Customer Reviews

Panasonic PV-GS150 2.3 MP 3CCD MiniDV Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The camcorder offers outstanding video quality (at its price level)in adequate lighting condition. I had a chance to compare it to Cannon Opture 500. I think GS150 produces better color than Opeture does, due largely to 3ccd, but makes slightly more noise in low light settings.
I like the joystick, which makes the control panel look clean and simple.
However, there are a few things I am not happy with.
1. Generally, EIS does not improve much from GS120. Without a tripod, you still need to hold your breath if you want to get really stable video.
2. There is no EIS in widescreen mode.
3. Again, low light performance is not satisfactory.
So, if you do most of your shooting outdoor and are confident on your "stability skills," this is a great camcorder to buy.

I have had this camera for about 3 weeks. Bought this after lot of research(mini-dvd versus miniDV). Read some horror stories about an entire disk getting wiped out with mini-dvd camcorders.

GS150 does an amazing job in bright day light. Colors are vibrant compared to 1 CCD cameras. Low light performance is so so. Overall, I am a satisfied customer.

If you plan on transferring video to a computer, get a fire-wire cable. This camera needs a 4 pin male connector. I have a MAC and transferring video and burning into a DVD was a breeze.

I love this camera. The odd thing is that I did not think I would. When I started the research for buying a camcorder I reallt wanted a Sony. I work as a film editor and have used many professional Sony products and have for years. I've found that with Sony you generally get what you pay for. However when researching I could not bring myself to pay more for a one chip Sony camcorder than I would for a three-chip Panasonic. I'm very glad I went with the Panasonic, the image quality is faantastic, and the controls could not be easier to use. Plus this camera had alot of nice professional features that I could not find together on other consumer camcorders. The image stabilization is great, the ability to manually control focus and white balance and the inclusion of a 2.3 megapixel still camera were nice additions. Also if you're editing at home the ability to use this camera as a DV/Analog converter to power an external monitor with your editing system was a nice bonus. Overall most of the features on this camera can be found individually on other cameras, but this was one of the few I found that had all of the nice bonuses together. Still the main reason to purchase was what caught my attention at first -- ths is the cheapest 3-CCD camera I could find.

This is truly a great camera in every respect. Low light performance, auto-focus, image-stabalization and connectivity. The battery life isn't as good as I would have liked (2-3hrs) but that's forgivable for all the other features. I was deciding between Pv-GS35, 65 and 150. The difference between 35 and 65/150 in low-light performance was significant enough to warrant the extra cost and I choose GS150 over GS65 primarily because of the assist lamp, built-in lens cover and the availability of USB2.0 for downloading video (in gs65 it can only be used to download photos) as I do not have a firewire port.

Having said that, Amazon's price on this items is FAR, FAR from being competitive. Do search a bit and you'll certainly find a better price. Sorry, Amazon.

We bought the Canon ZR100 but retutrned it before we opened it after reading many reviews about the loud fan/motor and bad low light recordings. We bought the Sony HC21 next and thought the colors looked dull and the greys looked grainy in a room with two lamps and a window. We primarily wanted it for home movies of the baby. We exchanged that for the Panasonic pv-gs150 after reading many reviews and ratings. This was one of the only mid priced camcorders that was rated with a 5.5 low lighting rating compared to higher and lower end models at a 3.5 or lower. This camera records beautifully in our low light rooms and I have no doubt will record even better outside in sunlight. The colors were vibrant and the greys looked normal. The zoom gets in very close without becoming fuzzy. We bought ours at Best Buy on sale for $105 off the regular price and an additional $50 mail in rebate.

Great camera, but you cannot use the image stabilization feature in the wide screen mode. The GS250 allows you to do so, but is a significant jump in price. If you are doing video editing or watching the videos on a wide screen TV, think seriously about getting this camera.

Colors are wonderful, far better than any other camera on the market at this price range.

Personally, we are going with the GS250 because of the Image stabilization. It was nearly a costly mistake for us.

Had nothing but praises for this camcorder so far - owned it for almost a month now and I absolutely love it. Also shot a professional looking engagement video with it!! Although the lighting was a bit to the darker side and the event was completely indoors the picture and colour quality was amazing. Here's a quick breakdown of this amazing camcorder :

Pros:
** Excellent picture quality and best of the line colour reproduction.
** Excellent sound quality and included support for hot-shoe accesories.
** Included remote for playback and camcorder recording control.
** Included additional remote that is also a mic - excellent for narrating/interviewing.
** Easy to use Joystick for browsing through menu options(menu is pretty straight forward as well)
** Sturdy contruction and balance for stability while holding in hand.
** Amazing still photographs - thats right - truly amazing photographs for a camcorder as long as you are thinking 4x6 and viewing on computer. Again the colour are vivid and perfectly balanced. Also there is a flash so you can get great pics in low light too.
** Smooth and fast zoom capability.
** More than decent battery life - with the stock battery I could shoot a whole DV tape - 60 mins while using the LCD screen and the battery still showed 1 bar of charge left.

