Customer Reviews

Panasonic PV-GS500 4MP 3CCD MiniDV Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I don't normally write online reviews, but when I saw the 2.5 average rating for the GS500, I felt compelled. First, let me qualify myself. I am a techno geek. I love electronics, and whenever I'm about to spend more than a couple hundred dollars for something, I THOROUGHLY research it. I have been doing video editing for several years, and I have produced several wedding videos. I'm not an expert, but I do know quite a bit about the topic of video cameras. Oh, and by the way, I can also very critical of products.

Secondly, let me state that, aside from the Panasonic GS400, the GS500 is by far the best camcorder you can purchase unless you plan to spend over two grand. It has great color reproduction and AMAZING low light performance. Sure, compared to the GS400, it has less functionality, but I don't think the average user is going to miss it. And, given its price is several hundred dollars cheaper than the GS400, I can almost assure you the average user will bid good riddance to the missing functionality.

So, why so many negative reviews on this camcorder? Usually, when a product that is head-and-shoulders above the competition gets negative reviews, it is because the reviewer either works for the competition or they are ignorant of the facts.

Reading the reviews on the gs500, it is my belief that ignorance was the culprit in these cases. First, to the "kid" that had a problem with his four year old video camera -- we don't care. This board isn't for questions, it is for getting opinions and ratings on products of interest. And regarding products of interest, people on this particular board are interested in the gs500, not the nv gs5. Additionally, I have not had a single problem with the blue screen you describe, nor have I read about anyone else having this problem on either the gs500 or the well-established gs400. So, I'll chalk this up to an isolated issue.

To the fellow who thinks the gs500 is too heavy, it is 3 pounds. Your gs200 was only 1 pound. So, yes, the gs500 is substantially heavier than your previous camcorder. However, it wouldn't have taken much research to realize this.

Folks, the gs500 is not a crappy, little, fit in the palm of your hand, spy camcorder. It is a high quality camcorder with 3 large CCDs offering exceptional video reproduction. If quality video is what you're looking for, then you've found your camcorder. If you want something you can carry around in your shirt pocket -- keep looking.

And, by the way, I have no affiliation with Panasonic.

I wanted a 3 CCD camera that was small enough to haul around without any issues, with auto features and yet with manual features that allowed me my own personal adjustments for specific scenarios or customized shots. I also wanted firewire connectivity. The GS500 seemed to fit the bill. While there are lots of comparisons to the GS400 as the superior camcorder, for a lot less money you still get the heart and soul of the camera which is:

its 3 1/4.7 inch CCDs, Leica Dicomar lens and real widescreen format which produces shockingly professional video (and very decent stills) that approaches the low end of real professional camcorders (that is in video quality, not features) costing around $500 to $800 more. My hat is off to Panasonic for its entire family of very affordable 3 CCD camcorders.

There are a couple of things I don't like. #1: It doesn't have a headphone jack. It has audio options that approach way more expensive camcorders so the lack of a headphone jack is a puzzle. However, it is PROBABLY possible to juryrig your own headphones (I've yet to cut and splice stuff to try this) or if Panasonic is smart, they'll come out with some related headphone peripheral. It is sorely needed.

#2: A lot of the things (manual features) the GS400 did in hardware the GS500 has in software through its menus. While these features retain their quality, surfing through menus is sort of a pain and takes away from the spontaneity of having some of those features at your fingertips.

Those are my only two complaints about what is a top notch camcorder that approaches professional quality. It also comes with a remote control (about 16 feet and 15 degrees on your vertical and horizontal planes) that allow you remote access to practically all of the camcorder features, and again the advanced audio features making the lack of a headphone jack puzzling.

One of my greatest pet peeves about system compatibility claims don't list what the cameras DO work with. This camcorder works great with iChat on Mac OS Tiger using the DV link. USB connection links directly to iPhoto. DV link also goes directly to iMovie's Firewire import, where you control the camera through iMovie.

I am loving this camera. The quality is excellent. The color shifts? Yes if you have it on auto temperature adjust, if you have multiple light sources, pick your temperature manually. I keep on having comments on how professional the quality looks, this is starting to tick me off as I want them to be telling me how cute my 3 week old son is... but with that aside, I admit the quality is nothing less than spectacular.

Big & Heavy? Yes, it is bigger and heavier than some I have tried, but I really prefer to have a little weight. The balance this one has seems great, very comfortable to shoot with. Besides, I just haven't seen anything smaller with anything near the quality.

