A Great Consumer Camcorder with Pro Image Quality

I recently purchased the Panasonic PV-GS150 to replace a Hi-8 Sony camcorder that I have owned for about seven years and the image quality during playback was absolutely incredible! I have a 52 inch widescreen projection TV and the colors and image clarity were almost HD quality when playing directly from the camcorder to the television using an S-video cable.

The main reason I looked at the GS150 was it's 3 CCD image technology. CCD stands for Charged Coupled Devices which translate the light signals that enter the camera. One CCD cameras have only one chip (obviously!) that has to translate all color and light signals that enter the lens. With 3 CCD's the entire color spectrum is able to be captured individually as three separate colors, Red, Green and Blue, and therefore colors are more vivid and lifelike. The prices of the Panasonic 3 CCD line are comparable with all other consumer grade camcorders on the market today, ranging from $550 to $1500. Currently, the GS150 is the smallest 3 CCD camcorder on the market today at about 5-1/2 inches long and 3-1/2 inches wide.

The GS-150 also captures still images onto an SD card at 2.3 megapixel resolution. Most camcorders have a 1 megapixel capture, so the GS-150 is a little over double the standard resolution. Granted, stills from this camcorder are not going to be as good as a digital still camera, but it's not bad if you want to take a shot and don't have your still camera at the ready. The available software also allows you to take a single frame from a recorded video and make a still image. You can also take a still image while, at the same time, recording video.

A Leica lens is built into the Panasonic GS line, so you can be sure of top-notch clarity of imagery, comparable with any other high-quality lenses, such as Carl Zeiss.

The tape is top-loading, so it can be reloaded without removing from a tripod, something that was a negative in the bottom-loading Sony HC42 that I was also considering.

The joystick control is really easy to use and navigate between menus and commands. It is very conveniently located on the back right, just where your thumb falls while holding the camcorder through the side strap.

The zoom control is located just under the index finger on top, as is the photo shot still image button.

Although I have not tried it yet, this camcorder also has the ability to shoot in 16:9 widescreen format, which is a plus for me since my 52 inch TV is widescreen format.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with this camcorder, and if you research as much as I do before making a purchase of this size (Which is enough to drive my wife crazy!), you too will see it's a great buy for the price!