Panasonic PV-GS150 2.3 MP 3CCD MiniDV Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom Camcorder Reviews

Panasonic PV-GS150 2.3 MP 3CCD MiniDV Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom

Sharp. Good for indoor shooting 2007-02-15

I have own this 3CCD one for 1 year. I had another 2, 1 from JVC and 1 from Panasonic. They are not working indoor most of time because of the dark and bad light. However, this 3ccd one makes a real difference. I am more than happy to have it.

The only problem is the poor still image quality although it says 2Mb resolution. But I always use dedicated digial camera, so not a big deal for me.

Okay camcorder, returned for a different one though 2007-01-11

This camcorder was okay, but we thought the PV GS35 was a better deal for your money.

Fed up with panasonic camcorders! 2006-11-29

My 1st camcorder: PV-L857. After 2 years of very light use the lens started making loud clicking noise when zoomed.

My 2nd camcorder: PV-GS150. After 1.5 years of light use the camcorder started to lose focus in auto mode (with clean lens). It will focus initially, but then blur within a minute, and I have to move or zoom a little to regain focus. Low light performance is noticeably worse than my sister's old sony dcr-trv8.

Bottom line: panasonic gets you with cheap options and features but your frustration with low quality will last much longer than the short thrill of saving a few bucks.

Good product Not worth if you want to use it in dark 2006-05-27

I would put this camera in 5/5 rating if the it could work fine in low light. In day light or in electric light even if not so bright, this camera does a good job.
The look and Feel: Perfect. Its fits on the palm of my hand and its very comfortable to handle.
Movie: Wonderful quality in broad daylight 5.0/ 5.0. In low light 2.0/5.0 Average night light 4.5/5.0
Picture: 3.0/5.0 But this is not meant to be a digital camera. But still does a decent job on that side.
Over all: 4.5 /5.0

Excellent Camcorder 2006-04-18

I use this camcorder for my own videography business and have never had any complaints about the video quality. To get a better camcorder, you would literally have to pay twice as much money.
Some people have complained about the low light capabilities, and in my mind this is the one problem with the camera. You will need to find a good camcorder light to make up for this problem. But images shot outdoors look similar in quality to my friend's $2000 cannon camcorder!
If you're looking for a "pro-sumer" camcorder and you're on a budget, or if you simply want a top of the line regular camcorder, buy this camcorder!

Use an external light for low-light situations... 2006-04-07

First off, this is an awesome camera for the price. There is no other camera in the same price range which will deliver this much performance and quality for the money. Those who talk about the low-light quality needs to go out and purchase themselves hotshoe light. Who in their right mind would shoot at 15, 30 or even 60 lux without an external light anyway? Picture quality will be greatly hampered. I believe that next to a spare battery, an external light source is probably the most valuable accessory you can own. This camera comes loaded with all the standard features of the other camcorders in this price range and also has a remote control included, which some of the competitors do not have standard. And on top of that, 3 CCD sensors!!! Simply put, you will not find a better camcorder for the price! Period.

A Great Camera For The Money 2006-03-11

Am very pleased with this purchase. Very fast service and shipping. Will shop Amazon again. Found this camera to be easy to setup and operate. Takes great stills and movies. Thank You

vacation at last and super memories! 2006-02-25

My wife and I went on our first cruise and I wanted a camera that would take video and still pictures. After wearing out the internet,I finally selected the Panasonic PV-GS150. I was amazed at the number of passengers on board that had the same camera! I couldn't be happier with the results of this camera. The color reproduction is fantastic! I used it in alot of different applications such as; daylight, night shots, even sunsets. It did a great job! The still shots were OK. The more light you have the better the picture. The flash is awesome! So many digital cameras have a weak flash compared to this camera. But keep in mind your priorities. My first priority was video, then still shots. I don't think that you will be disappointed.

Terrific camcorder - too bad about the service 2006-02-23

The GS150's performance is as-advertised. Terrific colour rendering, thanks to its 3-chip configuration. The camera also has the option of full manual control of standard settings, making it even more usable. Love the joystick! Still find it hard to believe that Panasonic has managed to fit all of this performance into such a small package.

