 970 mAh rechargeable battery, that can let you record videos for up to an hour. In our video record testing, we were able to record videos for 52 minutes.