Cons:
** Software is a joke - default Windows Movie Maker beats it easily.
** Extreme low light and 0 lux performance abyssmal - though the performance at low light conditions was decent( this is good enough for most I believe).

I bought this camcorder about 4 months ago primarily for recording my daughters' gymnastics meets. So most of the time I shoot in average lighting indoors, with fast moving subjects, using tripod or monopod and zoomed anywhere from 1x to 10x. I added a 2x teleconverter lens and UV filter for lens protection. My previous camcorder was the Panasonic PV-GS19 single CCD. What a difference 3 CCD's make. The colors are so much more vibrant and realistic due to having a CCD for each color. And the image is substantially sharper most likely due to better image processing as well as the # of CCD's.

Lower light levels, like a room with a single incadescent buld, really shows the weakness of the smallish 1/6" CCD's of the GS150. Now you can opt for a larger single CCD camcorder for around the same price as the GS150 and have better light sensitivity but then you compromise the color quality inherent in 3 CCD camcorders. Since most of my shooting is done in average to good lighting, I chose the better color rendition of 3 CCD's. You could by a camcorder with 3 large CCD's and be done with it, but as for me, I do not have $2000+ to spend on pro-sumer grade equipment.

Which brings me to the most important reason I purchased and recommend this camcorder - PRICE! I bought my GS150 for under $500 online after a mfr instant rebate. That is a steal for a 3-CCD camcorder. For that price I also included a 2x tele lens, UV filter, polarizer filter, ND filter, extended battery, monopod and a Davis Sanford fluid-head tripod. Now I have everething I need for a days shoot.

Fuctionally speaking the GS150 is great to work with. The controls are intuitive and well placed and there are a myriad of manual controls there if you need them. I've tried the manual controls and it was very easy to make the necessary adjustments. The auto mode works great too. With gymnasts as the subject, they move around and go near to far often in their routines and the auto-focus does its job at keeping up. I like the size of the unit which is a bit on the smallish side. The included MagicWire remote does an excellent job as a mic, zoom controller and record button. This is especially useful using a tripod. Zoom control is much improved over my GS19. Now I can actually perform a slow zoom. Battery life is good with over 1 1/2 hours of realistic use on the standard battery. The LCD is a bit on th smallish side but it is quite sharp. And the EIS image stabilizer does a great job. The Optical Image Stabilization is a tad better but you'd have to be a real spaz to think that the GS150's EIS does not do a good job. I often use a tripod/monopod but I use it hand-held a lot also. I really have no complaints on the useage of the GS150.

I use Sony Vegas MovieStudio + DVD to edit and compose DVD's. Transfers are painless using the firewire port. You will need to purchase a firewire cable. But then again, there is no USB cable included either.

Upon watching the finished DVD on my TV, I was amazed at the video quality. It was actually better than the preview on my PC. Rich colors, sharp edges and smooth motion. Orders of magnitude better than with my GS19. I highly recommend the PV-GS150 for a high quality 3-CCD camcorder for the budget-minded. Get it while you can. Panasonic is replacing the GS150 with the GS180 and taking away the excellent Leica Dicomar lens in the process as well as other features to reduce the cost.

This camera takes the best still pictures of any mini-dv I have owned yet !! Low transport noise and the joystick rocks . You basically just open the box and shoot . As with any camera you should always adjust your own white balance .It fits in the palm of your hand and comes with a remote and a mic ! No battery complaints as of yet . For the price get it !!

The GS150's performance is as-advertised. Terrific colour rendering, thanks to its 3-chip configuration. The camera also has the option of full manual control of standard settings, making it even more usable. Love the joystick! Still find it hard to believe that Panasonic has managed to fit all of this performance into such a small package.

Final Score: Engineering 1, Customer Service 0

Early production runs of this camera seem to have a shielding problem, which causes faint, red, horizontal bands to appear when recording in very low light conditions. Despite the fact this has been widely (if unofficially) reported by GS150 owners around the world, these same owners have noted that Panasonic customer service generally denies that the problem exists.

Thankfully, the problem is easily repaired by a certified technician. Better still, GS150 owners seem to have collectively deciphered that units manufactured from September 2005 onward are alright. Look for cameras with serial numbers beginning with 'H5' or higher. You can also read all about this at pana3ccduser dot com.