I like this camera a lot!
The picture quality is excellent, almost as good as you will get from a professional DV camera. This is because, like professional cameras, it has 3 CCDs. A CCD is basically a sensor which detects the light and converts it into a digital format that can be recorded. ... Read review
Advantages: Excellent video quality, compact size, easy to use Disadvantages: Poor low light performance, lack of exposure controls
I like this camera a lot!
The picture quality is excellent, almost as good as you will get from a professional DV camera. This is because, like professional cameras, it has 3 CCDs. A CCD is basically a sensor which detects the light and converts it into a digital format that can be recorded. Most consumer cameras have one chip to record all the colours. This camera has three chips, each dedicated to one of the primary colours (Red, ... ...you recieve extrodinarily sharp, defined and lifelike video, and avoid the slightly washed-out 'home-video' look that many consumer cameras can produce.
The second positive aspect of the camera is its tiny size and light weight. It is by far the smallest 3ccd camera I have seen. It can easily fit in a normal stills camera bag making it far more conveinent to carry around with you.
The picture quality is excellent, almost as good as you will get from a professional DV camera. This is because, like professional cameras, it has 3 CCDs. A CCD is basically a sensor which detects the light and converts it into a digital format that can be recorded. Most consumer cameras have one chip to record all the colours. This camera has three chips, each dedicated to one of the primary colours (Red, Green, Blue). Ignoring the science, what this means is that you recieve extrodinarily sharp, defined and lifelike video, and avoid the slightly washed-out 'home-video' look that many consumer cameras can produce.
The second positive aspect of the camera is its tiny size and light weight. It is by far the smallest 3ccd camera I have seen. It can easily fit in a normal stills camera bag making it far more conveinent to carry around with you.
It is easy to use for a novice, as most of the settings are automatic, although you can control the focus manually with a professional style focus-ring which can be handy.
Some people will find that the fact that most the settings are automatic is a bit of a drawback. You cannot control or fix the exposure, (apart from a few pre-set exposure modes) which can be a nuisance when filming a shot indoors or with varying lighting, as the brightness of the picture will change on its own accord.
It is also very limited at shooting in low light conditions, the low-light mode is hardly any improvement on the standard setting. This limitation may be due to the small size of the lens - so is a sacrifice for having such a small camera.
The camera has a 10x optical zoom (and a digital zoom, which shouldn't be used as it drastically reduces the quality) and image stabalisation which works fine as long as the lighting is good. It can also take stills up to 2 megapixels although you will get much better results using a normal digital stills camera.
Sound recording from the inbuilt mike is fine, but if you want to isolate people from background noise you will need to buy an external boom mike which can fit on top of the camera.
Overall, I would definately recommend the camera. I bought it to document a six month driving trip across the USA and was very very happy with it. It gave me no problems, produced great video footage and was small enough not to intimidate anyone I stopped to chat to and film along the way.
Panasonic's NV-GS400B looks to be an appealing package, but is it good enough to steal the Sony DCR-TRV950's mantle as the best low-cost, semi-pro three-chip camcorder?
Although the top end of the prosumer market is hotly contested by Sony's VX2100 and Canon's XL1S - along with some of the cheaper professional models - there are fewer choices for those with less than £2,000 to spend. Canon's XM2 is a great camcorder, but for value, Sony's three-CCD DCR-TRV900 and its replacement, the 950, have been hard to beat. However, Sony has discontinued the TRV950, and replaced it with the DCR-HC1000. But this is aimed at a slightly different audience, leaving vacant an important slot in the market.
Enter Panasonic's NV-GS400B. Whereas the company's other recent contributions, such as the NV-GS200B, have brought three-chip technology into ...
Panasonic's vision of the digital future is driven by the needs and aspirations of its business customers and millions of consumers around the world who use its products every day. The company shares their dream to live a fuller life by providing ways of working smarter and enjoying the rewards of technological advances. PRODUCT FEATURES: Webcam Function; Manual Focus Ring; Built-in Flash; Color Night View; 1.7 sec. Quickstart; Pictbridge Compatible; USB Interface (USB 2.0 compatible); DV Analog In- and Output.