Side note: I almost purchased the Sony HD video camera. Yes my 800 mhz Mac laptop would edit the HD video via the specifications, but when you dig deep you will find that the import is at half of live speed, the disk space requirement is enormous and processing effects and final video would be absolutely painful. GIve it a few years and the blueray DVD drives will be common, the processors and drives will be large enough to handle the load. Right now, I believe I made the best choice for the price range.

I have owned the PV-GS500 for 2 weeks now and I shoot some footage, e.g. my daughter's school concert in the evening. You can imagin that the light is by no means bright at all. The camera worked perfect. The picture quality is superbly crisp and the color is really real, vivid.

Last Dec. I bought a PV-GS300 (3.1MP) from Bestbuy and I shoot about 30 min footage with it under much brighter light than the concert I mentioned above and I got chance to compare it to GS500 since I am using the same tape left over from last shooting with GS300. I am happy I returned the GS300 one since the picture quality from that camera is not in the same level as GS500. Bestbuy charged me around $150 for repackaging when I made the return, in retrospect, still I am sure I have made the right decision. GS300 is always adjusting its focus, out of and in focus, on and off kind, especially when zooming and you are shooting under indoor condition, not necessarily in dim light (outdoor shooting has no problem on this focusing issue, I must say. But the picture quality is inferior in terms of sharpness, i.e. resolution). GS500 is much more sensitive to dim light and the image is stable, no focuing problem at all even in dim light condition and much sharper although the GS300 is also claiming the same image resolution. The zoom in GS500 is smoother too and it seems to me that the digital stablizer is really working in this new version. Besides, the magicCable thing is really neat, making you zoom smoothly like pros.

I am very happy with this camera and I am ready to gear it up with other accessories.

This is a great camcorder for the price. If you are looking at the Panasonic PV-GS line of camcorders?

This is how they should be Rated:

1. PV-GS400 - BUY THE: Sony Handycam® HDR-HC3 HDV Digital Camcorder, its a better choice, for the money. Fantastic video quility! Downside: Less Manual Controls. Sony requires you to buy, only their Accessories.
2. PV-GS500 - BUY IT!!!
3. PV-GS250
4. PV-GS300 - If money is a problem: Buy this one!
5. PV-GS150

I dont care what the reviews say ! The 500 should not be compared to the 400! Becuase the 400 is way out of the 500's price range.The 400 is to hard to find , and at the 400's price, you might as well go High-Definition !
If you read the Pro reveiws for the 250 , it got exellent reviews. the 500 , just gets average reviews. This makes no since to me!! If you do a comparison of the two camcorders side by side, The 500 is clearly a better camcorder! But these are the two camcorders that should be compared to each other. I dont care if the 500 is replacing the 400.
Pro's like to compare the 300 to the 250! But it should be compared to the 150. I dont care if the 300 is replacing the 250.These camcorders should be graded on their merits, not by what they are replacing! And thats how I graded them, ON THEIR MARITS!! If you want a great camcorder, at a great price, then buy the 500. I did!! I recieved mine on Oct 13, 2006 . Its a fantastic camcorder!! If you do side by side comparisons of all these camcorders , and forget what the pro reviewers say, and just judge them on the facts. Then I think, you will come up with the same rating, as I did!! I did not give you, great detail, in this reveiw. I will leave that, to the pro reveiwers. But forget the Pro reveiwers opinions, and stick to the facts! And you will find that the 500 wins!! Hands down!! GO BUY THE PV-GS500 NOW!!!

Bought this model for several reasons:
1. Already own a lower end Panasonic camcorder that has been reliable over the years, and wanted to upgrade to a better model.
2. 3CCD sensor
3. Excellent low light performance from reviews
4. Optical image stabilization vs electronic - considered buying the Sony SR100 because of HDD & MPEG2 convenience, but finally decided to put my trust in optical image stabilization
5. Mini-DV format - even though Sony has an excellent HDD camcorder (check out the SR100) that records in MPEG2, the mini-DV allows more flexibility in video editing without loss in video quality.

This camcorder has performed to my expectations. Low light performance (indoor, evening shooting) has been great. Optical image stabilization works great. We went to a park for a nighttime ballet performance, and I taped it hand holding the camcorder (no tripod) and zoomed out to 10-12X. Quality was excellent, very little jerky frames even though part of the taping was holding the camcorder one handed while trying to keep a 2-year old boy under control with the other hand.

Haven't tried to drain the battery to see if it performs to spec down to the last minute, but it does last close to the specs. Did buy an extended life battery that should give me 6+ hours.

