Panasonic has announced two standard definition, hybrid HDD/Memory card camcorders for the year, the SDR-H40 and SDR-H60. The two camcorders feature 40GB and 60GB hard drives respectively. The Panasonic SDR-H40 features a 42x optical zoom while the SDR-H60 features a massive 50x optical zoom. Thankfully, both camcorders also feature Panasonic’s Advanced Mega OIS (optical image stabilization), which you will definitely need with that much zoom.

Other features on the Panasonic H40 and H60 include 800k, 1/6″ CCDs and 2.7″ LCD screens. Look for the SDR-H40 at the end of the month for $449, and the SDR-H60 in May for $549.