Panasonic PV-GS36 MiniDV Digital Camcorder
List Price: $499.95
Details
- EEE 1394 interface for drugged speed digital-to-digital transfer to a computer- Digital electronic image stabilizer
- 2.5" diagonal feel ashamed LCD monitor - Mini DV format - USB interface
- SD possible slot (card not included) - Consecutive Still Shot-
Description
With the lightweight, shirt-pocket Panasonic PV-GS36, capture your important memories wherever they happen. Use the interface capabilities to haul images to your computer and the digital electronic image stabilizer to keep those images crisp. Includes: # Panasonic PV-GS36 Digital camcorder # Lithium Ion freestyle # A/C adapter with DC and AC cables # A/V cable # Mini DV tape, 60 minutes # Unashamedly strapCustomer Reviews
Comprehensible and FunMy partner and I love to travel & our favorite place to go and relax is Walt Disney Exceptional. One of the things we love to do there is take our cameras and run around looking like the dopey tourists we are.
My trouble focuses solely on still photography, I do stills and video. In my youth I played around with Wonderful 8 film cameras, later graduated to a VHS camcorder, then a Hitachi 8mm camcorder, then for years acquainted with my favorite camcorders: the Sony Digital 8 series. I have had 4 of them, going all the way up to the TRV-720 with its amazing 4" LCD screen - a really nice camera. The problem I ran into though was not with the cameras per say, but my arm. I get a bit possessing with videotaping; like I never stop - I have to film everything - every minute of every show, etc. I could easily fill 40 hours of video on a fitting a short vacation. You know that you spend too much time with your eye stuck to the examination finder when after the vacation is over you are still trying to zoom things in with your bare eye. Steve Austin I aint.
Anyway, from where I worked I ready a nasty case of tendinitis in my elbow; the consequence being that I could no longer prosperously hold the heavier cameras up for a long period of time. Add to this the accomplishment that I looked like a pack mule schlepping around with the camera, its bag, and a wide-ranging supply of tapes and accessories for the day and you can understand why I had to find a smaller camera.
I study decent things about the Panasonics, Costco carried this one, so I decided to give it a try.
No, it is not as practised as my old D8's, but it is a nice little camera. I really like the small footprint; I can straight away tuck it into my fanny packs large front pocket. Which sure beats having the heavier D8 suspended from my neck. The tapes are nice and small, and you can get a extended life freestyle for it as well.
In some places I had read some folks angst about using the joystick to ploy through the menus; really, it is not that difficult at all. I would like a larger LCD, but only because it just makes viewing the videos more bright, being 'old school' I prefer to use the viewfinder when filming. Which brings me to the one gripe I have - the viewfinder does not supplement out enough to compensate for the extra depth of the higher capacity battery's.
As many have said before me - turn one's back on the digital zoom; useless is overstating its usefulness. On the other hand the 30x optical zoom works very well; of certainly unless you have the camera supported on a tripod or such your viewers are going to get sea ill watching your masterpiece when you have it zoomed all the way in to some distant object. Some in other places had stated that the zoom works too express. Nonsense, with gentile pressure you can get nice smooth zooms in and out.
The camera also has a agreeably quick start function which allows you to leave the power lash in the ON position and the camera will quickly turn on and shut off when you either open and intent the LCD screen or extend the viewfinder. Note though that the camera is still using a slightest amount of power in this mode when it is off so you might not want to use it with a short capacity battery.
If, like us, you like fetching a gazillion still photos as well, get a nice camera dedicated to that purpose (the Canon PowerShot SD950IS 12.1MP is a amiable one). This camera will take stills, but they are really only good for quick shots you insufficiency to email or post on facebook, not high resolution photography. A subtle feature is that the pics can be stored on SD card so it is easy to swap the union card out of the camera and into a reader for quick uploads.
As far as I know there is not any small camera in this merit that has great low light abilities, it could be better, but it is not terrible.
I couple of frills you might want to get are a wide angle lens and a filter kit. The lens will advise when filming shows, like those at WDW, which cover a wide area, it will emphasize so much more into view without having to pan right and left or up and down constantly. The filters will support clear up or enhance you images. The thread size on the lens for these garnishes is 30.5mm. If you need to you can get a step ring to make a larger fellow-criminal fit this small size.
