Quick Review Camcorder : Panasonic PV-GS150

The PV-GS150 offers an optical zoom of 10x and a digital zoom of up to 700x. While it has the same imager size as the PV-GS65 (1/6”), the effective pixel count is up from 290K to 400K. This gave it a slight edge over the PV-GS65 for color representation and sharpness. A step up to the PV-GS250 will buy you a bigger imager, which typically means better low light performance. The PV-GS150 has excellent low light performance, with colors that should remain strong when shooting inside the house at night.

Manual controls on the PV-GS150 give you exceptional control over shutter speed, exposure, white balance, and gain. We’re not crazy about the focus and zoom on this model. The PV-GS250 includes a focus ring. We are only teased here by the inclusion of a ring around the lens that looks like a focus ring. Sorry, folks.

Automatic controls are acceptable, but not great. They adjust accurately, but take longer than you might like. Flipping the switch to Auto Mode frees you from most of the responsibility of shooting, and there are a handful of Automatic Exposure (AE) modes to help you deal with certain shooting environments (the beach, the snow, etc.) The automatic controls are good enough to make this a point-and-shoot type camcorder. For the fastest automatic responses, though, you should go with a Sony.

The PV-GS150 has a number of options for still features, including multiple resolutions, red-eye reduction, burst mode, and more. The quality of the stills, which record to an SD card, is excellent. While a little over-saturated, they are among the sharpest from any camcorder this year.

You can expand to your heart’s content with this camcorder. A hot accessory shoe on top allows for flashes and external mics. You can also plug a wired mic into the audio input jack. Other ports include an A/V / headphone, USB, and DV.

For three hundred dollars less than the PV-GS250, this is certainly a great buy. The PV-GS150 has something to please everybody. Ease of use, manual control, great looking video and stills, and more. Do yourself a favor. If you are in the market for a new camcorder, put this one on your list of possibilities.