3 separate 460,000-pixel CCDs * digital photo mode with RapidFire Consecutive Still Shooting * photo resolution options: 1280 x 960; 640 x 480 * SD Card slot for use with MultiMediaCard¨ or SD (Secure Digital) memory cards * 2-1/2" color LCD viewscreen * color viewfinder * PCM stereo digital audio (12-bit or 16-bit) * variable-speed 10X Leica Dicomar optical zoom lens (digital zoom to 700X) * built-in zoom mic * Digital Electronic Image Stabilizer * MagicPix for low-light recording * auto and manual focus * shutter speed range (1/60 1/8,000) * Auto Exposure modes * digital effects * i.LINK digital A/V jack (IEEE 1394) * USB (2.0) interface * A/V input/output, including S-video * video streaming to PC via USB * 3-1/16"W x 3"H x 5-1/2"D * weight: 1.0 lbs. without battery * warranty: 1 year parts (6 months CCD), 90 days labor
1 Tape transport noise
The camcorder I bought suffers from noise in the tape transport mechanism (a purring noise that makes the camera sound like an 8mm projector and gets recorded on tape). Serching on the web you find more references to the PV-GS400 but it can be present on the other GS models. Search for "Panasonic tape transport noise".
2 C'mon People
Whether or not it comes with a firewire cable is of no importance. I don't believe any of these DV cams come with one. Just spend $20 to buy a kit that comes with a firewire card, a firewire cable and entry-level editing software. Enough said.
Now, in terms of quality, from my first observations I've gotten good video. Outdoors these digital cams are all good. This one will have better color rendition and won't blow out highlights as much, due to its 3 CCDs. Not as high resolution as some, but I doubt one can tell in the final image. Indoors it's better than most other consumer DV cams, which actually isn't saying much. It has less grain and more color than the others, but still isn't great. You have to spend $2,000 to get a digital camcorder that does well in low light. The GS120 automatically turns off the electronic image stabilization in low light, which helps with low light but makes for shakey video if you zoom in.
3 Its a good Camcorder BUT.....
...be warned. If you're looking for a camcorder that you can easily download your movies onto your computer so you can create DVD's or movies for sharing across the Internet like I was, THEN KEEP LOOKING. 1st, the camcorder does not come with the cable (1394 Firewire) needed for downloading the video off the camera tape. 2nd, it also does not come with the software needed to support removing the video off the camera. I noticed in another review someone mentioning about the manual being devoted to still pictures - this is absolutely true - to include all the software and cables that does come with it. The funny thing is that it only comes with a 16MB flash card that can only hold like 20 pictures! It even suggests in the manual that you find a third party software on the Internet to help with the video functions! Don't get me wrong, it's a good camera for the value BUT be ready to do your own research on the "How To's" and to be forced into buying additional equipment to really use the features. My final complaint about this product is the lack of technical support. I intended to use the web cam feature also and when I had problems with it and MSN messenger and Yahoo messenger, I found out that there is no on-line documentation or software supporting this camera (yet??,idunno...).
4 After 1 month I love it even more.....
I was like anybody else, which camera to buy? The first thing I did , bought a Pinnacle AV/DV Firewire card and Studio v.9 software package. I have a Nikon D70, so I was looking for a camcorder not a digital camera.
I made my decision the "dirty way": I bought 3 different cameras from 3 different stores (made sure they will not charge re-stocking fee if I return it within 2 weeks) I will not mention the stores, but the cameras were my final 3 after extensive online research. Sony DCR HC40, Panasonic PV-GS120 and Canon Optura 65.
I took all three home, made a 20 minutes movie with each camera: low light, medium light indoors and outdoors, macro, etc... I've uploaded the movies from the camera I took it with, unto Pinnacle Studio v9, and then I burned a DVD of this 1 hour movie.
To make the long story short, I did return the Sony and the Canon, and here is why:
- 3CCD really works, you can't match the color separation, even if the "one" CCD is larger and has more pixels.
- Panasonic's picture quality was almost broadcast quality, vivid colors and sharp edges, Canon and Sony looked like a very good Hi8.
-Canon was horrible in low light, and my palm never got used to it.
-Sony's touch screen is Stupid, why would you wanna use your oily fingers on the screen which you are using to see what are you capturing.
-Sony's night vision shot might work with 1% of the population, I don't really want to look at grainy green pictures.
-Carl Zeiss makes very good lenses, but this Leica is superior to Sony's (notice that Panasonic is using Leica only on their "top" models)If this camera would have a Leica badge on it instead of Panasonic, this camera would be 3 times more $.Please see Panasonic and Leica dicams.
