Quick Review Camcorders : Panasonic PV-GS14

The 1/6-inch 680K CCD sits behind a 22x optical zoom lens. The Panasonic PV-GS14 also has 800x digital zoom capabilities, although image quality suffers with more digital zoom. (This happens with all digital zoom lenses, not just Panasonics).

Panasonics are well known for their superior manual controls, and the PV-GS14 carries on this tradition. The white balance can be adjusted to Indoor, Outdoor, Automatic, or Manual. The shutter speed ranges from 1/60 to 1/8000 when recording on tape and 1/60 to 1/500 when recording to an SD card. Foreign to most low-priced camcorders, a manual gain control that offers 0dB to 18dB is available on the Panasonic PV-GS14. However, as with all gain controls, boosting it also boosts noise and grain. Users can also select an aperture between f/2.0 and f/16.

For technophobes, there are also excellent automatic controls. The automatic focus, white balance, shutter speed, and exposure are all accurate and responsive. There are also several automatic modes to choose from: Sports, Portrait, Low Light, Spot Light and Surf & Snow. For those users without time to tinker with manual settings, there is a Quick Start button that powers up the Panasonic PV-GS14 in 1.3 seconds.

As far as video performance goes, the Panasonic PV-GS14 performed average for a single-CCD camcorder in its price range. In bright light (3,000 lux), colors were washed out and not as vibrant, although the image was still crisp and didn’t have any noise or grain present. In low light (60 lux – roughly the amount of light in a room with two light bulbs), colors maintained consistency, although they were obviously a shade darker. The image was less crisp and some noise and grain is evident. From 60 lux to a darker 15 lux, the colors don’t bleed together as much as expected, but the amount of noise and grain increases.

The 2.5-inch color LCD monitor rotates, which is useful as it solarizes when not in your direct line of vision. The color viewfinder extends about an inch, but does not rotate. The viewfinder is also capped with a rubber eyepiece, providing a little cushion for the viewer.

The Panasonic PV-GS14 has features that most manufacturers save for high-end models, such as an image stabilization system, a digitally manipulated 16:9 cinema mode, a four-bulb LED illuminator on the front and a memory card slot under the LCD monitor.

Panasonic PV-GS14 Compared to the...