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| Date Reviewed: 04/02/2006 |
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Strengths: Good color quality.
Sound is crisp and clean.
Good instruction manual.
Weaknesses: Original battery life is sub-par.
Digital camera mode is average.
Summary: This is my first camcorder purchase. The camera records great video when compared to other camcorders I have seen. I specifically sought out 3CCD for that reason. Many review sites have this camcorder and its predecessor (PV-GS250) listed as among the best in value. Given how poorly instructions are in other types of digital hardware this camera's instructions were very easy to understand and very informative. The camera fits well in my hand and is very small and comfortable to use. The joystick control is ok, it seems a little too sensitive and doesn't give me as much feedback as I would like when using it. It captures audio very well. Although I'm not sure why it comes factory pre-set to 12bit audio when it has 16 bit audio available. It has a nice widescreen mode that is impressive when played on my computer but doesn't look that great when played on my older TV. When played directly from the camera it crops and zooms the widescreen image on my TV which creates some fuzziness. I'll have to see what it does with the formatting when I make a DVD. For a 'one hour battery' I would expect something a little longer than 40 minutes before getting the low battery notification. A second 'long life' batter is pretty much a requirement. The camera mode wasn't as good as I had hoped. 3.1MP is only available in full (4:3) mode. If you're using widescreen mode it only goes up to 2.4MP. Pictures looked pretty grainy at maximum resolution. However, their quality improved considerably after reducing them to 1024x758 (or lower) with a graphics editor. Which should be fine for anyone making prints or emailing them.
 91% of People (68/75) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 06/10/2006 |
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Strengths: Compact, fits hand well, thumb-control joystick works well, widescreen color screen, quickstart option, great video captured
Weaknesses: Zoom control awkward for large hands, decent still pictures, not true widescreen capture
Summary: I would definitely recommend this camcorder to the above-average user, someone who doesn't just want to take video, but good quality video and have lots of features on the camera. It has served all of my indoor and outdoor purposes, recording very good video and audio. Designed more for a user who is looking for automatic mode and let the camera do all the work, rather than someone who wants manual control of everything. Comparing the price to the quality, I think you get outstanding capture. I did a lot of research, read tons of reviews, looked at DVD and MiniDV tapes, and this was the camcorder I purchased, and I have not been disappointed.
88% of People (29/33) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 03/28/2006 |
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Strengths: Made in Japan and small dv tapes. Looks modern. small for people with small hands like me!
Weaknesses: battery battery battery.the one they give you only last for about half and hour...
Summary: I just bought this camcorder online and the price was way better than the stores around town. The Cam fits in your hands and just feels great. not to mention that it look modern. Many features to fool around with, but I like to use the manual features on the Panasonic cams. This cam also has 3.1 megapixel still photo option which is cool, but of course its not as great as a regular dig camera. But this is a fun camcorder to play with and not to difficult to learn the functions. The manual is pretty easy to read and follow. make sure you but a uv filter to protect your lens.,but panasonic has a lens protector that closes when you don't use your cam. but the filter is added protection for this investment!!!
86% of People (31/36) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 07/14/2006 |
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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.
Summary: 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.
86% of People (19/22) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 04/28/2006 |
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Strengths: color quality, image crispness, optical image stabilization, size
Weaknesses: battery life, bought 2200mah baterries as the one supplied is weak, and red eye
Summary: I just had the oportunity to review the JVC HDD camcorder and this camcorder blows it away. The low light quality of this camera is not fantastic, but in comparison to the JVC HDD camcorder, the GS300 is much better. I've noticed that when you pan from darker areas to lighter areas it takes the camera a few seconds to adjust to the light difference, leaving the brighter area really washed out. I just wish it would be a little quicker at adjusting. One other thing that we had issues with is that whether or not the red eye was on or off it made no difference in the amount of red eye that showed up in the images. Other than those minor things i think this is a great camcorder.
83% of People (20/24) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 04/29/2006 |
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Strengths: Size, ease of use, picture quality, 3.1 MP still picture, dim lighting picture quality, 3 CCU's.
Weaknesses: No SD card included and eye piece does not tilt.
Summary: This is a great camcorder and still picture camera built into one. I got this camcorder after being very disappointed with the grainy footage from my Canon ZR70 in dim light. I got to view footage from a friends camera in the same setting without any grainy appearance. The 3.1 MP still camera is a bonus and has a built-in flash for the camera. This camcorder is so easy to use that I was able to open the box and start shooting without reading the manual first. The joystick is fairly easy to navigate with once you get use to it. I was also impressed that the battery charger is not the typical slow model but actually charges in 2 hours. Nice upgrade. The only accessories I bought were a longer life battery and as SD card. Great camcorder.
82% of People (23/28) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 10/11/2006 |
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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.
Summary: 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.
82% of People (9/11) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 06/06/2006 |
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Strengths: beautiful color, low price, long battery life, quiet, nice ergonomics, still photo's look pretty good compared to other Cam's
Weaknesses: no manual focus. no effects ie, no black and white function, you have to add this later in editing.