-Set the sound to 16 bit and you will better sound pick up than Sony or Canon.
-Yes, Sony Steady Shot is better than EIS, but I don't have shaky hands, and never use digital zoom more than the 20x.
Few things I would change on the Panasonic:1, The manual focus is weird. 2, use of an internal lense cap. 3, Could use a 20x optical zoom. Other than that, I am very happy with this camera, I've paid $500 at Costco.
5 Just received this camcorder
This is my first camcorder and I have only had it a couple days. A couple observations. First off, the manual is preposterously bad. Pages and pages devoted to getting STILL photos from the camcorder. And virtually NOTHING on how to shoot and process video. I don't know about you, but I did not buy a camcorder to shoot still photos. I already have a camera. I bought this to shoot video. You would think that the manual would BEGIN with information on how to shoot video and go into detail. Well, that is not the case. In my opinion it is not illustrated well either. A couple full scale photos of the camera from different angles with features labelled would be a useful addition. Instead the manual is populated with tiny little line drawings.
If you are considering this camera, understand right from the start that if you intend to transfer video to your PC you will have to go out and buy a Firewire card and cable. The camera comes with a USB cable and software, unfortunately these are only useful for processing STILL photos. That is why the manual only discusses STILL photos and how to use their software to process STILL photos.
After purchasing a Firewire card and cable I found myself unable to connect the cable to the camera. This was due to a misunderstanding on my part of where the arrow on one of the little line drawings was pointing. So, I was trying to connect the DV cable (Firewire) to the USB port. The USB port is under a rubber flap on the right side of the camera. It wasn't until the next day that I realised there was another rubber flap on the rear of the camera below the battery and the first rubber flap. Again, if the instruction manual was better conceived, I could have avoided several hours of frustration. Once I found the correct port and connected the camcorder to my PC I was able to get the video into the PC by ignoring the instructions in the manual that tell you to select the "PC" on the mode dial and instead switched it to Tape Playback mode.
The camcorder can also be hooked up directly to a TV. The cable has 3 plugs, one white, one red, one yellow. The instruction manual is in black and white so good luck figuring out which one is the video feed and which the audio. (Turns out the yellow is video, the red and white are audio. But I had to dig up the TV manual to find that out).
I really can't say enough bad things about the manual, it is really that awful. The camera itself is an amazing device, surprisingly light and compact and the quality of the images is superb. The color is brilliant and the sound quality is also very good.
I am looking forward to getting past this initial getting acquainted stage. I wish Panasonic had done more to make it less frustrating.
6 Correction to product details as given on Amazon.com site
There is no doubt that this is an excellent camcorder. Compared to PVGS200 Panasonic and going for that one because of few extra features. Worth the extra cost (for me at least). Main reason I am writing this review is because there are few features that are listed on Amazon site for this camcorder but they are not available in this model (they are in PVGS200 model). Here are those:
MPEG4 Movie Recording
MagicWire Remote Control
Built-in Auto Pop-up Flash
Again these features are *not* present in PVGS120 model.
7 Great video, small and light, but get a spare battery
Have had the unit 6 months, and been through 10 tapes of kids, events, and such. The unit has been flawless, with two exceptions. First, is battery life on the default battery. I quickly determined that a spare battery was needed and picked up the CGA-DU21 which gives me a solid 4-5 hours of shooting time when I combine the two batteries.
The second issue is the button layout on the "folding screen" area. The layout is ambiguous and some more thought should have gone into making those functions usable WHILE shooting (e.g. Fade, date/time stamp, etc.)
The screen is very nice, but has a narrow viewing angle. Low light performance is great and when you have plenty of light, the color is wonderful. I'm very pleased about my purchase. If you plan to use the camera for still digital, you may want to get the unit with the higher res camera.
I also added a 512 MB SD card to it so that I can use this as a digi cam for those times when enlargements aren't likely. The shots make great 4x6 prints even with the lower end unit (1.2 megapixels.) I recently came back from holiday with 2 full DV tapes and over 90 beautiful photographs all from the same camera. The photos aren't anything like my Canon Digital Rebel, but are as good as any point-and-shoot digital camera with 2 megapixels can be.
Another quick point. It's hard to find a point-and-shoot digital camera with a fast lens (usually they are f3.5 or slower) ... but with a digicam, you automatically get like an f1.4 and can take digital stills in very low light (kids on stage, etc)... they are a tad grainy, but when you're out of flash range or flash isn't allowed, it's great.
