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Home > Consumer Camcorders > Camcorder Reviews > Panasonic Camcorders > Panasonic MiniDV Camcorders > Quick Review Camcorders : Panasonic PV-GS9
Published on September 22, 2004
The Panasonic PV-GS9 has an MSRP of US$350, and takes the penultimate spot on this year’s PV line from Panasonic. The PV camcorders are small, and the PV-GS9 is no exception, weighing in at .88 lbs. It features more manual control than usual, but offers mediocre low-light performance and connectability.
In manual mode, the focus can be fixed on a specific object in the scene in a mere moment by using the slider. The focal range of the camcorder is also moved by the compass button, allowing the image to be placed in or out of focus manually. Unfortunately, the compass button does not yield the smoothness and ease-of-operation that a focus ring, or even a jog dial, would.
Exposure, controlled by the same compass button, is available to be manually adjusted from F16 to F2, with gain controls on the same spectrum from +/-0dB to +/-18dB. Both manual exposure (with real F stop readings) and manual gain on a camcorder of this caliber is pretty special, although these controls are hard to access or adjust through the silly compass button. Manual shutter speed from 1/60 to 1/8000 is available… operated, again, with the compass button. Standard white balance buttons exist for auto, manual, outdoor, and indoor settings.
Unfortunately, the PV-GS9 does not have a SD card slot. Stills can be captured to tape, but there is a big six-second delay. The stills are captured at 640x 480 to MiniDV tape. Playback is controlled with the compass button. Frame-by-frame search of footage is available only with a remote that is sold separately. The PV-GS9 does have a “blank search” function, which searches for blank spots on MiniDV as signposts for different footage.
Under our low-light level of 60 lux, the image is a bit dark. Colors are under-saturated, with the exception of the blues which seem to be oversaturated. The image shows lots of grain, but no bleeding between colors. At the 15-lux light level, there is much washing and bleeding in the spectrum. The overall image is very, very dark, but colors still do a relatively good job of retaining a certain degree of distinction. The darkness of the image could possibly be aided by use of the gain control, but this would boost the noise significantly as well.
The PV-GS9 contains a 2.5-inch LCD which is not cluttered with information, though it does suffer from solarization. This is the same LCD as other PVs, so don’t expect more for your money in this department. The viewfinder is B/W, which is kinda neat, especially for judging contrast; it is, however, immobile.
While the PV-GS9 doesn’t include the same manual audio level options of other Panasonics, audio is available at 12- and 16-bit settings with a wind cut and a zoom feature. There is no accessory shoe and no mic input. Ports that are included are an A/V out, FireWire, and DC in. Unfortunately, neither a USB port nor an S-Video port are included, and the ports that are included are poorly located behind the hand strap. There is a fake widescreen mode, but no analog-to-digital pass through is supported, as there is no analog input.
The PV-GS9 is lightweight, which is a plus, and passes as a decent normal light camcorder. The wealth of manual control on the PV-GS9 is the most attractive feature on the camcorder. Lack of an SD card slot, mediocre ports, and the lackluster low-light make the PV-GS9 just an average camcorder. For the money, there are Sonys that are easier to use, JVCs that are better in low light, and slicker Canons, although the Canons at this level have horrible low-light performance. B-
Quick Review Camcorders : Panasonic PV-GS9
by Matt CullerPublished on September 22, 2004
The Panasonic PV-GS9 has an MSRP of US$350, and takes the penultimate spot on this year’s PV line from Panasonic. The PV camcorders are small, and the PV-GS9 is no exception, weighing in at .88 lbs. It features more manual control than usual, but offers mediocre low-light performance and connectability.
At 3000 lux, the level of bright light under which we test, the PV-GS9 performed decently, showing good balanced colors. There was a bit of washing, which is characteristic of Panasonic’s PV line; all the colors seem a bit under-saturated for the light level. Another negative aspect of the PV-GS9’s performance at 3000 lux was the unattractive amount of noise in the images, as well as an unfortunate lack of quality in the grays of the grayscale.
One of the high points of the PV-GS2 is the amount of manual control featured. Manual control over focus, shutter speed, exposure/gain, and white balance are all available. The bad side is that the manual control offered is controllable only through the use of the infernal compass button underneath the LCD that also controls playback. There is a 20x optical zoom controlled by a toggle above the handgrip, which affords good slow zooms that look nice and not terribly spastic.
In manual mode, the focus can be fixed on a specific object in the scene in a mere moment by using the slider. The focal range of the camcorder is also moved by the compass button, allowing the image to be placed in or out of focus manually. Unfortunately, the compass button does not yield the smoothness and ease-of-operation that a focus ring, or even a jog dial, would.