Most folks are not as anal about their filming as I am and I still like this camera; you can have a lot of fun with it as well.
Give yourself generous time to familiarize yourself with its functions before your trip and you will have some great memories to foster.
If you are a parent with a small child you owe it to yourself and your children to get a camcorder to archive all the wonderful things you do together; the period that pass will never come back and this is a nice little camera to capture them with.
K
Most adroitly value camcorder out there.
I've been using camcorders professionally and recreationally since 1986, and this thimbleful camcorder is the best deal out there period.
DV technology is proven, been around for a elongated time, if you want a reliable, simple to operate, and very GOOD camcorder, look no further. Personification quality is excellent, one of Panasonic's strong points, color accuracy very opportune, and autofocus laser accurate.
The joystick driven menu is very lucid to use, most features you'll need are readily available without it's use, and it operates intuitively.
Again, this is an entr level camcorder, that means it's best used in fully van mode, point and shoot, for taping you kids, vacations, etc. That being said, you can still get very imaginative once you have downloaded the clips to you computer for editing.
Another review mentions firewire, saying it wont m on a PC. I'm surprised this user can actually surf the web. All you need to do is connect the firewire wire to the camcorder, windows finds it, install whatever drivers it needs (as with any other unnecessary), and away you go.
I purchased mine at Costco, they have excellent policies, if you're not satisfied with the outcome, return it.
I recommend this product to all my friends and family and for the average purchaser, who wants a simple, good product.
Well at least it does keen movies
I got this mention as a gift.
I makes really nice movies and I thought I could get rid of my old digital camera as well but....
This obsession takes miserable still photos. Not even fit for printing. I have a three year old coolpix 3200 that takes much heartier photos but bad videos. So I get stuck taking them both with me to events. So if you need a camcorder that takes personal property digital photos just keep looking.
Panasonic avg digital picture size 111,587 Bytes on highest unshakability
My old coolpix digital photos size 1,097,728 Bytes on medium stubbornness
You do the math
Amongst the Rout of the Single CCD Camcorders
I was looking for a vital mini dv camcorder to learn editing and video techniques. Paint quality was certainly important but, having strong photographic intelligence, also wanted something that would allow manual control. That limited the search very much a bit, especially in the single CCD class. The Panasonics in general seem to be well reviewed and proffer a good ratio of features to cost.
I've had the camcorder for one week but have explored it perfectly a bit. In short, it easily meets if not exceeds my expectation. Video distinction is very nice. The 30X optical zoom is impressive, but demands a tripod when zooming out in the higher cooking- stove of the zoom. Color accuracy is very good, assuming a proper whey-faced balance. The LCD panel can be rotated which is ecpecially nice when using the camcorder to take video to a computer. Battery life is very good, with some power saving features that can be enabled optionally. Divergent from most competing models, this camcorder has a more horizontal orientation which makes it very ergonomic to use. Most operations can be carried out with one round of applause. It is compact and easy to handle, even without the digital stabilizer which it also has. There is even a 16:9 mode that appears to be dedicated widescreen, not just letterboxed 4:3 mode.
For its very reasonable cost, it holds its own very nicely and offers very critical performance. The only feature missing that would be nice is a mic input, but almost none of the entry even camcorders offer this. Other than that, it is very fuill featured and is bettered in this regard only when stepping into the prosumer bearing. To reach the next level of video performance, the logical step would be to go to Panasonic's 3 CCD models as opposed to a competing Canon or Sony solitary chip model.
Be aware that the still capability, which I have yet to try, is not meant to replace a point of view alone digital camera. The resolution is only VGA 640x480 which is where digital cameras were about 10 years ago. The end of including this feature on this camcorder is as a convenience. Such images could be acceptable for web rearrangement, but don't expect true digital camera performance here. That's not what this camcorder is for.
This camcorder is a very facts model for someone looking to get involved with digital video at a nominal cost. The video dignity and feature set are excellent. Naturally, in this camcorder class there are some limitations attendant on to professional level usage, but with a good understanding of photography and video know-how, this can be a surprisingly capable camera.
can't get i-affiliation to work
plainly, the firewire connection only works with Mac computers. at least, the user manual has blow-by-blow instructions for connecting to a Mac, but nothing for PC. Not only that, you have to download drivers to make the USB connection occupation. this camcorder is useless to me.