8 Great Point & Shoot With Great Image Quality
My wife & I were looking for a point & shoot with great image quality. After reading a professional review of this camcorder, we found it to suit our needs the best (Capturing important moments for our son, such as birthdays and other milestones - he's 11 mos. old now). We also wanted to capture some lower-light situations such as Xmas tree lighting, and the quality of low-light image was important. The one downside that we found out after purchase was that MagicPix is processor intensive, and frame rate slows down to a crawl. The low-light boost really only affords you the opporutnity for stationary subjects, otherwise the image gets blurred. The up-side is that the low-light boost is pretty remarkable, and the image quality is very, very good. We are also very happy with the sound quality.
I marvel most of all at the size - it fits comfortably in the hand, and weighs only about one pound. I also like the hot shoe for flash, light or sound accessories.
If you have the budget for this camera, it is the best for the money.
9 Great Camera at a Great Price
I just bought this camera, my first experience with a digital camcorder. I read the reviews and was concerned about the reviewer that had the bad customer service experience. But I was told this was the best camera on the market for the money, and I chose to buy this model. I took the camera with me on a trip to Europe, and spent a full week recording the sights and sounds of Lisbon, Portugal. I got the camera home, and in no time at all, without even reading the owners manual, was able to download the captured video onto a DVD media using Pinnacle Studio v 9. It was incredibly easy! The color was spectacular. I am very happy with this camera and my decision to buy this model. I highly recommend this camera!
10 Incredibly shoddy customer service for a mediocre product
I purchased the PV-GS120 camcorder from Amazon via J&R Music and Computer World on May 1st, so that it would arrive in time for my girlfriend's birthday on May 30th. The camera sat in my desk until I wrapped it a few days prior to May 30th. I gave the camera to my girlfriend a couple of days early, so that we could film our trip to Big Bear. Everything appeared to work fine, and my girlfriend recorded several tapes worth of material before finally deciding to transfer the material to the computer.
I bought a firewire cable, followed the very brief instructions in a manual with scores of pages on the digital camera feature of the camcorder, and lo and behold, I was unable to get the video to transfer. I tried using Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid, Windows Movie Maker, and Pinnacle Studio, and none of the programs recognized the camera, which never appeared in Device Manager in the first place. I bought a different cable, with the same results. So I bought a capture card; nothing. I then took the camera and cables to the Apple store, and the Apple Geniuses were unable to get the Macs in the store to recognize the camera. Finally, I took the camera to work, where I enlisted several of my coworkers to help me try and transfer video via firewire, all to no avail.
I wrote Panasonic via their website in mid June, which provided no number to reach technical support. They didn't respond to the form that I filled out. My girlfriend then wrote them, and they responded to her with a form e-mail three weeks later stating that the appropriate department would contact her. Nobody ever contacted her. She then called Panasonic, but was forced to wait on hold for so long that she had to hang up and return to work. Finally, in mid-August, she was able to reach customer support, who told her that she was contacting the wrong department, and they took her information and told her that someone would contact her. A manager contacted her, and said that he'd send her a form to fill out to evaluate the nature of the problem.
After months of Panasonic dragging this out, I finally called a number listed on a new page on their website today, October 4th. I sat on hold for 42 minutes before speaking to someone. The customer service representative that I spoke to walked through the process of hooking the camera up to the firewire port, resetting the camera, going through menu options, and so forth. Finally, when she realized that none of these options were working, she put me on hold for about 5 minutes, and when she returned she told me to contact the firewire manufacturer, because Panasonic doesn't support the firewire feature. After going back and forth with her for a couple more minutes, I asked her to escalate my call to the next tier of customer support.
I was then placed on hold for about 10 minutes, and I was transferred to another representative who told me that I could send the camcorder to their service center in Illinois, but that the camcorder was no longer under the 90 day warranty, and that I'd be liable labor to fix the camera. At this point, I needed to return to work; however, prior to resuming my project at work, I registered the domain www.panasonichorrorstories.com.
It turns out that there are whole sites that are almost entirely devoted to Panasonic's shoddy customer service, as well as some of their activities which have spun off class action lawsuits. Their customer service is unhelpful at best, and mostly unavailable.
I don't deny that the camcorder may be great, IF an owner can get it to work in the first place. Other than the firewire problem, the camera seems to work fine. But what's the point of capturing video if it's stuck on tapes?
I HIGHLY recommend against EVER purchasing ANYTHING FROM PANASONIC, because if you even purchase a product, you have no recourse when it doesn't work. They won't replace your product, they certainly won't refund your money, and they'll make certain that you have to wait so long while any claim works its way through their endless obstacles that you ever give up, or your product is no longer under warranty.
