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I’ve owned the Panasonic PV-GS70 since September, 2003. I must say that I’m very impressed with its performance so far. It packs a lot of punch for the dollar, and Panasonic has come up with a 3 CCD camera that is truly revolutionary for a sub-$1000 camcorder. First thing you’ll notice about the camera is its size…it’s a tiny Palmcorder that looks like a normal camcorder. One of the things I’ve always hated about the higher end 3 chip cameras is that they look exotic and attract a lot of attention when shooting on city streets. They’re also larger and tend to be awkward to handle. The Panasonic PV-GS70 fits right in your hand and barely weighs a pound. Of course, free shooting is difficult without a tripod or a monopod, and the digital image stabilization system in this camera doesn’t help much. But I find that the compact size makes me want to use it more often, and I end up taking it outside with a monopod when I feel like going for a walk. Panasonic didn’t skimp on manual features in this model. I have complete control over focus, iris, shutter speed and white balance. What’s surprising is that, with a little practice, all of these controls are easy to reach. Thumbs up to Panasonic on this feature. The results in auto mode are excellent as well. On a clear day, Auto white balance produced brilliant, accurate colours. Auto focus is barely noticeable, and auto iris has reasonable response times, although I find it runs a little bit hot. The 10x Optical lens is the same high-quality lens we’re seeing in other Panasonic camcorders. The lens has a 37mm thread which allows for the addition of filters and wide angle converters. The 700x digital zoom function is overkill, and the picture pixelates quite drastically beyond 10x zoom. Panasonic has loaded a ton of digital effects and features, although they are a little awkward to access. The highlights include a 16:9 cinema mode (Just squeezes the picture – not true 16:9), strobe, mirror & picture-in-picture effects, and black and white mode. The camcorder also doubles as a 1.2 megapixel digital camera and can snap pictures either to Mini-DV tape or to the 8mb SD card included with the camera. As a digital camera, there are far better available on the market, but someone pointed out to me that the digital camera function is excellent for directors and editors who want to save time storyboarding their projects. The built-in microphone isn’t much to write home about, although the camcorder is capable of both 12 bit and 16 bit PCM audio. There is an external microphone mini-jack on the side, and a cold-shoe on top to mount a shotgun microphone…although it would look pretty silly on such a small camera. The LCD screen is useable and flexible, although it lacks many professional features such as zebra patterns and colour bars. Sometimes it can be difficult to get accurate iris readings without using the eyepiece. The power in this camera is of course the video quality! The 3 1/6” CCD chips produce splendid colours that easily blow away every one-chip camera on the market, and compare quite favorably with lower-end 3 CCD cameras from Panasonic and Sony. However, there are some noticeable differences that make it fall well short of the Sony VX-2000 and Canon XL series. Jagged digital edges are very prevalent when shooting white lines, and there’s slight flaring when shooting reds. The camera also requires good lighting to produce great pictures and performs poorly in low light conditions when compared to good quality one-chips. Capturing video through the firewire port of my computer was seamless using Pinnacle Studio. No firewire cable is provided with the camcorder, so you’ll need to purchase one separately. The software package included with the camera is barebones basic…even Windows Movie software is better. I’ve burned 2 DVDs using the video from the camera through my Pinnacle Studio system, and the results are spectacular. The only downside to the camera is the stingy warranty – 90 days labor – 1 year parts. When you buy it, accept that it’s going to be a short-term solution for your projects. I purchased an extended warranty on mine, and plan to work it hard for the next three years. The best place to buy right now is at Amazon.com. They have a great price on it, reliable delivery. If you get accepted for the Amazon Visa below, you can buy it instantly with no money down and no interest for six months! |
