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Panasonic PVGS200 3CCD MiniDV Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom
See it at Amazon.com for $1,199.99Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
Finally I bought the GS200
(5 out of 5) by ASN on Nov 9, 2004 (St. Louis, MO USA)After months of looking around, We had to opt out of 3 Camcorders, the SONY DHRC40, Canon Optura 40 and the Panasonic GS200. And we went for the later one.
November 12th 2004:
As the Camcorder is only 2 days old, I will post the Initial Review and Add to it later.
Factors in Making us buy this camcorder:
1) 3 CCD, its not a hype.
2) Compact Size, and in fact the camcorder is really small and nice.
3) One can edit the voice later on when doing the Playback, I loved this option.
PROS:
1) It comes with a Remote like external mike and stuff, which has zoom controls and all needed buttons to operate the Camcorder, Excellent.
2) The Remote is wonderful
3) Night Shots are wonderful.
4) the Mic is big and is on the Front of the Camcorder, Voice Recording is wonderful.
CONS:
1) The Manual is very lousy.
2) EIS not effective when Camcorder on Full Zoom.
December 6th:
PROS:
1) The Camcorder records really well during the Night.
2) The day light recording easily surpasses any camcorder in this range.
3) Very Decent Battery life.
4) Decent features like the Cinema Mode, Timed Recording.
5) During Zero lux(no Light) it lets the LCD to become a sorce of light.
CONS:
1) Again, the manual is very lousy. Do not expect any help from it.
2) As my laptop does not have a IEEE1394 port, transferring Video to my PC aint possible. I have ordered a $40 PCMCIA card and a cable on Bizrate and will finally be able to transfer video.
3) PANASONIC doe not provide a Firewire Cable for connection to PC.
And again, because the manual does not have any word of how to connect it the computer, It took me some time to figure all this out.
November 12th 2004:
As the Camcorder is only 2 days old, I will post the Initial Review and Add to it later.
Factors in Making us buy this camcorder:
1) 3 CCD, its not a hype.
2) Compact Size, and in fact the camcorder is really small and nice.
3) One can edit the voice later on when doing the Playback, I loved this option.
PROS:
1) It comes with a Remote like external mike and stuff, which has zoom controls and all needed buttons to operate the Camcorder, Excellent.
2) The Remote is wonderful
3) Night Shots are wonderful.
4) the Mic is big and is on the Front of the Camcorder, Voice Recording is wonderful.
CONS:
1) The Manual is very lousy.
2) EIS not effective when Camcorder on Full Zoom.
December 6th:
PROS:
1) The Camcorder records really well during the Night.
2) The day light recording easily surpasses any camcorder in this range.
3) Very Decent Battery life.
4) Decent features like the Cinema Mode, Timed Recording.
5) During Zero lux(no Light) it lets the LCD to become a sorce of light.
CONS:
1) Again, the manual is very lousy. Do not expect any help from it.
2) As my laptop does not have a IEEE1394 port, transferring Video to my PC aint possible. I have ordered a $40 PCMCIA card and a cable on Bizrate and will finally be able to transfer video.
3) PANASONIC doe not provide a Firewire Cable for connection to PC.
And again, because the manual does not have any word of how to connect it the computer, It took me some time to figure all this out.
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
Panasonic sets the bar for compact, pro quality vid...
(5 out of 5) by Amazon Customer on Apr 19, 2004 (Atascadero, Ca)As a previous owner of the 3CCD PVGS70, I was already familier with this camera's basic layout. The 3CCD system makes a noticable difference in color vibrancy. The controls under the lcd seem more robust and easier to use. The increased resolution of the new CCDs, and the addition of a firewire connection makes this just what the doctor ordered....My only complaint.... The included 8mb SD card will only hold about 4 pictures in fine quality.... NOTE TO PANASONIC - Throw it away and bring the price down a bit!!!! The money saved could go towards a 128 or 256 SD....I was already disapointed with the 8mb card included with the 1.2mp PVGS70. I was really hoping the 2.3mp PVGS200 would come with at least a 32mb (even a 16mb would have shown an effort).......Oh well...I guess I will just have to settle for excellent color and resolution...... It's only money right???
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
So good, it's very hard to find.
(5 out of 5) by T. McFarland on Jul 25, 2004 (Oregon) After a good deal of research, I decided on buying this camcorder. Because of an immediate need, I ended up driving to another town and paying full price at Circuit City. In my opinion, it was worth it.
Picture quality is excellent - even better than what appears on the LCD or in the viewfinder. Being able to take still pictures while recording video is extremely conventient. True, it is a very complicated camcorder, but there are resources to assist users with this compexity. The owner's manual is huge, and difficult to navigate, but it is available online in PDF format, to make searches easy.
I recommend this site (http://www.camcorderinfo.com) for a comprehensive review, as well as a forum set up with a very helpful moderator to answer all questions.
Picture quality is excellent - even better than what appears on the LCD or in the viewfinder. Being able to take still pictures while recording video is extremely conventient. True, it is a very complicated camcorder, but there are resources to assist users with this compexity. The owner's manual is huge, and difficult to navigate, but it is available online in PDF format, to make searches easy.
I recommend this site (http://www.camcorderinfo.com) for a comprehensive review, as well as a forum set up with a very helpful moderator to answer all questions.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
The little camera that could.
(5 out of 5) by Jim Smith on May 5, 2004 (New Hope, AL USA)I was skeptical about the size of this camera. When it came in I was very impressed with its capabilities. Color is very rich and lifelike. Low light is adequate. The feel in the hand is quite comfortable. It feels natural and is easy to keep still. Top loading is the way all camcorders should be. Still photography is a definite plus for this camcorder. Normally I just use my digital camera. What I like best about the still photo capabilities of this camcorder is the burst mode. It can take 10 pictures in about 3.5 seconds. Love it and recommend it highly.
32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
Panasonic! Get down!
(5 out of 5) by John Whitbread on Apr 17, 2004 (Culver CIty, CA United States)This is a great camcorder! 3CCD - Simple; one for red, one for green and one for blue. Add one Leica Dicomar lens equals great video with vibrant colors. 2.3MP stills that look better than many digital cameras. 10x optical zoom, 25x or 700x digital zoom. At 700 times I cannot hold it still. Even a tripod will not clear up the image. Images at 200x or 300x are ok. The 25x setting is most useful. 2.5-inch LCD, mediocre (5x7) still photos while taping but good 2.3mp stills in digital camera mode. It plays a little camera shutter sound when you snap a photo, cute. Good manual focusing, decent flash, zoom mic, quick start, the SD card hides under the control panel. They even included a better battery. My 256MB card hold hundreds of high res photos and/or 1.5 hours of MPEG4 video. Awesome. Oh ya, it tapes MiniDV too. The addition of manual focus, MPEG4 and a digical camera is worth the money compared to the PVGS120.