Panasonic PV-GS120 3CCD MiniDV Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom

Panasonic out did themselves by releasing two 3CCD camcorders below the $1000 price point (the other being the PV-GS200). No other consumer DV cam boasts 3CCDs, and the difference in image quality really shows. Getting a similar image quality from any other brand of DV cam requires spending at least $1500. The only reason I gave this camcorder 4 stars instead of 5 is because the battery life is far too short. Even with an extra battery, this camcorder beats out everything in the same price range from Canon, Sony, JVC, etc.

I was like anybody else, which camera to buy? The first thing I did , bought a Pinnacle AV/DV Firewire card and Studio v.9 software package. I have a Nikon D70, so I was looking for a camcorder not a digital camera.

I made my decision the "dirty way": I bought 3 different cameras from 3 different stores (made sure they will not charge re-stocking fee if I return it within 2 weeks) I will not mention the stores, but the cameras were my final 3 after extensive online research. Sony DCR HC40, Panasonic PV-GS120 and Canon Optura 65.

I took all three home, made a 20 minutes movie with each camera: low light, medium light indoors and outdoors, macro, etc... I've uploaded the movies from the camera I took it with, unto Pinnacle Studio v9, and then I burned a DVD of this 1 hour movie.

To make the long story short, I did return the Sony and the Canon, and here is why:

3CCD really works, you can't match the color separation, even if the "one" CCD is larger and has more pixels.

Panasonic's picture quality was almost broadcast quality, vivid colors and sharp edges, Canon and Sony looked like a very good Hi8.

-Canon was horrible in low light, and my palm never got used to it.

-Sony's touch screen is Stupid, why would you wanna use your oily fingers on the screen which you are using to see what are you capturing.

-Sony's night vision shot might work with 1% of the population, I don't really want to look at grainy green pictures.

-Carl Zeiss makes very good lenses, but this Leica is superior to Sony's (notice that Panasonic is using Leica only on their "top" models)If this camera would have a Leica badge on it instead of Panasonic, this camera would be 3 times more $.Please see Panasonic and Leica dicams.

-Set the sound to 16 bit and you will better sound pick up than Sony or Canon.

-Yes, Sony Steady Shot is better than EIS, but I don't have shaky hands, and never use digital zoom more than the 20x.

Few things I would change on the Panasonic:1, The manual focus is weird. 2, use of an internal lense cap. 3, Could use a 20x optical zoom. Other than that, I am very happy with this camera, I've paid $500 at Costco.

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There is no doubt that this is an excellent camcorder. Compared to PVGS200 Panasonic and going for that one because of few extra features. Worth the extra cost (for me at least). Main reason I am writing this review is because there are few features that are listed on Amazon site for this camcorder but they are not available in this model (they are in PVGS200 model). Here are those:

MPEG4 Movie Recording

MagicWire Remote Control

Built-in Auto Pop-up Flash

Again these features are *not* present in PVGS120 model.

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Have had the unit 6 months, and been through 10 tapes of kids, events, and such. The unit has been flawless, with two exceptions. First, is battery life on the default battery. I quickly determined that a spare battery was needed and picked up the CGA-DU21 which gives me a solid 4-5 hours of shooting time when I combine the two batteries.

The second issue is the button layout on the "folding screen" area. The layout is ambiguous and some more thought should have gone into making those functions usable WHILE shooting (e.g. Fade, date/time stamp, etc.)

The screen is very nice, but has a narrow viewing angle. Low light performance is great and when you have plenty of light, the color is wonderful. I'm very pleased about my purchase. If you plan to use the camera for still digital, you may want to get the unit with the higher res camera.

I also added a 512 MB SD card to it so that I can use this as a digi cam for those times when enlargements aren't likely. The shots make great 4x6 prints even with the lower end unit (1.2 megapixels.) I recently came back from holiday with 2 full DV tapes and over 90 beautiful photographs all from the same camera. The photos aren't anything like my Canon Digital Rebel, but are as good as any point-and-shoot digital camera with 2 megapixels can be.

Another quick point. It's hard to find a point-and-shoot digital camera with a fast lens (usually they are f3.5 or slower) ... but with a digicam, you automatically get like an f1.4 and can take digital stills in very low light (kids on stage, etc)... they are a tad grainy, but when you're out of flash range or flash isn't allowed, it's great.

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Whether or not it comes with a firewire cable is of no importance. I don't believe any of these DV cams come with one. Just spend $20 to buy a kit that comes with a firewire card, a firewire cable and entry-level editing software. Enough said.

Now, in terms of quality, from my first observations I've gotten good video. Outdoors these digital cams are all good. This one will have better color rendition and won't blow out highlights as much, due to its 3 CCDs. Not as high resolution as some, but I doubt one can tell in the final image. Indoors it's better than most other consumer DV cams, which actually isn't saying much. It has less grain and more color than the others, but still isn't great. You have to spend $2,000 to get a digital camcorder that does well in low light. The GS120 automatically turns off the electronic image stabilization in low light, which helps with low light but makes for shakey video if you zoom in.