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Home > Consumer Camcorders > Camcorder Reviews > Panasonic Camcorders > Panasonic MiniDV Camcorders > Quick Review Camcorders : Panasonic PV-GS55
Published on October 19, 2004
The Panasonic PV-GS55, when compared with last year's PV-DV53 model, shows a reduction in CCD size from 1/4 to 1/6 of an inch. The CCDs in both models contain 680k gross pixels; however, the PV-GS55 falls short in the video performance category. And while manual control on this Panasonic holds its own among other camcorders at this price point, it would be nicer to see something more than 640x480 resolution in the still photo department.
Zoom is usually controlled manually, and the PV-GS55 includes an optical zoom of 10x and a digitally affected zoom of 700x. Both are controlled by the flat zoom toggle on the camcorder's top side. The optical zoom is pretty good, enabling variable speed zooms with the smoothness one only finds on babies' bottoms.
Focus can be controlled manually as well. The LCD screen must be open to get to the focus slider; when depressed and released manually, it focuses the camcorder on whatever is central to the image at that moment. Unfortunately, when the LCD is open, the viewfinder shuts off, which is kinda annoying. Iris control is available using the compass-like button under the LCD. Options from F16 to 18dB+ exist for F-stop and gain adjustment. Shutter speed options are available from 1/60 to 1/8000, and you'll find preset Auto Exposure settings for the proscribed environments of sports, portrait, surf and snow, low light, and spot light. Standard white balance options exist for indoor, outdoor, hold, and auto.
While the PV-GS55 has a still photo resolution of only 640x480 (a smaller resolution than most camcorders within its price point), this Panasonic does offer the ability to capture stills during video recording, shoot rapidfire photos, and something called progressive photoshot, which supposedly increases image sharpness and quality. Yeah, well, increased resolution would increase quality, too.
At 60 lux, within the "indoor light" level, the PV-GS55 performed pretty poorly. The washing and blurring which occurred at 3000 lux is only increased at 60 lux, and is coupled with a generally darker image. At 15 lux, the image is so dark that the corners slip into the abyss and the color spectrum is noisy and heavily lacking in color information.
Like most Panasonics this year, the PV-GS55 has zoom mic capability, allowing the microphone's focus to tenuate according to the user's optical zoom adjustment. Also, options of 16-bit and 12-bit audio recording are available. Ports on the PV-GS55 include FireWire, S-Video in/out, A/V in/out, DC in, a headphone jack, and a mic input. The PV-GS55 supports analog-to-digital passthrough, so you'll be able to transfer your old analog tape to Digital Video for quality editing, etc. There is also webcam capability, a fake 16:9 mode, and MPEG 4 compression to the SD card.
Though the PV-GS55 has poor low light and video performance, everything else seems in working order, so if you can justify the price-product margin, it might be a good buy.
Quick Review Camcorders : Panasonic PV-GS55
by Matt CullerPublished on October 19, 2004
The Panasonic PV-GS55, when compared with last year's PV-DV53 model, shows a reduction in CCD size from 1/4 to 1/6 of an inch. The CCDs in both models contain 680k gross pixels; however, the PV-GS55 falls short in the video performance category. And while manual control on this Panasonic holds its own among other camcorders at this price point, it would be nicer to see something more than 640x480 resolution in the still photo department.
At the 3000 lux "bright light" level achieved in the camcorderinfo.com test environment, the PV-GS55 performed somewhat less than optimally. There is significant washing out and a lot of undersaturation in the color spectrum. Most anchor tiles do not show the crisp distinct tones that they should, and while the black and white of the grayscale show clearly, the steps in between are a bit fuzzy.
Any camcorder this small is designed to work in an automatic point-and-shoot fashion. The PV-GS55 includes a Quick Start function which enables the user to jump-start the processor when a filmable event rears its head. The automatic controls governed by this processor are decent and, due to button placement and type, sometimes more convenient and accurate that the PV-GS55's manual control set.
Zoom is usually controlled manually, and the PV-GS55 includes an optical zoom of 10x and a digitally affected zoom of 700x. Both are controlled by the flat zoom toggle on the camcorder's top side. The optical zoom is pretty good, enabling variable speed zooms with the smoothness one only finds on babies' bottoms.
