Panasonic Palmcorder PV-DV953

Panasonic PV-DV953

Palmcorder PV-DV953 Review, by Bryan Hastings April 30, 2004

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• Reviewed by: irule1

  Strengths: Image quality is pretty good, easy to use, LCD is really big

  Weaknesses: Does not do good in low light but what can you expect for $25

  Overall: If I decide to buy this it will be my first mini DV camcorder.It has 3CCD, it's great.The zoom can be a little pixelated if you zoom really far.If I buy this I will get these with it: the wide angle lens,extra battery, and a tripod for the maximum benefits.

• Reviewed by: Daveintempe

  Strengths: Optical image stabilization, zebra effect for oversaturation, still photo effect in movies, 3.0 megapixel stills in SD card, colorbar generator.

  Weaknesses: low light capability

  Overall: I have used this for a 2 week tour of Europe, a wedding, several stage productions and home video. Except for the low light situation, it is a dream camcorder. The many effects and adjustments available, cover almost all that a non professional could ask for. The 3.5 in LCD is especially useful. This is my 4th camcorder, but first DV. I love the resolution when played back on my 32" TV.

• Reviewed by: marctrainor

  Strengths: Well made, excellent video, many great features, 3 chips, Great price.

  Weaknesses: Cheezy remote controller.

  Overall: Well gang, I finally did it. I finally made a decision on a new camera... I think I'm probably like a lot of the potential buyers out there-I was looking for an above average camera, but I didn't want to spend $2000. After reading about and handeling the GL2, VX2000, and the VX2100, I started to lower my standards, just a little, because I couldn't afford the $2000 range. I also looked at some of the cameras under a grand, and some of them looked pretty good but I wanted to get a three chip, if I could, so I narrowed it down to the PV-DV953 and it's baby brother the PV-GS70. I really liked the 70 but it didn't have as many features and I think the chips are a little bigger on the 953. Soooo... I decided to buy the 953. Got that baby in the mail and my heart was pounding. I'd been wanting a good DV camcorder for quite a while so I opened the box. The first thing I noticed was it's size. I thought it would be a lot bigger, but after holding it and messin with it for a few minutes, I started to dig the feel of the thing. It has a very comfortable feel and I realized, that if I was going to do any gorilla filming, i.e. shoot the inside of a department store without getting permission and not attracting too much attention, or something like that, this might be the one. Well... I read the quickie setup page just so I could shoot a little bit of footage and I was very impressed with the picture on the LED monitor. This camera really looks and feels like it's well made. I looked at some of the features which I won't go into too much because most of you have read or could read the technical descriptions of the features on the net, and everything looked great until I got to the remote controller. I'm not talking about the wireless remote, I mean the little, and I do mean littl one that controls the zoom, record and still picture taking. This is the only thing I was really disapointed in besides a (not quite slow as I'd like it, but pretty darn slow zoom). This controller looks like they picked it up at Woolworths and decided to stick it in with the camera stuff. That may be a little strong language, but in all honesty, it just feels cheap. I can't understand why they'd give you a killer, well built, $1000 or so camera and then put in a $1.98 controller. Well reluctently I plugged it in and at least it works. My main discontent with it is that I couldn't make it do a vari-zoom. It zoom's but only at one speed. If I'm wrong on this, please, someone, let me know and I'll change the info in this review. However... the thing does work and even though I wanted the really knockout one that controlls the zoom speed and feels like the same quality of the camera, I wouldn't let this one thing keep you from taking a serious look at this camcorder. The only other thing that bothered me at first was the fact that I wanted a REALLY slow zoom for those creepy crawls, like say at a wedding, s l o w l y zooming into a close-up of the brides face. The slow I'm talking about, I'v only found on the higher, higher end cameras and one of the three I mentioned earlier. I cant mention the name because of the rules here but after fooling around with this camera for a while I realized it's a pretty darn good, slow zoom and a very smooth one to boot. I wanted to have a 20x zoom but again, price, so I just ordered a 2x extenter which should do the trick. I shoot a lot of surfing video so I also bought a 3x. Not sure how the 3x is gona fly here, but I figured I'd give it a try. As far as the features go, if you want features, this is the one. I can't say enough how thrilled I am to have this many features for the price I paid. Take a look for yourself and compare, but if I'm not wrong, this camera has almost as many features as those $2000 models, only lacking in an introvolometer and a few things. Not bad for under $1000. If you want a camera that is well built, shoots great looking video, has automatic or manual shooting capibilities, has all the good features and has 3 chips for under $1000, this might be it. I don't think you can do any better for the price and I honestly think it could have sold for fifteen hundered bucks or so and still wouldn't be a bad deal.

• Reviewed by: r19578

  Strengths: Good image quality, optical image stabilization.

  Weaknesses: Slow USB 1.1, slow SD card drive

  Overall: I'm very satisfied with this 3CCD camcorder, the video quality is excellent, and the still image is better than my old Sony 2 mega pixel digital camera. It capture pictures without any delay, however, it takes seconds to save the picture to the SD card (the camcorder stops responding until it's done). The USB 1.1 connection is slow, though you can always take the SD card out and use a USB 2.0 card reader to transfer your pictures.

• Reviewed by: solinux

  Strengths: Still picture, 3 CCD camcorder

  Weaknesses: none

  Overall: It is easy to handle, a lot of customization. Fot the low light situation, you still can video taping with the normal room light, I don't like the night shot of any 0 lux camcorder because the quality of the video is not good enough to bother. In case of low light situation, I rather use the built in digital still camera and use software to add them to my video clips. It is a good camcorder, well built. I am really enjoying it.