Panasonic PV-GS500 DV Camcorder

GS 500 at one month

By romy  Apr 9, 2007 | 1 out of 1 found this Panasonic PV-GS500 review helpful

Pros: image quality, manual focusing, built quality

Cons: lack of headphones, battery life

I am cameroonian residing in South Africa with hobbies in photo and video. The built quality of this camera is very good, inspires confidence. it is on the larger side but has a pleasant feel on holding and surprisingly light. i nevertheless feel th...e buttons on the right are not ergonomically well positioned. Maybe it is because of my big hands! The videos are outstanding no matter the settings 4/3, 16/9 or Procinema. they seem to be oversaturated though, a pale red will appear on screen strawberry-like. i tried the procinema and i couldnt see the difference with the 16/9. Still pictures are 4 Mb and seem quite decent for the camcorder but i dont really use the function as i have a good digital reflex. the camcorder performs well in auto mode but the focus can be adjusted manually to be more selective. i am still getting use to it but results are impressive especially in the macro function. there are 2 points of dissatisfaction though: the battery life time seems too short for me around 1h10 mn of intermittent recording. the second point is the lack of headphones. i dont get the idea behind its omission on such a high-end product. the low-light function is very useful if there is the tiniest of light source. it does not compare though to the infrared of my previous sony that was pretty useful in filming in complete darkness. I think reading the manual is as usually essential to get the most of this camera. there are a collection of other features that one has to understand for proper usage. The softwares (MotionDV Studio and SweetMovie life)that come with the camera are completely useless for me, very limited functionnality. they dont even output on DVD. A more appropriate video editing software is primordial. I am using Pinnacle studio with satisfactory results. The antishacking mechanism works well (OIS) and i am able to film steady with zoom on. the wind noise reduction mechanism works very well also. i drove the car with my windows opened and filming; i was gently surprised that the sound of the radio in the car could be heard properly and the wind sound muffled. i will be making a documentary about health issues in my community, and then i will be able to get better grip with this great camcorder. I would strongly recommend this camcorder for advanced amateurs like me. Read more Less