Focus can be controlled manually as well. The LCD screen must be open to get to the focus slider; when depressed and released manually, it focuses the camcorder on whatever is central to the image at that moment. Unfortunately, when the LCD is open, the viewfinder shuts off, which is kinda annoying. Iris control is available using the compass-like button under the LCD. Options from F16 to 18dB+ exist for F-stop and gain adjustment. Shutter speed options are available from 1/60 to 1/8000, and you'll find preset Auto Exposure settings for the proscribed environments of sports, portrait, surf and snow, low light, and spot light. Standard white balance options exist for indoor, outdoor, hold, and auto.
While the PV-GS55 has a still photo resolution of only 640x480 (a smaller resolution than most camcorders within its price point), this Panasonic does offer the ability to capture stills during video recording, shoot rapidfire photos, and something called progressive photoshot, which supposedly increases image sharpness and quality. Yeah, well, increased resolution would increase quality, too.
At 60 lux, within the "indoor light" level, the PV-GS55 performed pretty poorly. The washing and blurring which occurred at 3000 lux is only increased at 60 lux, and is coupled with a generally darker image. At 15 lux, the image is so dark that the corners slip into the abyss and the color spectrum is noisy and heavily lacking in color information.
Like most Panasonics this year, the PV-GS55 has zoom mic capability, allowing the microphone's focus to tenuate according to the user's optical zoom adjustment. Also, options of 16-bit and 12-bit audio recording are available. Ports on the PV-GS55 include FireWire, S-Video in/out, A/V in/out, DC in, a headphone jack, and a mic input. The PV-GS55 supports analog-to-digital passthrough, so you'll be able to transfer your old analog tape to Digital Video for quality editing, etc. There is also webcam capability, a fake 16:9 mode, and MPEG 4 compression to the SD card.
Though the PV-GS55 has poor low light and video performance, everything else seems in working order, so if you can justify the price-product margin, it might be a good buy.
| Panasonic PV-GS55 - THE BOTTOM LINE
Rating: 95.65 |
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| Likes |
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- 700x digital zoom - Manual Control - Ports |
| Dislikes |
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- Video/low light performance - Still performance |
Panasonic PV-GS55 Compared to the...
| Canon
Elura 60 Rating: 95.80 |
Canon
Optura 40 Rating: 108.55 |
JVC
GR-D93 Rating: 92.22 |
Panasonic
PV-GS120 Rating: 108.35 |
Sony
DCR-HC30 Rating: 94.70 |
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| Better | Better | Better | Better | Better |
| - 14x optical zoom
- 1/4.5 inch (1.33MP) - Selectable Focal points - Manual control - Handling - Still photo resolution (1280x960) - Video performance - 1280x960 still resolution |
- CCD size (1/3.4")
- Effective pixel count (1.23V, 2P) - Manual control - Focus ring - Still photo resolution (1632x1224) - Hot accessory shoe - Audio level control - Video performance - 14x optical zoom |
- 1/4 inch CCD (1.33MP)
- Low light performance - Still resolution 1600 x 1200 - Video performance |
- 3 CCD camcorder (1/6 inch, 460K pixels each)
- Manual Control - Low light performance - Headphone jack - Still resolution (1280x960) |
- Video Performance |
| Equal | Equal | Equal | Equal | Equal |
| - Still media
- Ports (minus mic) - Headphone Jack |
- SD card media
- headphone jack/ mic input - Ports |
- Ports
- Still media - 700x digital zoom |
- Still capability
- Mic input - 700x digital zoom - Cold shoe - 10x optical zoom |
- Ports
- Analog to Digital Passthrough - 1/6 inch CCD - Mic input - Cold accessory shoe - 10x optical zoom |
| Worse | Worse | Worse | Worse | Worse |
| - Low light performance
- No mic input - 280x digital zoom |
- Low light performance
- 280x digital zoom - JVC has 3" LCD - 280x digital zoom |
- No mic input
- No headphone jack |
None | - 120x digital zoom
- Manual Control - Still to Memory Stick at only 640x480 - No headphone - Low light performance |
