Panasonic PV-L759 VHS-C Analog Camcorder

I've been looking for a camcorder for a long while and I finally purchased the PV-L780 which I believe is similar to the 759 model. I got it as a clearance/open box item at Circuit City for $500. I was holding out for the new 850 model as it has a higher resolution chip and TV tuner but it costs about $650-700.

The PV-L780 comes with a 4 inch screen, speaker, built in light, VCR adapter, PC link cable, 8 meg compact flash card, AV cables, B&W viewfinder. 26x optical zoom and something silly like 320x digital zoom. There are PC, headphone, AV jacks and a manual focus option. You can macro focus down to about an inch. I think a remote control might be nice but this model doesn't support it.

The PV-L780 is very easy to use and took almost no time to master the basics without even checking the manual. You can take digital still images at 640 x 480 resolution onto an 8 meg compact flashcard that holds about 60 images at this resolution (or 240 at 320 x 240). The card has 12 preset images on it already that can be inserted as title pages into the recording as you go using 3 different digital wipe effects.

I initally brought a SONY Handy cam TVR46 as I was really sold on the HI8 picture resolution I later returned it as the hassle of transfering to VHS is not worth it unless you have the time. What finally swayed me on the VHS-C approach was that you can record TV shows onto the tape and play them back on the camcorder. The 4 inch LCD screen that the PV-L7xx cameras have is outstanding and the headphone option allows you to set up a private TV for someone. If you have kids this means you could run the unit off a car battery and have about 90 mins of SPL recordings on a 30 minute tape to keep them occupied on a car trip.

You'll definately need an extra battery but fortunately Panasonic cam batteries are one of the most standard it seems and a 7 hour battery costs about $70. The supplied battery runs for about an hour if you use the LCD screen. Another nice thing is that the camera uses a standard 6 volt power supply making it easy to find third party adapters. Also you can get an adapter that allows you to use AA batteries (I think).

I haven't tried the images on the computer yet but having owned a 640 x 480 camera I know that the images won't be great for much else than web pages.

Perhaps my one gripe is the weight. With the battery this is a heavy camcorder compared to others I tried, especially the tiny mini-DV units. I have carpal tunnel in my right wrist and I find holding the camera for long periods is a little uncomfortable. Reaching the zoom controls with the view finder in the way is essentially impossible.

Word of caution.
If you are thinking about the new PV-L850 model with the TV tuner be very careful where you shop (this goes for other camcorders also). I initially found a number of places on the web, most in New York, advertizing this model for ~$520. However when I called to order I discovered that this was for the camera only and nothing else. You had to buy all the accessories individually. If you were upgrading from an earlier model that may have been a good deal but overall it was a misleading way to do business.