Panasonic PV-GS90 MiniDV Camcorder with 42x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

I purchased this camcorder to document the vacation of my lifeime. And I have been extremely pleased with its performance. Panasonic has addressed several design flaws in previous models to make this one sweet little unit. They've also added a few new improvements.

The bottom line is that it takes good video overall. Quality is very good in outdoor lighting. Indoor performance is good; low light performance is minimal, but much better than expected. Considering what you pay, video quality is on par with units costing hundreds more.

Pros:

1. Great video for a single CCD camera. Great for outdoor shooting.

2. Amazing 42x optical zoom. Picture stays crisp & clear.

3. Advanced Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). Panasonic has a reputation of having the best. This allows you to zoom in and move the camera with minimal screen jitter. Better than other brands costing $100's more.

4. Uses inexpensive miniDV cassettes. These can be purchased just about anywhere if you need one in a pinch.

5. Lots of software available to do video editing. You'll also need a firewire cable and card to transfer the video to computer.

5. Built in lens cover; it slides open and close by moving a sliding button. Say goodbye to dangling or lost lens covers.

6. Firewire port has been moved to side of camera under the foldout LCD. You no longer need to remove the battery to get to it. The AV output is on the front right side.

7. A usable built in LED light. It won't light up a room but just enough helpful illumination for a subject 3 to 5 feet away in dim areas.

8. Lots of manual control. User can switch from Auto to Manual modes at the touch of a button. Controls include focus, white balance, iris, f-stop, and others.

9. Shoots and displays video in widescreen 16x9 and standard 4x3 formats.

Cons:

1. Poor battery life. Battery included barely lasts 1 hour. Using the viewfinder instead of the LCD helps a lot. You'll definitely need to buy an extra battery.

2. Expensive replacement batteries. I found that the batteries for previous Panasonic camcorder models work just fine, and are a fraction of the cost.

3. Poor low light performance.

4. No slot for memory card. Takes video stills. Plan on using your digital camera for regular pictures.

5. No way to use accessories such as lighting kits or extra lenses.

Basically what you get is a minimalist digital camcorder that takes good video. The limitations of this camcorder are hardly "cons" considering how little you pay for it. MiniDV is on its way out, but is currently still a viable media. If you need a camcorder that takes HD quality or good low light video, this is not the camera for you.

But if you are looking for a great first time camcorder, or an inexpensive little unit to document that once a year vacation or occasional event, you'll be pleased with this one.

I bought this camera first at Best Buy first in order to record a very important event. However, after the event, I noticed, while reviewing the video, that there was a distracting dead pixel (greeen spot always on) right in the middle of the image. After verifying that it was on the CCD and not on either of the two viewfinders, I returned the camera for a full refund. I would have exchanged it but every store was out of stock. The techs verified the defect and waived the "resocking fee." :-)

Next, I purchased the same camera, used, from Amazon.com. This time the unit appears defect-free and I am very happy with it.

The picture is great, the interface is intuitive, and the optical image stabilization is wonderful when you take advantage of the 42x zoom. I haven't played too much with the digital zoom because it degrades picture quality, but it seems to work as well as digital zoom can be expected to.

The only reason I can't give this product 5 stars is because the package is incomplete. It comes with no transfer cable, so if you want to load the video into your computer, you will have to run out and buy an expensive firewire cable (about $30). It also comes without any software. However, you won't need additional software if you are happy with the free movie editing software that is included with Macs and Windows.

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Panasonic PV-GS90 MiniDV Camcorder with 42x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

I have purchased the Panasonic PV-GS90 from Big Value Inc. through amazon.com and the product is pretty good for the price. I have had Panasonic Camcorder (the PV type) before. If you are a MiniDV tape fan, this product is a good choice. Like other reviews, I expects this product to perform minimum picture quality when taping inside my house. I was right! The in-house picture was grainy, because there was not enough lighting inside the house. I was not upset because I expected this problem to happen. You can try to have more lighting inside your house when recording. Maybe that would fix the grainy pictures problem. For a little over $180.00, this product is supper. Out-door taping is excellent for the price, once again. I love miniDV tape because the movement of objects I am taping is recorded clearly, not jerky like other memory-card camcorder or DVD camcorder producing. I have never seen the quality of hard-drive camcorder; I imagine it would not product jerky movement of object when recording, but the price of hard-drive camcorder is too high for my checkbook. Overall, Big Value Inc. delivered what it promised and I am happy with my purchase.

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My Sony is getting old and I didn't want to lose the ability to play my mini DV tapes. Got this camcorder and like it lots. Image quality is fine for my needs. Great zoom range and the anti shake works well. Have not tried (and don't really care) about super low light or HD.

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I still use the first two from 2002 and 2007. I love the mini DV tape models. I actually bought this one because not only am I still using them on vacations, I use them to create DVDs I can play on my TV. After editing in Final Cut Pro, I pass through the camcorder to a DVD recorder to burn the DVD. I did not want to get orphaned, so I really bought this unit as a back up. It does have a higher zoom but a weaker low light record.