Some reviewers complain about the weight. I actually prefer the weight because it does help me keep the camcorder steadier in my hand. Also, weight is unavoidable if you want to have good optical lens with good aperture so you can have good low light performance. I am deviating from the subject a bit to make this point, but I own both an SLR digital camera (big & heavy) and a point-n-shoot digital camera (small & light), and the difference in sensor size + lens size is very noticeable in low light. The same principle applies to video.

I just got my Panasonic PV-GS500 camcorder/digital camera on Friday. I have not had a lot of time to completely try out all its features (which probably has more than I will ever use for either personal or business reasons), but I already love it. One review states that it is over 3 pounds. This is only true if you include all the accessories that come with it. Normal operation (a lens cap, hand strap, tape, SD card, and battery), along with the camera/camcorder, put this unit at just under 1.4 pounds, which is certainly NOT heavy. Also, Amazon does a disservice to potential customers when it lists "What's in the box?" on this page. More than the three items mentioned comes with this camcorder. In fact, everything that the company packages with this camcorder comes with it. To see which accessories are included, you can go to Panasonic's website, click on this product, and view its product manual. The included accessories are listed near Page 12, I believe. You get things like cables, batteries, remotes, a manual, software, etc. I have never written a review before, but these two things compelled me to do so. I love this camera, and Amazon is reputable and offers a great price on it. I did a lot of research on all camcorder/camera combos, and this one won out in my opinion.

I have no complaints about this camera. Very happy with my purchase. It does the job and captures great video. And I have had no problem transferring video via Firwire running OS X on my MacBook using Apple's Final Cut Express HD software.

Just to clarify a few other differences between the GS500 and GS300 besides those mentioned in the review below. The GS500 does indeed offer an additional MP for still shots (4.0 MP) and a 12X zoom, but that's not all...

It also has a bigger and longer lens, with 1/4.7" CCD (1070K x 3 pixels) sensors instead of the 1/6" CCD (800K x 3 pixels) on the GS300. The filter diameter is 43mm instead of 37mm. The GS500 has an aperture range of from F1.6 to F16 as opposed to the GS300's F1.8 to F16. This all may not make a huge difference, but the optics are technically a bit better on the GS500, and the low light ability is rated as more sensitive too -- minimum 5 lux vs. 12 lux on the GS300. The GS500 also offers a manual focus ring on the lens (the GS300 has "manual," but it is operated through the LCD menu/joystick), and an actual hot (as opposed to cold on the GS300) shoe for mounted accessories such as lights or microphones. The GS500 has the ProCinema shooting mode, designed to give the widescreen footage "film" appearance. The GS300 doesn't. The GS500 does not have the automatic lens cap of the GS300 -- a toss up in that the auto is a bit more convenient, but more noisey. The GS500 also has a real door for the memory card instead of a rubber cover over the port on the GS300. And Panasonic lists the weights as GS500 3.17 lbs vs. 2.98 on the GS300 -- hardly a big difference. Finally, there is also the "freestyle" remote in addition to the regular remote with the GS500 -- this is a plug in remote that is useful when the camera is on a tripod, and doesn't come with the GS300.

Of course both models are no longer available from retailers, but these days the price difference on used models is more like $250-300, so consider that as well... Despite all I've said, I ended up getting the GS300 myself.

Unfortunately, Panasonic's 3CCD DV camcorders have been in decline since the GS400/250, and currently there is no successor to the GS500 and only the GS320 currently left in the Panasonic 3CCD/mini DV category. The GS320 loses a few key features of the GS300 (like an external mic in), and doesn't touch the GS500. Perhaps Panasonic will get a clue and introduce a good HD mini DV camera one day...

I will have to say this model was well thought out in design and quality. There are probably better camcorders if you have the $$$$ to spend. I have had at least 5 or 6 camcorders with VHS,VHS-C,Hi8,and this is my second Mini-DV. This model is the best picture and the easiest to operate of all the ones I have had.
I have two wide screen TV's and the pictures are really better than I expected. One screen is 50" and one 30" and the pictures are of very high quality. If you are in the market for a simple to operate Digital camcorder this one is definally one you should look at.
Most of the reviews have already given you the spec's and what it has and doesn't have. After reading all the reviews I could find for three days I decided to go with the model PV-GS500.
One of the reviews said the PV-GS500 was heavy. This model is one of the lightess I have ever had. If it is to heavy to carry,he had better go to a Gym and work out,my grandmother could carry it with ease.