 "If you want good picture quality for a reasonable price" | 2008-09-25 |
| - Reviewed By toomuchnoise |
Choose this camera if you want quite good picture quality but don't care about extra features.
(I've owned this camera for six months and use it fairly regularly.)
The Leica lens and the 3 CCD's are normally in much more expensive cameras (often called "prosumer")
The picture quality really does look great -- the video picture is sharp and the colors wonderful (not so much on the still pictures, though). I am totally happy with the quality and, for me, that's the main thing.
It DOES have a few "extras" that I use:
1) The still camera. While not a good quality as my dedicated digital camera, it is adequate. It solves the problem of having to carry two cameras.
You can also take "web quality" frame grabs from footage as you review the tape. This is pretty useful if you are posting trip photos to a blog.
The photos conveniently go onto a card which can easily be removed and put in a card reader.
2) A/V out
You can hook this up to your TV and it works nicely. This is one of the few feature for which you don't have to remove the battery.
3) "Quick Movie Magic" software
This is very basic software to get the footage onto your hard drive. It works nicely and allows you to fairly easily divide the scenes up and the like. I then use the clips in the editor of my choice.
4) Manual focus
5) Back light
6) Find end of tape, search
(All these items are easy to find and turn off/on)
Honestly, that's about all the extra features that I use.
FEATURES MISSING:
I don't care about bells and whistles and I like basic "do the job" equipment.
However, I miss:
1) Plug for an external mic.
2) Plug for headphones
3) A proper shoulder strap
4) White balance
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| "Awesome camera; but no AV Input" | 2008-09-11 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1GYP6THDNX49 |
I bought this camera for two purposes: 1) to replace an older VHS camera and 2) to use for converting my VHS tapes to DVD's. I give it 4-1/2 stars for #1 and 0 stars for #2. (In my research before buying the camera, I managed to miss the fact that the GS320 does not have AV input, so can't be used to convert analog to digital. Rats!)
However, for everything else I wanted, I was very satisfied. Other reviewers have pretty well expounded on the pros and cons. I'll just say that the quality of pictures (both video and still) that we get with this camera is really great. When I first got the camera, I handed it our son who is studying Film Production and works with professional camcorders. After fiddling with the controls and looking over its features, he expressed great delight with my purchase. (Yesss!)
It took me a while to figure out the menus and I haven't enough experience to handle the manual control options well, but overall, I would highly recommend this camera. |
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| "Great Camcorder" | 2008-08-29 |
| - Reviewed By ruju1 |
This is a great camera. I bought it a few months ago for an rv trip and the moment the battery was fully charged i hooked it up to the camera, put in a tape, and walked around the house experimenting. On the trip, it performed excellently. When properly exposed, the camera's three CCD chips reproduced colors surprisingly well. The microphone has a neat wind-cut function that works very well.
Pros
-great image and sound quality
-10x zoom
-color electronic view finder (which is becoming very rare in consumer camcorders now)
-very simple menu navigation
-photoshot feature
-nice joystick navigation for menus
Cons
-Poor low-light shooting
-no hot shoe
-no manual focus ring
-manual/auto switch inconviniently located
-no firewire input
-you have to remove the battery and go through a messy process to hook the camera up to a computer
I highly recommend this camera for beginners or even enthusiasts with a low budget. |
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| "Good quality for a good price" | 2008-08-03 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1M7LKQ8ZT53E9 |
Most of the reviews on here are spot on, so I'll just go with what doesn't work that well and what I found to be a con to this camera.
And that is mainly that it's hard to pick up light while retaining image quality in darker places regardless of what settings are used. Also, I'm disappointed by the lack of external microphone jack, and, from what I've seen, the sound quality isn't of the highest quality.
In the end, I'll probably just use this for filming music videos.
I'd recommend this camera to those relatively new to film and just need something to get started out with that is of reasonable price. I got mine for $320. |
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 "Great camera for inexperienced user" | 2008-07-30 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3EZHPU7MJUDDQ |
| I bought this camera as a semi-impulse buy because at the last minute I decided I needed a video of my wedding ceremony (we had skipped the videographer to save on cost). Besides a brief test, the first time this camera was used was at the wedding. It did a beautiful job. A friend (an amateur) taped the ceremony from about 40 feet away, and the picture and sound both came out very well. You can hear everything, the colors are crisp, the zoom works very well, and the whole thing just turned out beautifully. It was easy to figure out and use and I couldn't be happier with the result. It also downloaded easily to my iMac and works well with iMovie, although I had to buy a firewire cord to download (it comes with USB which only works with a PC). I got the firewire cord on Amazon for $14. |
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 "GS320 has image edge issues." | 2008-07-26 |
| - Reviewed By User: A37RLZ8UZA5TBB |
I just returned the Panasonic PV-320GS MiniDV Camcorder due to one devastating problem: the video quality is at issue when viewing on a 1080p LCD. The edges of everything stairstep badly. It appears like the picture on an old analog tv, dark lines between the lighted pixels. Very lo res. I guess I'll need to move up to an hd model.
