Panasonic Panasonic PV-GS300 MiniDV Camcorder

Panasonic PV-GS300

Panasonic PV-GS300 MiniDV Camcorder Review, by Richard Baguley June 9, 2006

Show More Show Less

0 Comments | 0 Topics | Print Only This Review

• Reviewed by: ausoff

  Strengths: Picture colors and sharpness. Very good build. Easy to operate.

  Weaknesses: battery life (1 hour max) and OIS (Optical image stabilizator).

  Overall: Everything about this cam is good. I bought additional battery and now don't think about battery life. But OIS is just awfull.... well I expected more for the price!!!

• Reviewed by: kahboom

  Strengths: 3ccd, small, light-weight, external mic connection

  Weaknesses: died after one normal vacation (4 one-hour tapes).

  Overall: Apparently, moisture gets in easily through the speaker and corrodes the front PC board, so if you live where there is any humidity at all, DO NOT buy this camera. It is very fragile. My camera did not get wet, but it was around normal humidity, taking summer videos.I had another brand camera before this and I'm going back to that brand because it could handle basic outdoor use.

• Reviewed by: djcabrera

  Strengths: Color is produced in expected manner with 3xccds, even though they're 1/6 compared to gs500 1/4, can't tell any drop in quality. made in Japan!- super smooth with OIS. Audio is also suprisingly good.

  Weaknesses: Can't think of much... would be sooo sweet if it would record video to SD.

  Overall: I picked this up to do a 15 minute documentary on building in LA/Hollywood... it's great but I had to purchase a combo lens pack ($25) with UV lens (to replace the lens protector that it came with) and a polorization lens to remove daylight reflection/glare... then another $50 bucks for a .5 wide angle and 2x telescopic lens, now I'm really cooking, and Frys had the unit on sale for 449, which Best Buy price matched... Very very happy with this unit, saved me 100's of bux.

• Reviewed by: philldo

  Strengths: 3 CCDS render great color and clarity. Has Mic Port and Cold Shoe.

  Weaknesses: Lost the manual focus ring. No headphone jack. No analog to DV passthrough.

  Overall: This cam works great. The color and clarity blow my old Canon ZR series camcorder out of the water. I like shooting in widescreen. Not only is it the big buzz right now, widescreen feels more natural to me. Its kinda how I see the world. After reading all the poor reviews about the batterry, I purchased a longer lasting battery. The stock one seems to work fine though. I was able to film a whole tape (60 min sp) and review a little of it on one charge. A second battery is always good to have.OIS works wonders. My tele shots look much steadier than with my old "digital" stabilized camcorder. You still need a steady hand. I wish the cam had a little wider angle lense. You have to take a couple of steps back unless you want to be "up close and personal" with your subject. This is especially true with kids. They want to be on top of you when you are filming them and all I end up getting is their hands or face in the shot. The low light setting under "Scenes" mode works good. I tried to shoot manually and up the iris setting, but kept on getting dark shots. The low light mode does wonders.It lost the maual focus ring which I would really like to have. But, they also, dropped the price on this model which allowed me to purchase it. The audio sounds good. That is when I don't put my hand over the mic. It's not jsut me. My wife does the same. The mic is a spot we both naturally grab to steady the cam. I wish the viewfinder tilted for shooting in bright light.The camera was not a selling point for me. It works okay in camera mode. The photos are soft and the flash over exposes them. I haven not tried tweaking this at all. The big disappointment is when you are in video mode. The camera shoots at a very low resolution. Which makes since. SD dv is only 720 X 480. I dont' know what I was thinking, but I was hoping for the 3 megapixel shots.Overall the camcorder works awesome for the price.

• Reviewed by: GGA

  Strengths: easy to operate

  Weaknesses: Manual not well written

  Overall: I like the joystick a lot. Operation is easy. The on-screen prompts make it easy to use. The 3CCD makes for great image quality. Still shots are available in 3 megapixels. The video quality looks awesome when uploaded to the PC