Customer Reviews

Panasonic PVDV52 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/ 2.5" Color LCD

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This camera is great both for what it is and what it is not. On this model, Panasonic did a nice job of putting it's money and focus into quality video components, not bells & whistles. Many other cameras try to lure you with extraneous features like advanced onboard editing capability, digital still/memory stick photography, remote controls etc.. There's nothing wrong with those features and they are always an added bonus, however they are probably not the primary concern you should have when buying a good, value-priced, digital camcorder.
This camera is priced well below it's major competitors (except JVC) and affords you the savings to purchase other products that will produce better solutions than those extraneous features can offer.

For example:
* If you want digital video editing, buy a good PC/Mac kit like Pinnacle Studio 7(includes 1394 card and user friendly software) and get real movie making capability like background music, sounds, transitions, titles and more.
* If you want a digital still camera, take the money you save here and go buy a real 2-3-mega-pixel camera, don't settle for the .5 -.7 mega pixel you might get with a... camcorder that will only produce a small (3x5) quality digital still.
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Note: Generally speaking a digital camera produces quality stills in correlation with it's mega-pixel rating.
1 mega-pixel = 3x5
2 mega-pixel = 5x7
3 mega-pixel = 8x10
and so on...

*If you still want digital still capability on your camcorder look at the CCD rating and compare it to this correlation chart, to see the quality/size you can expect. This camera is considered a (.7MP) which will only produce quality digital stills from 1x3 up to 3x5.
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For most folks, It is probably more important that a camcorder takes great video - in all conditions and is easy to use.
At these very basic functions the PVDV52 is quite strong.

PROS:
- Might not sound impressive but 680,000 pixel (.7 MP) resolution makes for great video (significantly higher resolution than many similarly price camcorders).
- Solid features: 12/16 bit sound, (EIS)image stabilization, 1394 firewire transfer, external headphone jack & good microphone pickup.
- Good in lowlight recording(one of the best feature sets you will find in a low-end camcorder) - They include: Auto digital lowlight enhancement, dark subject backlight & a external lamp for limited nightime recording (good up to 10 feet).
- Top feed tape: allows you to keep the camera on the tripod, while changing the tape (I challenge you to do that with current bottom feed cameras).
- Separate battery charger: allows you to charge the battery independent of the camera.
- Great quality and value: Panasonic holds 7 of the top 10 spots in Consumer Reports Digital Camcorder ratings for quality, value & reliability.

CONS:
- 10x Optical Zoom is a bit wimpy, though it is on par with most cameras in it's price range. It does however pale in comparison to Sony's 20-25x optical zoom.
- A few extra jacks would have been useful. It does not include: an external microphone jack or auxillary video/audo in or an S-video out (all useful otions).
- You cannot using lowlight recording feature AND image stabilization feature at the same time (a bummer for handheld lowlight recording - if this is important to you, it could be a significant deficiency).

# This a Great Camera for: Folks who want to pay for strong video capability and not all the extras - who want to record at length on a tripod without taking the camera off the tripod to change tapes - Who want significant lowlight recording capability - Who want a very small and light affordable video solution.

# Not such a Great Camera for: Folks who want hot shoe capability (for add on accessories like better microphones and lights)- Don't care about taking the camera off the tripod to change tapes - Want a digital still/memory stick capability (no matter how poor the image quality). Want extended optical zoom capability (beyond 10x)- Want image stabilization AND lowlight recording capability simultaneously.
**For folks in this category you might checkout the Sony TRV340(though it is only .5MP)**

* Note: The PVDV52 will take a digital still but:
1. It is recorded to the tape and not easy to locate for retrieval.
2. The image quality is nowhere near what a standard digital still camera can produce.

This is my first video camera, and I'm very pleased with it. The detail and the sound are great. I can hear my kitten jumping on leaves, and the detail is great due to the high pixelation. (680K) It picks up colors very well. I had no disappointments with the zoom, though the optical zoom is reputedly low end, it seemed fine to me. And there is also a phenomenal digital zoom which should make up to some extent for anyone who has high zoom needs. It worked right out of the box with a very intuitive interface that required practically no reading of directions, except for the image stabilizer function which I haven't wanted to use yet because camera shake hasn't really been that bad. The low light compensator is basically just a continuous flash, and that does eat up battery time. The worse thing about this camera is that there isn't a lot of battery time. That's fine if you're doing domestic projects like filming your pets, kids or backyard barbecues. It might be more of a pain if you took the camera abroad and were not exceedingly organized about your time and keeping the battery charged.

Also the camera worked great with my Mac Ibook. All I had to do was plug into the Firewire slot, get the Firewire driver for Quicktime, and I could record clips into my computer and make a wonderful little web movie. It's a great basic video camera for someone like me who's never had a movie camera of any kind and wants to edit on computer. And the price is also right.