Final Score: Engineering 1, Customer Service 0

Early production runs of this camera seem to have a shielding problem, which causes faint, red, horizontal bands to appear when recording in very low light conditions. Despite the fact this has been widely (if unofficially) reported by GS150 owners around the world, these same owners have noted that Panasonic customer service generally denies that the problem exists.

Thankfully, the problem is easily repaired by a certified technician. Better still, GS150 owners seem to have collectively deciphered that units manufactured from September 2005 onward are alright. Look for cameras with serial numbers beginning with 'H5' or higher. You can also read all about this at pana3ccduser dot com.

Very good value, but image quality only ok 2006-02-23

I did quite a bit of research on video cameras but I am by no means an expert. I selected this camera in the hopes that the image quality would be a lot better than my older JVC camera. Although the colors are a bit better, that is all you seem to get for the 3CCD. I love the small compact size as well as the features and ease of operations. It is a bit uncomfortable to hold in my hand, it seems better suited for someone with smaller hands. I wish it had a built in Lamp for low light.

Excellent camcorder! 2006-02-23

I bought this camcorder about 4 months ago primarily for recording my daughters' gymnastics meets. So most of the time I shoot in average lighting indoors, with fast moving subjects, using tripod or monopod and zoomed anywhere from 1x to 10x. I added a 2x teleconverter lens and UV filter for lens protection. My previous camcorder was the Panasonic PV-GS19 single CCD. What a difference 3 CCD's make. The colors are so much more vibrant and realistic due to having a CCD for each color. And the image is substantially sharper most likely due to better image processing as well as the # of CCD's.

Lower light levels, like a room with a single incadescent buld, really shows the weakness of the smallish 1/6" CCD's of the GS150. Now you can opt for a larger single CCD camcorder for around the same price as the GS150 and have better light sensitivity but then you compromise the color quality inherent in 3 CCD camcorders. Since most of my shooting is done in average to good lighting, I chose the better color rendition of 3 CCD's. You could by a camcorder with 3 large CCD's and be done with it, but as for me, I do not have $2000+ to spend on pro-sumer grade equipment.

Which brings me to the most important reason I purchased and recommend this camcorder - PRICE! I bought my GS150 for under $500 online after a mfr instant rebate. That is a steal for a 3-CCD camcorder. For that price I also included a 2x tele lens, UV filter, polarizer filter, ND filter, extended battery, monopod and a Davis Sanford fluid-head tripod. Now I have everething I need for a days shoot.

Fuctionally speaking the GS150 is great to work with. The controls are intuitive and well placed and there are a myriad of manual controls there if you need them. I've tried the manual controls and it was very easy to make the necessary adjustments. The auto mode works great too. With gymnasts as the subject, they move around and go near to far often in their routines and the auto-focus does its job at keeping up. I like the size of the unit which is a bit on the smallish side. The included MagicWire remote does an excellent job as a mic, zoom controller and record button. This is especially useful using a tripod. Zoom control is much improved over my GS19. Now I can actually perform a slow zoom. Battery life is good with over 1 1/2 hours of realistic use on the standard battery. The LCD is a bit on th smallish side but it is quite sharp. And the EIS image stabilizer does a great job. The Optical Image Stabilization is a tad better but you'd have to be a real spaz to think that the GS150's EIS does not do a good job. I often use a tripod/monopod but I use it hand-held a lot also. I really have no complaints on the useage of the GS150.

I use Sony Vegas MovieStudio + DVD to edit and compose DVD's. Transfers are painless using the firewire port. You will need to purchase a firewire cable. But then again, there is no USB cable included either.

