The main aim of this review is to inform people what this review is like. This may help someone to decide whether to buy this camera or not, or it may just be a second opinion. Whatever it means to you I hope you will find it useful.

This is a camcorder, which is very easy to use after a few uses. The buttons are conveniently placed and clearly marked out. However they could be slightly bigger or spread apart because sometimes they can get hard to press. If you wish to dive into the further, more advanced features, then it helps to open the instruction manual. Most of it is easy to understand. The main two difficulties I found with the camera was navigating the cameras menus and remembering which cables go where when connecting it to the television. When going thorough the menus you use the vertical scrolling wheel that is also be pressed to select. Unless you press it properly you may turn the wheel as well, this can get very annoying indeed! However, overall it is fairly easy to use.

I would say that the Panasonic NV DS29B has a very good range and quality of features for the average Joe. Some of this includes screen effects like mirror, robotic movement and mosaic. These can be fun to experiment with. There are two different types of zoom with this, these are optical and digital. The optical zoom with this camera is 10x and the digital zoom is 500x. Although the digital zoom goes higher the video quality decreases with it. There are also features for night time filming which include 0-lux and a light. There are plenty to satisfy the average film maker. Attached on the side is a 2.5-inch rotateable LCD screen. You can use this to view what you are recording or rotate it. This is quite useful if you have kids who are quite rowdy whilst recording home movies, many enjoy watching the screen which is next to the lens. There is also a photoshot feature that allows you take a photo whilst recording and include 7 seconds of sound with it. However, I haven’t found any particular use with this, although you may.

Also included with the camera is a remote control that can be used if you are going to place the camera to face yourself to make movies including yourself. This is where the 180-degree rotateable screen comes in useful; it helps you see what you are recording. It includes various simple functions like Play, Stop, Record etc. There is also a concise instruction manual included which can solve your main problems if you have any.

Overall I think that the Panasonic NV DS29B is a very good camcorder. The only let downs are the weight, navigating the menus and it could include DV in. However, not everyone may have a use for this. I give it a Very Good and 4 out of 5 star rating.