This digital camera has everything you need. Don't waste your money on those overpriced gadgety cameras, when all you need is something to capture good quality digital video.

I've played around with quite a few DV cameras, and almost all of them were impossible to figure out. Too many buttons. This camera only has the necessities. My only complaint about the ergonomics is that the record button could be placed better. I usually take my thumb off of it after I hit record, so I have to go searching for it when I want to pause or stop recording, so a lot of my video has a visible jiggle at the end where I was fumbling for the record toggle.

The quality of the video is superb. It gets a little grainy in low light, but no worse than any DV camera I've seen below $900.

Oh, one thing to note. This camera doesn't come with a DV tape to get you started. So, you better put a 3-pack in your shpping cart before you check out. I'd recommend a second battery, too.

This camera doesn't have an analog pass-thru, so you can't use it to transfer your old 8mm videos to DV.... but that's something you'd do only once anyway, right? Why spend the extra bucks on a camera that can do it then?

This is a great deal. If you are the bare-bones type, get this. You'll be pleased.

This is a great digital 680Kpixel camcorder at a great price. It doesn't come with useless extras. Works perfectly with Mac's imovie. Imported clips are easy to edit and burn to dvd (using idvd).

Note most other camcorders in this price range have lower pixel resolution.

I have had this camcorder (my first and only) for nearly a year. It was a great entry to home video.

I was very pleased with the picture quality and it is easy to use. I have tried the EIS feature(electronic image stabilization) and it really works and the effect on picture quality is barely noticeable.

Editing on a computer with the IEEE1394 interface is fun (and IEEE1394 interface cards for desktop and laptop PCs can be had very cheaply - I bought one for each.) The camcorder can even print the finished movies back to a blank MiniDV tape for archiving and for displaying on NTSC TVs.

The built-in microphone has very poor sound quality - voices sound very tinny. I wish it had a way of connecting an external microphone. And I wish a second, larger battery wasn't so expensive - it is hard to shop around for a third-party battery as the online catalogs rarely mention this model of camcorder.

Shop around for MiniDV tapes - good brands can be found for around $5 but I see them many places over $8.

The battery charger included with mine doubles as an AC adapter and works on many electrical systems round the world (just get a travel plug from your local hardware store.)

I am very happy with this purchase. I owned an analog Sharp and it needed to be repaired, so I looked into a new camcorder. The quality of the picture is what mattered most to me, within economic reason. The picture is great, much much better than analog. In low light conditions I do lose some of the colors (they wash out a bit) but the quality is still good. The range of features is nice, but I was surprised to find that I can't use the EIS (it holds the image steady) with the other features like the low light ones. You have to turn off the other features when using EIS. I am not into editing on my computer, which is good because this camera doesn't seem to have the bells and whistles necessary to do so, although they are available for purchase (and are compatible with the camera). The camera is light, it has a built in light, and the sound is great.

The camcorder is very light with ease of use, fits in hand. Looks and works really cute. But there are two things, it doesn't have a builtin Digital camera and the view finder is Black&White. If those doesn't concern you, I Would recommend this quality camcorder.

This is a very light and slick little digital camera. The high definition zoom goes to 10x while the digital zoom go to an amazing 700x. A nice little feature is the built in speaker so you can hear the video playback. Although it is not what I would call a "palm" camcorder, it is much smaller and lighter then the traditional camcorders. Is is small enough to carry in a digital camera case. The built in menu is loaded with exciting features. It can even optionally record in wide screen format! All I need now is a wide screen television <grin>...

1. The auto /manual button broke down.
2. Outdoors or in strong light, the LCD screen is very sensitive. Picture quality is blurred and unclear.
3. Panasonic customer service stinks. They require you to pay to ship the camcorder for repairs and pay the shipping to receive your camcorder back. You have to ship it to Illinois. There is only a 90 day warranty. By that time your camcorder will probably need repair. Panasonic didn't even look at my camcorder and they say that it costs 160 dollars to repair -- parts are under warranty for a year -- this is only the cost for labor. In other words, to fix the camcorder, costs more than to buy it. Panasonic refuses to pay to fix camcorder because its after the 90 day. Visa refuses to pay to fix the camcorder.
I strongly don't recommend this camcorder and Panasonic alltogether.
Also buy a camcorder in a store where you can buy insurance on your camcorder. ...

I bought this camcorder and a Canon Powershot G2 digital-camera as gifts for my parents. Before I mail them out, I did some tests first. Then I noticed a big problem with my camcorder. If you shoot it outside under good weather, you cannot see a clear image in the Color LCD. So you have to look at the black & White viewfinder. Then it will be difficult for you to shoot around. At first, I just thought maybe all LCD will not work in such a situation, but when I use my canon digital-camera, its LCD works very well. Finally, I decided to retrun this product and buy another relatively expensive Canon camcorder.