Upon watching the finished DVD on my TV, I was amazed at the video quality. It was actually better than the preview on my PC. Rich colors, sharp edges and smooth motion. Orders of magnitude better than with my GS19. I highly recommend the PV-GS150 for a high quality 3-CCD camcorder for the budget-minded. Get it while you can. Panasonic is replacing the GS150 with the GS180 and taking away the excellent Leica Dicomar lens in the process as well as other features to reduce the cost.

very nice camera 2006-02-19

We bought this camera Oct. 2005 and it malfunctioned two months later. We spent the next two weeks trying to contact Panasonic. Panasonic website e-mail doesn't work. Finally a local Panasonic dealer told us to contact Bigston Corp. They fixed it within the 90 day warranty. Works great since then.
As far as the camera itself, very nice. Video and still picture quality in daylight are sharp with very nice colors. It's fairly easy to use with many auto and manual functions. Contrary to instructions, it seems it works as webcam on Macs (OS 10.3).
A few drawbacks- the 0 lux feature captures 1 frame per second to enhance light capture making video very choppy and virtually useless for veiwing; manual focusing w/joystick can be a bit difficult; does not come with memory card, tapes or firewire cable (neccessary to download video at least on Macs).
Still recommend this camera as good compromise of quality and price.

Great Camera, but a little dissapointment. 2005-12-26

Well I just recived this camera for Christmas and I thought it was great taking pictures and all, but it didn't come with a tape. Although the picture quality is exalent I suggest you buy a tape that fits it before you buy it.

NO DRIVER COMPATIBILITY 2005-12-24

I bought this camcorder recently and I was very happy to see its results initially but I can never believe on thing that it is not compatible with windows xp properly, I called up panasonic help center they suggested me that I should buy firewire cable for its better performance because this cam is suppose to be designed for Win98. now I am all stuck with these things to figure how to take care of all these things...

pretty good for indoor lighting 2005-12-14

We bought the Canon ZR100 but retutrned it before we opened it after reading many reviews about the loud fan/motor and bad low light recordings. We bought the Sony HC21 next and thought the colors looked dull and the greys looked grainy in a room with two lamps and a window. We primarily wanted it for home movies of the baby. We exchanged that for the Panasonic pv-gs150 after reading many reviews and ratings. This was one of the only mid priced camcorders that was rated with a 5.5 low lighting rating compared to higher and lower end models at a 3.5 or lower. This camera records beautifully in our low light rooms and I have no doubt will record even better outside in sunlight. The colors were vibrant and the greys looked normal. The zoom gets in very close without becoming fuzzy. We bought ours at Best Buy on sale for $105 off the regular price and an additional $50 mail in rebate.

Great camera, but amazon's price not good 2005-12-12

This is truly a great camera in every respect. Low light performance, auto-focus, image-stabalization and connectivity. The battery life isn't as good as I would have liked (2-3hrs) but that's forgivable for all the other features. I was deciding between Pv-GS35, 65 and 150. The difference between 35 and 65/150 in low-light performance was significant enough to warrant the extra cost and I choose GS150 over GS65 primarily because of the assist lamp, built-in lens cover and the availability of USB2.0 for downloading video (in gs65 it can only be used to download photos) as I do not have a firewire port.

Having said that, Amazon's price on this items is FAR, FAR from being competitive. Do search a bit and you'll certainly find a better price. Sorry, Amazon.

Good Camera that doesn't work 2005-12-09

This is one of those reviews I skip over. I bought one of these as my first video camera and I must have received a bad one. I didn't know it, though, having never worked with video all that much.

I got it in late June and started shooting and trying to learn the camera. As another reviewer stated, the manual is almost a complete waste. Whenever they used the phrase "Taking pictures" I never knew if they meant with the still shot mode, or shooting video - or both! I finally decided they meant both.

Anyway, my camera took video, but it's *always* been grainy and splotchy. I didn't know any better. I assumed user-error. But I've checked, doubled checked and finally learned enough to realize that it's not user error, it's the camera. I am taking test video in beautiful sunny daylight of still moving objects and it's hard to watch.

Unfortunately, it took me too long to realize this as it's no longer covered under the labor warranty! which is the real reason I write this.

Panasonic has, by far, the worst warranty of any company I've dealt with. 3 months labor. 1 year parts. So my unit is almost 6 months old and it's going to cost me 161 dollars just for them to service it. That's almost 1/3 of the cost of the unit. Oh, but parts are free. Thank god! *sigh*

I have ended up liking the camera. Fits well in my hand. Controls are easy to access and switch between different modes. And I assume the quality of image is good on working cameras. I just have to give it the low rating based on the company that makes it. Poor, if not worthless customer service and completely worthless warranty on a complex product.

