Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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144 of 146 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A well-designed and well-priced step-up to 3CCD, October 10, 2004
I'm an "advanced amateur" who has used digital video for ~ four years. I've extensively edited hours of home video with third-party software which I've burned to DVD and share with family. I recently replaced my Sony DCR-PC5, which was a top-notch matchbook/upright style camcorder (single ~ 1/4" CCD and electronic image stabilization; ~$1500 circa 2000) with new PV-GS400 few weeks ago. I've now shot about an hour of video under various light conditions and edited a few hundred video clips with the new camcorder.
I'm very happy with the upgrade and would do it again in a minute. I was worried that I might not be able to tell the difference in image quality and low-light performance (the main reasons I upgraded), but it was immediately obvious. I briefly considered the Canon GL2, but after playing with it several times in various stores, I felt it was too much camcorder for me (kind of making more of a statement than I wanted to make) and it was a little short on portability and anonymity. (By the way, if I were to buy another matchbook-style camcorder, it would be the Sony DCR-PC350, which has wonderful ergonomics-at least in the store-and a very user-friendly touch-screen-based interface.) Here are a few early observations with the PV-GS400...
Oh, but first a word about the size. This is a bigger camcorder than the matchbooks, but not dramatically heavier than the older DCR-PC5, which was quite solid with lots of metal. And, although the matchbooks are "pocket-sized," that doesn't mean that they're necessarily fun or easy to carry that way. My Sony fit beautifully in my coat pocket-but tended to hang down around my knees. The bottom line is that most of the quality camcorders with decent-sized chips will require fanny pack or small backpack, and the PV-GS400 would fit easily in either.
Pros:
1. Excellent video quality; low light performance is substantially better than my single-CCD Sony miniDV DCR-PC5 (with which I've always been very happy). Color fidelity appears excellent and is quite good indoors.
2. Build quality is very good-much better than the Panasonic PV-GS200 that I used briefly. Still a lot of plastic, though, but I guess it keeps the weight (and cost) down.
3. Multifunction ring (around the lens) is quick and easy way to access the extensive manual controls (shutter, iris, zoom, focus, white balance). The three control buttons for activating these functions may be blocked by tilted LCD screen when shooting with the screen out, but this was usually only minor inconvenience. The ring itself has a nice, solid feel.
4. The 3.5 inch LCD is gorgeous, seemingly rivaling my 17" LCD monitor (as crazy as that sounds) for color and clarity. Made the screen on my -PC5 look like my son's GameBoy when I went back.
5. The zoom control gives nice results-relatively easy to achieve fast or slow zooms.
6. Recognized by iMovie 4 (I haven't had to use any of the PC-based software bundled with the camcorder).
7. Zebra feature, which highlights overexposed areas of the image on the LCD (prior to recording), is nice "prosumer" feature that I quickly learned to appreciate.
Cons:
1. The most serious flaw, especially for users needing glasses, is that eye relief for the viewfinder was a little limited; even without eyeglasses there was some vignetting ("tunnel vision") of the view. With glasses, I could only see about the central 75% of the field of view. The apparent size of the image in the viewfinder was also quite small-much smaller to my eye than on my DCR-PC5. Evidently, one is meant to use primarily the fold-out screen. It worked quite well-even in bright sunlight to my surprise.
2. Ergonomics are suboptimal for me after four years with a matchbook-style; it's not as easy to hold as the latter type, in my opinion, but I'm getting more accustomed to it. In its defense, though, the auxiliary record button right behind the main lens on the right side of the camcorder was always within easy reach of one finger or another no matter how I held the camcorder. This button is far from the camera's "center of mass" so it tends to rock the camcorder (and video) when depressed. I take video of my kids, mostly, and like to hold the camcorder at waist height to be at their "level." In my opinion, this is a little tougher with the conventionally configured ("non-matchbook") camcorders like this one.
3. Autofocus in moderately low light is a little imprecise.
4. Auto white balance seems to take a little longer than the DCR-PC5, but the ability to control the white balance manually with only a white wall or even white card is a great feature.
5. The otherwise well placed buttons near the lens for the manual settings are a little hard to depress and there is no feedback (e.g., click) to let you know when you have succeeded.
6. The optical image stabilization seems rock solid at low and medium zooms (I never go above the optical zoom of 12X), but at higher zoom is not dramatically superior to the electronic stabilization that I've used on the Sony. Some of this might relate to the larger size of this camcorder.
7. Start-up takes full five seconds or so, but there is a rapid start feature
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72 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good Camcorder !!!!!!!, August 3, 2004
I own the previous version of this one (PV-DV 953). This one is improved over 953 on the following:
1. Lighter & smaller, the complaint with 953 was it was a bit heavy.
2. This has improved low light shooting quality compared to 953. Has a HOT SHOE too, can just add a video light. My only complaint about 953 was quality in low light, i fixed it buying a nice powerful battery-powered v.light. This one has hot shoe, so all u need is an extra light. I heard this model has accessories such as video light....check it out.
3. 4MP camera. Quite good. 953 has 3MP camera - good not perfect
4. Stunning day-light video. nothing comes closer in this price range. trust me. Sound with unbelievabe steroe effect...no motor noise like canon's.
5. Hybrid lens ring. see camcorderinfo.com for more details. they rated this camcorder as the BEST of all.
6. Leica lens - can u beat that ? no way. YOu get 12x vs. 10x in the previous one.
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98 of 109 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
PV-GS400 Tape Transport Problem, November 19, 2004
Potential buyers should be aware that there is a tape transport problem with some PV-GS400 camcorders and that Panasonic has acknowledged this problem. I had problems with TWO different PV-GS400s (I returned a defective unit and the replacement was also defective). When I played back tapes recorded with these camcorders, I noticed a grinding, periodic mechanical noise that could be heard through the speakers of my TV set. This noise was clearly audible and annoying - it wasn't subtle. When I put the camcorders up to my ear, it was clear that the grinding noise was NOT the kind of noise that a healthy tape transport should EVER make. This is extremely bad news, since mechanical problems usually get worse over time (possibly after the warranty expires).
An internet search revealed that many other PV-GS400 owners have also reported this problem. Since Amazon.com guidelines prohibit the use of URLs in product reviews, I'll recommend that you do an internet search using the search terms "panasonic" and "tape transport" in order to find a great deal of useful information about this problem. To see a letter that Panasonic issued addressing this problem, use the search terms "panasonic", "tape transport", and "QC issue".
The bottom line is that this problem appears to be widespread,despite Panasonic's claims that only a small number of camcorders are affected. Although Panasonic is offering warranty servicing for defective units, I'm not happy with the idea of buying a top of the line, $1000+ "prosumer" camcorder and ending up with a camcorder that is essentially "factory refurbished".
No one who discovers that their PV-GS400 has this problem should just "live with it". Either return it, or if you can't do that, then get it serviced by Panasonic (and hope it doesn't break down again after it's out of warranty).
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