I want to thank Amazon for having a good return policy, accepting the camcorder back for a full refund. |
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 "Cheap Zoom Lever" | 2008-07-21 |
| - Reviewed By david89627 |
| Complete disappointment. The camcorder has so many features, but the zoom lever easily popped off and left the lens unable to zoom. Panasonic would not stand by their product and I was unable to get the camera fixed without a substantial fee. After four calls I was unsatisfied and the camera still cannot zoom. At a store I found that the zoom lever easily comes off. Avoid this product. There are too many cheap factors that can ruin the great features. Technical and customer support are useless. |
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| "GREAT CAMCORDER!" | 2008-07-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: AU2BOKKJMQ8OK |
| I bought this because i'm filming a movie and we needed a new camera. I read all the reviews. The camera looks like its HD! The only problem with it is that there's no mic input. This is not a huge problem because to overcome this, we bought a mini disc recorder and hooked up our mic to it and then synced it in editing! I love this camcorder! Also! It will except filters and lenses (37mm) |
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| "Great Mini-DV Camcorder, but a bit Too Expensive" | 2008-07-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2S6DTVFHKMIUR |
Performance wise, this is a great Camcorder. I dropped my old one on the cement and needed a replacement. BEST thing is the image stabilization. I've got a ton of videos taken at maximum zoom that are very shakey, so I immediately noticed the improvement with IS. Even at maximum zoom, there's very little shake. Nice!
There's nothing fancy other than that. Typical zoom range, typical features. I do really like the jog dial menu navigation and it's really good for start/stop/FF/Rev. Much better than my old Panasonic's dedicated buttons that were located on the side of the camcorder inside the area where the screen folds out.
However, at $325, this is too expensive. Mini-DV is on the way out and I only bought this because I've got so many existing Mini-DV tapes that I've not yet digitized (I also like the higher quality over MPEG, but that wouldn't have stopped me from buying a HD camcorder by itself). It shouldn't cost this much. $200 or even $250 would have been much more reasonable.
However, given the IS & my need for the Mini-DV format, I would buy this camera again, even with my price comment above.
Recommended! |
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| "Great picture, no frills." | 2008-07-15 |
| - Reviewed By richie2002dream |
| If you want a miniDV camcorder before they all go away, the Panasonic PV-GS320 is a good choice. Every year they seam to reduce features on these cameras but at least the Panasonic PV-GS320 did not cut out picture quality. I really wish they had an external microphone jack on the camera but it does not. However, you can kill all the audio using the Panasonic software that comes with it. Use this one for point an shoot only, edit and add audio later on a PC. (However you can change the audio on the camera as well) It takes true 16x9 as well as standard. It is very easy to use and learn, especially if you ever owned a Panasonic VHS-C camcorder before, i.e. the ergonomics are like other Panasonic cameras I have used. Be sure to have a computer as new as possible and use the software provided with the camera to capture the video. There is nothing here that will do it for you, you will have to figure all the editing and adding audio and things like that out but it does give you some help. I use both a MAC and a PC. The PC is a Sony Vaio that also uses firewire (cable sold seperately). Firewire is better to use in my opinion. I could also use the hi-speed usb, (which comes in the box with the camera). I do not recommend standard microsoft movie maker/editor, for mine does not recognizes 16x9, it squishes it into a 4:3 frame. My Sony PC is a 2003 model, so I think the year has something to do with it but use the Panasonic software to transfer the video onto the PC. I have also used Nero 6.6 to edit after capturing the video on the Panasonic software and it works okay. Just keep in mind to use THE COMPUTER using the Panasonic software to edit the video, add new sound or music to it. You can also re-record the new version back on the camera using a new mini DV tape if you want. I'm not a pro at video know how, but I am an artist and have made videos in the past using amature equipment and find Panasonic video cameras a good choice. If you cannot afford a 1,000 dollar Panasonic like me, then go for this one, it will work for you if you are willing to sacrifice on-camera features for software instead. Otherwise do allot of research and ask some pro's. I have a realative who works professionally with video cameras in the business, (movies, sports etc.) and he said this one is not too bad. Not the best by any means (for the best cost in the thousands) but he did mention that Panasonic cameras are an excellent choice and said this one is a good starter, if that helps. Panasonic PV-GS320 3.1MP 3CCD MiniDV Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom. |
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