Quick Review Camcorders: Panasonic PV-GS300

The PV-GS300 is Panasonic’s penultimate MiniDV camcorder for this year, just under the PV-GS500. Replacing the GS250, it continues a fine tradition of solid video performance, three 1/6” CCDs, superior manual controls, and great handling. The focus ring, headphone jack, and analog-to-digital pass-through are gone from this camcorder, but a $699 MSRP--$300 less than the GS250--makes the GS300 an excellent value.

We loved the video performance in bright light. The GS300 was very sharp, the colors bold but not too saturated. Noise seems to have increased on all Panasonics this year, however, and the GS300 is no exception. All camcorders have some kind of noise, though, and the black fine grain flecks of the GS300 look better than most.

In low light, the PV-GS300 performed slightly above average. While the picture lost a good deal of brightness, it remained very sharp, with no focusing problems.  At very low light, the picture remained in focus, but most of the color was gone. The GS300 had less noise than most other camcorders in its class, a definite point in its favor.

 The GS300 is an easy camcorder for the inexperienced user to handle. A manual/automatic switch inside the LCD cavity allows the user to relegate exposure and focus control to the camcorder. While these auto controls are not quite as good as those on a Sony, they are more than adequate.

Of course, it would be a shame to own a camcorder and not take advantage of the great manual control set. All Panasonics have a full range of shutter speed, aperture (in f-stops), and gain (in dB levels), giving you all the control you’ll need to shoot a great picture. The manual control menu can be a little confusing in the beginning, but Panasonic has included a small but useful feature that explains the function of each icon on the menu.

Navigating through the manual controls and the menus is done via a joystick control, the best of all control devices in the consumer camcorder world. Thankfully, Panasonic also makes the best of the joysticks; it’s large enough to get a grip on it and moves smoothly.  The rear placement also makes one-handed operation possible, so you can adjust the exposure and hold onto your drink.

The GS300 also captures stills to an SD card at resolutions up to 2048 x 1512 (3 MP). All the same manual controls are here, as well as features like burst mode, flash, and red-eye reduction. While 3MP is a decent (barely) showing, and the still performance is relatively satisfactory, a camcorder is no substitute for a dedicated still camera. (Just something we like to mention from time to time.)

The loss of the focus ring, the headphone jack, and most of all, the analog-to-digital pass through – all found in the predecessor – are hard to bear. While we should all appreciate video performance and manual control on a $699 camcorder, the GS300 has abandoned most of the GS250's professional (or at least prosumer) aspirations. If you can suspend comparisons to its better-equipped ancestor, however, the GS300 is an excellent camcorder for its class.

Panasonic PV-GS300 THE BOTTOM LINE Rating: 232.59

Likes

-Lower price than predecessor -Better video performance -Widescreen LCD -Smaller camcorder body than last year

Dislikes

-Loss of Headphone Jack -No analog-to-digital pass-through -Loss of Focal Ring

Panasonic PV-GS300 Compared to the...

Panasonic PV-GS250 Rating:	Panasonic PV-GS500 Rating:	Sony DCR-HC90 Rating: 205.92	Canon Optura 60 Rating: 170.50	Sony DCR-HC96 Rating: 225.67
Better	Better	Better	Better	Better
-External focal ring  -Analog to Digital pass-through	-Larger imager size  -12x optical zoom  -Larger filter diameter  -Hot, non-proprietary accessory shoe  -External focus ring	-Current lower online price  -Better in low light situations  -Analog-to-digital pass-through  -Better wide angle feature	-Current price quite a bit lower -Higher resolution image on LCD screen -Analog to digital pass-through -14x optical zoom lens	-Analog to digital pass-through  -Accessory video light feasibility  -Lower MSRP of $800  -Better low light
Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal
-Low light performance  -3, 1/6th inch CCDs with 800K gross pixel count  -Poor placement of in-camera flash  -External zoom ring  -Cold accessory shoe  -Manual gain control  -Manual exposure  -Manual focus  -Manual aperture  -Manual white balance  -10x optical zoom -Electronic color viewfinder -Optical Image Stabilization	-Manual control layout for manipulation of focus, white balance, exposure, aperture, and shutter speed  -No true widescreen	-2.7 inch LCD screen  -Electronic color viewfinder  -MiniDV format for video footage  -In camera flash (similarly terrible place-ment)	-Electronic color viewfinder  -MiniDV format for video recording  -Cold accessory shoe  -Manual exposure control  -Manual shutter speed  -Manual white balance	-MiniDV recording format for video files  -Poor flash placement at side of lens  -Digital focus control -Manual exposure setup  -Manual white balance -Firewire -USB
Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse
-Video quality and resolution  -Still resolution quality  -2.5 inch LCD screen has no widescreen view	-$300 higher price range	-Video quality and  resolution  -Proprietary hot shoe limits audio options for users  -Touch screen interface for LCD  -Fewer manual control options -Memory stick still format  -Internal battery  -1/3 inch CCD	-Lower video quality -No manual gain control  -No external zoom ring  -Worse image resolution for video  -Worse low light performance  -Poor focal control in MF mode  -2.5 inch LCD screen  -No mic in jack	-Touchscreen menus and manual controls lead to errors  -No manual control over shutter speed  -Memory stick format for stills is, once again, proprietary  -No manual gain control  -Greater color inaccuracy  -Lower image quality for video performance  -Hot shoe is unfortunately proprietary  -Absurd "HandyStation" for camera docking