Rating  - Cheap Zoom Lever
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.
Rating  - GREAT CAMCORDER!
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)
Rating  - Great Mini-DV Camcorder, but a bit Too Expensive
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!
Rating - Great picture, no frills.
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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Customer Reviews for Panasonic,GS320,037988980277,0037988980277,B000M4LXIW, |
