Panasonic PV-GS65 Mini DV Camcorder

How do you build a quality digital camcorder that is palm-sized and sells for $500?

I believe Panasonic has answered this question quite well.

Let's talk about the details:

Tape mechanism: It's exceptional. It loads and ejects the tape with a laser-like precision, instilling confidence. Very "James Bond". Since the tape mechanism is a soft spot on camcorders, it was very reassuring to see just how good this mechanism is. Responsiveness to stop/rewind/play/fast-forward is excellent. Fast-forward and rewind is *very* fast. When rewinding, the rewind speed will slow down as it gets near the beginning of the tape so it doesn't rip your tape apart when it comes to the end of the reel. You can watch your movies fly by when rewinding/fast-forwarding, which can help you locate a spot on the tape. Timecode (including frames) is displayed in the eyepiece viewer during record/play/rewind/fast-forward. Recording and playback have been rock solid- never anything like a drop out or lost time code. A very well-implemented and robust mechanism I would say!

Controls: Essential controls like record/zoom have dedicated buttons/controls. Other features are accessed via a joystick, which is awesome. To get to a setting like "low light mode", you simply push the menu button and then toggle your way to where you need to go with the joystick. It's like playing Pac Man, it's fun! Other settings don't even need the menu button- you just immediately jump in with the joystick. All of this stuff shows up on the LCD screen for you.

LCD screen: Great picture, opens up and pivots well. People love seeing themselves when you flip the screen 180 degrees and play it right back for them. Great party stuff. Everybody has loved the screen so far.

Sound quality: You can record 4 channels of 12 bit audio or 2 channels of 16 bit audio. It is set from the factory at 4 channel/12 bit. 16 bits gives you much better sound (CD-quality). Since most people are going to want to turn the camera on and start filming, the factory should set it to 16 bit/2 channel. The 4-channel mode requires hooking up an external microphone, which most people won't be bothering with. So if you are a "regular guy/girl" user and buy this camera, go into the menu and set the audio to 16 bit. Then you can get on with life filming with the built-in mic on top of the camera and not worry about anything else. Once you set it to 16 bit, it will stay that way, even if you turn off the camera and unplug the battery. In 16 bit/2 channel mode, I find the sound quality to be perfectly reasonable for a camera of this size and price point. Serious users may wish to consider hooking up an external microphone, which you can do with this camera (unlike others at this price point). But then you are talking about increased complexity. Also note that this camera has a headphone output jack. This is a nice feature for someone who is particularly concerned about audio quality- you could film for a few seconds and then play back the tape to see if you like the sound coming through your headphones. Most people will want to skip using headphones, and the camcorder does have a small speaker that plays back your recorded sound for you so you can hear your audio when you play back your tape and watch it on the LCD screen. If you plug in headphones into the jack, it will disengage the camcorder speaker. This is a good thing, because when you are checking on headphones you are listening for details and don't want any other sounds distracting you. You can adust audio playback volume using the zoom control. Doing so will give you a readout on the LCD/eyepiece viewer of where your levels are at. This is nice when listening on headphones, because you can set the levels lower and then increase the volume rather than blowing your ear drums out because you didn't know the volume was cranked.

Battery life: Wow! Really solid. They weren't kidding when they said 1 hr 40 minutes.

Picture quality: It is a 3ccd model, meaning there is a separate chip for each of the 3 color aspects, rather than just one chip. To me this has helped most in low-light modes. I have found the low-light mode to be *surprisingly* good. But remember, this is a *small* camcorder at the $500 price point. Still frames are rated at 1.2 megapixels for this unit. So it's not going to compete with the latest 6 or 9 megapixel still-frame digital cameras for precise picture quality. But that's not the point of this device. The limitations in its resolution become most evident when you try to film something like the leaves on tall trees at 50 feet away. But filming people at 6 to 20 feet should make most recreational filmers happy. Consider its low-light performance a welcome blessing.

Build quality and layout: Excellent. This camcorder is quality through-and-through.

Firewire connectivity: Great. Have done several digital transfers into my computer. Flawless every time, and my computer always and immediately recognizes the camcorder when I hook it up to the firewire port.

Instruction manual: Excellent. Very detailed with lots of pictures and step-by-step instructions.

Accessories: Nice Assortment. Comes with lens cap, remote control, strap, battery charger, plug directly into the wall power adapter, usb cable, and 3-wire cable so you can hook the camcorder up to your tv using red/white/yellow rca jacks to check to see how your movies came out. Does *not* come with firewire cable (most products don't so that's not a dissapointment).

Miscellaneous: You can get a UV filter to put on the front for $10-20. I would recommend one for pool settings where there is a lot of reflection. Also good when you don't want dust or dirt getting on the lens. The camera has lots of features. I found low-light mode to be very useful. Soft-skin mode is also very useful- it makes the skin on caucasian people look less harsh. I have the camera permanently set on soft-skin mode. I don't notice it negatively affecting other aspects of the image composition, so I keep it on all the time. I heard you can get extra batteries made by third-party companies. I guess they are standardizing batteries across brands somewhat these days. That's nice, because if someone has a monopoly on what battery you can use, they can charge you a rip-off price for the battery. I have been using Panasonic DVC tapes which come in a gold and blue packaging with excellent results.

Wish list:
I wish you could zoom out more. At about 4 feet away, you are only getting their head and upper body. Fortunately, you can get wide-angle lenses that attach to the front. I will be getting one of those. Also, I would like the eye piece to be angled upward instead of straight back. Having the eyepiece set at an angle makes for more comfortable filming. But I'm guessing it would add to the price because it would involve more complexity in the viewing mechanism.