Exposure, controlled by the same compass button, is available to be manually adjusted from F16 to F2, with gain controls on the same spectrum from +/-0dB to +/-18dB. Both manual exposure (with real F stop readings) and manual gain on a camcorder of this caliber is pretty special, although these controls are hard to access or adjust through the silly compass button. Manual shutter speed from 1/60 to 1/8000 is available… operated, again, with the compass button. Standard white balance buttons exist for auto, manual, outdoor, and indoor settings.
Unfortunately, the PV-GS9 does not have a SD card slot. Stills can be captured to tape, but there is a big six-second delay. The stills are captured at 640x 480 to MiniDV tape. Playback is controlled with the compass button. Frame-by-frame search of footage is available only with a remote that is sold separately. The PV-GS9 does have a “blank search” function, which searches for blank spots on MiniDV as signposts for different footage.
Under our low-light level of 60 lux, the image is a bit dark. Colors are under-saturated, with the exception of the blues which seem to be oversaturated. The image shows lots of grain, but no bleeding between colors. At the 15-lux light level, there is much washing and bleeding in the spectrum. The overall image is very, very dark, but colors still do a relatively good job of retaining a certain degree of distinction. The darkness of the image could possibly be aided by use of the gain control, but this would boost the noise significantly as well.
The PV-GS9 contains a 2.5-inch LCD which is not cluttered with information, though it does suffer from solarization. This is the same LCD as other PVs, so don’t expect more for your money in this department. The viewfinder is B/W, which is kinda neat, especially for judging contrast; it is, however, immobile.
While the PV-GS9 doesn’t include the same manual audio level options of other Panasonics, audio is available at 12- and 16-bit settings with a wind cut and a zoom feature. There is no accessory shoe and no mic input. Ports that are included are an A/V out, FireWire, and DC in. Unfortunately, neither a USB port nor an S-Video port are included, and the ports that are included are poorly located behind the hand strap. There is a fake widescreen mode, but no analog-to-digital pass through is supported, as there is no analog input.
The PV-GS9 is lightweight, which is a plus, and passes as a decent normal light camcorder. The wealth of manual control on the PV-GS9 is the most attractive feature on the camcorder. Lack of an SD card slot, mediocre ports, and the lackluster low-light make the PV-GS9 just an average camcorder. For the money, there are Sonys that are easier to use, JVCs that are better in low light, and slicker Canons, although the Canons at this level have horrible low-light performance. B-
| Panasonic PV-GS9 - THE BOTTOM LINE
Rating: 88.55 |
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| Likes |
| - Manual Control
- 20x optical zoom - Video and Low light performance - Top loading |
| Dislikes |
| - Ease of use
- No analog to digital passthrough |
Panasonic PV-GS9 Compared to the...
| Samsung
SCD103 Rating: 70.91 |
Canon
ZR80 Rating: 84.10 |
JVC
GR-D33 Rating: 70.91 |
Panasonic
PV-GS2 Rating: 87.18 |
Sony DCR-TRV260
Rating: 85.12 |
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| Better | Better | Better | Better | Better |
| - 900x digital zoom
- Memory Stick media (still options) - Mic input - USB port, S-Video out |
- Analog to digital passthrough
- Handling - Cold accessory shoe |
- Low-light performance
- S-video output |
- 22x optical zoom
- Card media (SD card)--640x480 stills to card, USB port |
- Ease of use
- Better LCD screen - USB port |
| Equal | Equal | Equal | Equal | Equal |
| - CCD size
- No accessory shoe - No Analog to digital passthrough |
- No mic input but a headphone input
- CCD specs - No card media |
- No card media
- CCD size, pixel count - No analog to digital pass-through |
- 1/6" CCD, pixel count - headphone jack
- 800x digital zoom - No accessory shoe - No mic input - Headphone port - Video Performance - No analog to digital passthrough |
- No mic input
- No card media - Video performance - No accessory shoe - 1/6 inch CCD - 20x optical zoom - B/W view-finder - No analog to digital passthrough |
| Worse | Worse | Worse | Worse | Worse |
| - Handling
- 18x optical zoom - Manual Control - Video performance/ Low light performance - No headphone jack |
- 18x optical zoom
- 360x digital zoom - Slightly worse manual control - Low light and video performance |
- 16x optical zoom
- 800x digital zoom - No headphone jack - Manual Control - Video performance |
- No Widescreen Mode
- Slightly worse Low light performance |
- CCD pixel count
- Digital 8 format - Manual Control - No headphone jack - 700x digital zoom |
