Panasonic Palmcorder PV-GS500 Mini DV Camcorder
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- Recording System: NTSC
- Camcorder Type: Digital
- Recording Media: Mini DV
- Optical Zoom: 10x
- Weight: 0.23 lb.
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Tough little camera - weak peripheral bundle
Pros
Compact, tough, quick and easy to use in auto
Cons
Noisy low light image, no firewire cable, lame software bundle, questionable manual controls
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Buy this camera if you can get a great deal. Don't expect high quality video or well thought-out manual controls. Good little knock-around camera for traveling.
I've been using this camera for about a year with pretty good results. I bought it to shoot video of our baby, so I was not looking for professional quality imagery from the outset.
I like that the camera is small, easy to carry and quick to fire-up. I'm a nerd, so I was disappointed that it didn't come with a firewire (IEEE-1394) cable to pull video from the tape to a computer. I was also dismayed that the software bundle was weighted heavily towards still images. I have a couple of great digital cameras so I've never shot stills with this video camera. I loaded the software, but it was so lame that I uninstalled it after one good look. The manual for the software was also in broken English.
Although I generally shoot in auto-mode and adjust the room lighting to compensate for the camera's lack of auto low light ability, I have played around with the manual controls. I found that the manual controls were a bit squirrelly when trying to adjust for changing conditions. I can't say that I'm in love with the placement of the backlight button either. You have to open the LCD display to reach it and it's not a button that can be found without looking away from your subject while shooting. Since the CCD is small, using digital gain in low light conditions produces incredible digital noise. If you're looking for a camera to shoot in low-light conditions, look for something with a larger CCD.
I partially titled this review 'tough little camera' because it did survive a four foot drop to pavement. The only thing that broke was the silver lens shade that holds the lens cap. The camera is still fully functional.
I like that the camera is small, easy to carry and quick to fire-up. I'm a nerd, so I was disappointed that it didn't come with a firewire (IEEE-1394) cable to pull video from the tape to a computer. I was also dismayed that the software bundle was weighted heavily towards still images. I have a couple of great digital cameras so I've never shot stills with this video camera. I loaded the software, but it was so lame that I uninstalled it after one good look. The manual for the software was also in broken English.
Although I generally shoot in auto-mode and adjust the room lighting to compensate for the camera's lack of auto low light ability, I have played around with the manual controls. I found that the manual controls were a bit squirrelly when trying to adjust for changing conditions. I can't say that I'm in love with the placement of the backlight button either. You have to open the LCD display to reach it and it's not a button that can be found without looking away from your subject while shooting. Since the CCD is small, using digital gain in low light conditions produces incredible digital noise. If you're looking for a camera to shoot in low-light conditions, look for something with a larger CCD.
I partially titled this review 'tough little camera' because it did survive a four foot drop to pavement. The only thing that broke was the silver lens shade that holds the lens cap. The camera is still fully functional.