Summary: Look, this camcorder is about color. I've owned mine for about 5 days now and I absolutely love it. I primarily shoot outdoors nature in day light. Overcast days are best for vibrant color that isn't washed out, and the GS300 knows it. This is where having 3CCD's pays off, sharp true to life color and detailed image reproduction. Each chip controlling its own spectrum converting white light into it's three basic forms. Add a macro lens and I feel like I'm watching film. Ease of use. Open the LCD and I'm turned on and ready for action. No need to fumble for the lens cap or "on switch" potentially missing the mark. Thumb joystic is a nice feature but I don't like the lack of a manual focus ring. You can adjust the focus with the joystic but it's quite clumsy. This feature is found in the more pro GS500, which I couldn't afford. Battery Life. I find the Battery life to be long lasting, contrary to other reviewers. The problem is most people don't charge the battery before using the camera which kills its longevity. It come's 1/3 charged but YOU MUST GIVE IT A FULL CHARGE before using it for the first time. Took it 2+ hours, this applies to all rechargeable's. It lasts me all day if turning it on only when I'm shooting. a new feature to save power is the auto-shutoff function that kicks in when the camera is left on by mistake. BOTTOM LINE Buy it if you shoot out doors in good light. This is not a night camera, nor an indoor fluorescent light one. For that buy really good 1 CCD Cam.
79% of People (31/39) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 05/13/2006 |
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Strengths: Have both video and picture taken mode, which is fit with my purpose. Quality of those features is above average, I would say excellence in video recording. Long last battery (about 2 hours for me).
Weaknesses: It's kind of small (I got big hand), so I need both hand to operate it.
Summary: I bought it on line, so with $540 for this camcorder, I think it's a good deal. Some people recommend model PV-GS500, but I think this model is more than enough for my need. I test the quality of "low light" condition, by recording a short video clip at night in door, and the quality came out outstanding. I feel very happy with this camcorder. Also, it's perfect for my wife to use as "point and shoot" person. If I have to grade this camcorder, I would say 4.5 out of 5 Hope this review is good for someone else.
77% of People (23/30) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 05/02/2006 |
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Strengths: Great picture/ color quality. Easy to operate. Size. Integrated lens cap.
Weaknesses: Place SD slot.
Summary: This is my first camcorder. I used it for over a month and so far I think it's a great camera. I bought this camera because of the OIS and 3 CCD's and the quality of the picture and colors are great. I only used the automatic control and didn't try the manual control yet. I am really satisfied how easy it is to operate. The instructions were very clear. It's a very small camera, a perfect fit when your hands are small as mine are. A handy thing is the integrated lens cap. The only weakness I can think of (I don't have problems with the batteries) is the place of the slot of the SD card: at the bottom of the camera. Not quite handy when you want to remove the card to upload the pictures to your PC. But this is just a minor thing...
77% of People (17/22) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 05/22/2006 |
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Strengths: 3CCD, optical image stabilization, 3.1MP still picture, 2.7-inch wide-screen LCD, light weight, compact size, and good video quality
Weaknesses: Battery life just OK, joystick is not easy to operate at the begining
Summary: I bought PV-GS300 online for $535 three weeks ago. Although it is not the smallest one on the market, this camcorder is very compact and most importantly it fits your hand very comfortably. One of its nice features is that when you close the LCD the camcorder will go stand-by to save power and the intergrated lens cap will also close. It takes a little while to be familiar with the joystick system, but it seems fairly easy to operate once you get used to it. Battery life could be better, but you can buy an additional battery easily at very reasonable price. Overall, with its price range, I can not find any better choices.
75% of People (15/20) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 04/18/2006 |
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Strengths: Video quality, joystick menu system,easy to handle and operate
Weaknesses: Needs a higher optical lens
Summary: I just became a grandfather so i decided to get rib of my old VHS camcoder. The Panasonic PV-GS300 is a wonder to operate ,specially when you need to navigate through the menu by using the amazing joystick .All the bottoms are placed in the right places and the picture quality is superb.
73% of People (16/22) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 06/23/2006 |
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Strengths: easy to operate
Weaknesses: Manual not well written
Summary: 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
70% of People (16/23) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 05/10/2006 |
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Strengths: great picture
Weaknesses: joystick control a little small for big fingers
Summary: After a lot of research I picked the Panasonic PV-GS300. It is a great little camera for a good price. The picture quality is absolutly perfect. No other complaints.
68% of People (17/25) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 04/21/2006 |
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Strengths: Ease of use combined with excellent good color and low light capture. Image stabilization was a must for me as was the 10x optical zoom. The 3.1 mega pixel still photo feature was an added bonus.
Weaknesses: some may have wanted the analog to digital transfer capability - for me this is not a major deterrent.
Summary: I have had the camcorder for only a few days but I have fallen in love with its multiple features and great video capture in all light conditions. I would recommend this camcorder to both those that want an automatic point and shoot unit as well as the semi-pros that enjoy tinkering with the settings in manual mode. In my opinion this unit is unchallenged in its price range.
51% of People (18/35) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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