-Ryan Cammer
www.panasonichorrorstories.com
11 AV-DV passthrough
first of all, let me say that analog-digital passthrough does work on this camera. i have seen many reviews discussing whether or not this model includes this feature. mine certainly does. for some reason, it seems to work better if there is no tape in the camera. however, the video capture is top-notch. (i was just using a mac and imovie, but it should work with most other software as well.)
This is a great camera so far. I ordered a sony dcr-hc40 and was not happy. see my review for that one online at amazon. at any rate, a big plus is that this one actually works. the picture quality is great. i actually prefer the shape of this one to the sony, despite the fact that it is a bit larger. it tends to be easier to hold than the smaller sony.
the only thing i don't like about this one is that it doesn't have night-shot. from what i can tell, only the sonys do. for most people this wouldn't matter that much, but since i am a scientist, i require the night vision for some of my work.
12 Some good, some bad
Overall quite good, but overpriced. Poor in low light, when also the image stabilisation cuts off. But bright light pictures really good. I think the Canon Elura 60 at about $150 less is a better buy, however. Problem with all of these mini-DV's is how to get a DVD-quality picture onto a DVD....the max resolution I get is about 700xsomething, and that requires a firewire IEEE card and cable (extra $30++)...and the burned DVD's do not look as good as analog off the SVideo. Why pay big bucks and get cheap results ? Keep your budget below $400 for now.
13 Great camcorder
I have recently purchased the Panasonic PV-GS120 camcorder.
A lot of research went into this, and the aspects that tilted me in its favour were:
- superior video quality
- good sound pickup
- compact size & good feel
- Accessories like a full function remote controller and ability to be connected to a PC for full video & still shots transfer.
The zoom is OK. 10x optical zoom may seem a little less compared to other models which give around 20x of optical zoom. But add to that the digital zoom, and you'll be happy. The 700x zoom is a disapponting - in practical terms you get good pics upto around 30x. Beyond that the picture deteriorates significantly. 30x is however good enough for me.
All in all, I am pretty satisfied with it.
Some people say that Sony is the best in camcorders - perhaps so - but I have been using Panasonic products for a long time, and so far I have never had reason to be unhappy.
I recommend this product. Considering that a camcorder is primarily for video, and chances are that you will shoot more often in bright/lit up places, you will not be disappointed with this product.
Do a good hunt on the web before you buy one. I managed to get this for around $180 less (for a new piece) than what most retailers were selling it for.
Hope this helped you.
14 Panasonic PV-GS120 Camcorder
I payed for half of my camcorder which came to be about $450 with the extra batteries and wires you needed to get for the camera. I'm only 13 so $450 is a lot to spend for me but it was well worth it. I'll tell you what I wanted to know about a camera in a review before I bought one...
-the zoom is good, not as good as some of the other models in the store but it is also not as shaky.
-it has a zoom mic which allows you to shoot someone talking from far awa distances without them having to talk much louder then usual for the camera to pick up the sound.
-the pictures is what you pay for in a 3CCD camera. there is one chip for red, one for green, and one for blue. This makes the imagery OUTSTANDING.
-The camera is comfortable in my small hands and my dad's big hands... all you need to do is adjust the strap on it for it to fit our hand perfectly.
-i must be honest... the bad things about it is the battery life on the battery it comes with is only fourty five minutes but if you buy an extened battery it is 1 hour and 15 minutes and if you use both that adds up to about 2 hours of filming time.
-I also don't like that it doesn't come with a light but magic pix is sometimes helpful if you are shooting at a still object in the dark but it slows down the pixels so much that if you move it it could be very blurry, still, with a tripod it could be useful.
-i like the easy mini DV format. Some people are now saying that it's beyond in technology but realy... if you want to edit your tape then you have to get mini DV's... they're not hard to use and they are less expensive. You'll have to plan on shooting a perfect film with a DVD camcorder.
-the manuel tells you all of the things hiden inside of your camera like cinema mode, spotlight mode, sports mode, low-light mode so you can use he camera to it's full potential.
-overall i really was very happy with this camera and i am sure i am forgetting something but i hope my review was helpful to you.
15 Best camcorder under $800
Panasonic out did themselves by releasing two 3CCD camcorders below the $1000 price point (the other being the PV-GS200). No other consumer DV cam boasts 3CCDs, and the difference in image quality really shows. Getting a similar image quality from any other brand of DV cam requires spending at least $1500. The only reason I gave this camcorder 4 stars instead of 5 is because the battery life is far too short. Even with an extra battery, this camcorder beats out everything in the same price range from Canon, Sony, JVC, etc.
