Panasonic NV GS11

I bought this camera over a year a go for £250 from Comet and it is still going strong. I also saw the same one in Argos at the time for £400 so knew it was a good buy from the start and being a beginner at the time knew it was a must have as I didn't want to spend loads on something I might not use too often even though I've used it at least once a week since I bought it. I only bought it with it's own 1 year guarantee but Comet do offer an extended ...
...Recordings are stored on tapes which can be set to SP or LP. The only ones i've seen store 60mins on SP and 90mins on LP and they come in a 3 pack so you know you can record 3hrs worth of film before having to store your film. I think they are around £15 but don't quote me on that.

With an LCD screen it provides easy usage especially for self filming the LCD rotates and the display flips automatically so you can see exactly what you ... more

I bought this camera over a year a go for £250 from Comet and it is still going strong. I also saw the same one in Argos at the time for £400 so knew it was a good buy from the start and being a beginner at the time knew it was a must have as I didn't want to spend loads on something I might not use too often even though I've used it at least once a week since I bought it. I only bought it with it's own 1 year guarantee but Comet do offer an extended warranty at a price I must add.

Recordings are stored on tapes which can be set to SP or LP. The only ones i've seen store 60mins on SP and 90mins on LP and they come in a 3 pack so you know you can record 3hrs worth of film before having to store your film. I think they are around £15 but don't quote me on that.

With an LCD screen it provides easy usage especially for self filming the LCD rotates and the display flips automatically so you can see exactly what you are filming. For the price I bought it for it has great picture quality. It has a light added for them slightly darker days and does have a colour night function but this is very jerky and you are best using other artificial lighting and filming in colour but it is fun to play with. The 24X optical zoom is more than enough, don't bother with the 800X digital zoom because of the picture quality it is pointless to use. I actually filmed my partner scratching her bum and I was on one side of niagara falls (canada) and she was on the other (USA) and at 24X optical zoom the picture was crystal clear. I must admit i had to sit the camera on a flat surface as my hand wasn't steady enough but steadiness is easily overcome even without using a tripod stand.

You can even take still pictures on it (it uses about 20-30seconds of tape) but with 3 tapes you can save taking 2 cameras with you when you go away for the day.

The sound is good but it does seem to pick up too much especially on windy days, all you seem to hear is mostly the wind but other sound does come through and there is a function on the camera on the menu where you can select wind cut which helps a little but could be better. Also you can plug in a microphone (sold sepearately) in the front to specify where you want sound to come from.

The camera also includes different cinema effects including multi picture, pic-in-pic, strobe, trail, mosaic, mirror, stretch, and slim. You can also select wide screen cinema mode as well as different colour recording including black and white. Everything is easy to find on the menu and it is worth just messing around with so you know what you are getting from it.

The remote controls are also easy to use and come in handy when you are trying to film the whole family and you don't want to be stuck behind the camera.

It's small and light do you can even take it anywhere without taking a great big bag or having to use scaffolding to hold it, my partner even thought it was a toy it is so compact.

The instructions tell you everything from a quick start to detail in using the camera to it's best capabilities, although I haven't read it all as I use it as and when but things are easy to find when you do need it (trust me not very often, the camera is almost self explanatory in it's use).

The only really bad thing I think is the battery. If you film for a constant hour you will just about film an hour. Throughout the day you will be lucky to get 30-45 mins tops. My only recommendation for the product is to buy a stronger battery and take 2 out with you so you can get the most of time usage out of it.

It's also very easy to convert on to your computer through a firewire port (you will need to buy a separate cable and make sure your computer has a firewire port available) and if you have windows movie maker, windows XP will pick up your camera through plug and play and it will start the process of getting your film onto the computer for you with easy to follow on screen instructions.

I actually recommend using windows movie maker just to get the film onto the computer, then buy yourself a good quality video editing program to work from it. Also my computer needs updating but I'm still getting good video and I would make sure you have a graphics card to run your video editing software. The camera also includes an A/V cable so you can view the film on a TV and record to a video/dvd recorder easily and a USB cable so you can use it as a webcam.

Like I said for the problems I've had (steadiness, battery power and sound) they are so easily overcome for a small price so it's a certain buy especially for the beginner like I was. 

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