So my advice - buy the extended warranty or you're just taking a big risk. This is the second Panasonic product that I've had an experience like this. Last time was a 75 dollar dvd player - busted in 5 months and 80 dollars to fix - "under warranty"!

Got a Professional Looking Engagement Video !! 2005-12-03

Had nothing but praises for this camcorder so far - owned it for almost a month now and I absolutely love it. Also shot a professional looking engagement video with it!! Although the lighting was a bit to the darker side and the event was completely indoors the picture and colour quality was amazing. Here's a quick breakdown of this amazing camcorder :

Pros:
** Excellent picture quality and best of the line colour reproduction.
** Excellent sound quality and included support for hot-shoe accesories.
** Included remote for playback and camcorder recording control.
** Included additional remote that is also a mic - excellent for narrating/interviewing.
** Easy to use Joystick for browsing through menu options(menu is pretty straight forward as well)
** Sturdy contruction and balance for stability while holding in hand.
** Amazing still photographs - thats right - truly amazing photographs for a camcorder as long as you are thinking 4x6 and viewing on computer. Again the colour are vivid and perfectly balanced. Also there is a flash so you can get great pics in low light too.
** Smooth and fast zoom capability.
** More than decent battery life - with the stock battery I could shoot a whole DV tape - 60 mins while using the LCD screen and the battery still showed 1 bar of charge left.

Cons:
** Software is a joke - default Windows Movie Maker beats it easily.
** Extreme low light and 0 lux performance abyssmal - though the performance at low light conditions was decent( this is good enough for most I believe).

Best Camera for the Price 2005-09-07

I love this camera. The odd thing is that I did not think I would. When I started the research for buying a camcorder I reallt wanted a Sony. I work as a film editor and have used many professional Sony products and have for years. I've found that with Sony you generally get what you pay for. However when researching I could not bring myself to pay more for a one chip Sony camcorder than I would for a three-chip Panasonic. I'm very glad I went with the Panasonic, the image quality is faantastic, and the controls could not be easier to use. Plus this camera had alot of nice professional features that I could not find together on other consumer camcorders. The image stabilization is great, the ability to manually control focus and white balance and the inclusion of a 2.3 megapixel still camera were nice additions. Also if you're editing at home the ability to use this camera as a DV/Analog converter to power an external monitor with your editing system was a nice bonus. Overall most of the features on this camera can be found individually on other cameras, but this was one of the few I found that had all of the nice bonuses together. Still the main reason to purchase was what caught my attention at first -- ths is the cheapest 3-CCD camera I could find.

Tiny Camcorder works well, but controls are not intuitive 2005-08-18

I purchased the Panasonic Camcorder to record my son's wedding and, for the most part, I was well pleased. The quality of still and moving photos as good, and the size and weight of the unit make it very portable and relatively unobtrusive. The package that includes the camera, however, does not include a memory card for the still photos or any tapes for the motion shots, these added another $60 or so to the cost. The controls are not grouped in a way that makes operating the camera (zooming in and out, turning it on and off, etc.) particularly easy or intuitive and the icons that appear in the screen when using the joystick are also not intuitive, thus one must memorize all the various symbols.

Customer "Service?" 2005-08-04

As others have stated, this is a nice compact high quality camcorder for all the reasons listed. However, when I couldn't get it to receive a DV signal from my computer, I called the tollfree Customer Service line asking for help. After two calls and an hour on the phone, talking to three reps, whom each conferred with an associate, they said, "the camera wasn't designed for that." The problem is that IT IS DESIGNED TO DO THAT. The CS people just don't seem to know their product. It may be that they are referring to the same unclear user manual that the consumer is provided. Anyway, if you think you can figure the camera out on your own, get it. It really does a great job for the price.

No EIS with wide screen 2005-07-21

Great camera, but you cannot use the image stabilization feature in the wide screen mode. The GS250 allows you to do so, but is a significant jump in price. If you are doing video editing or watching the videos on a wide screen TV, think seriously about getting this camera.

Colors are wonderful, far better than any other camera on the market at this price range.

Personally, we are going with the GS250 because of the Image stabilization. It was nearly a costly mistake for us.

Price Buster !! 2005-05-27

This camera takes the best still pictures of any mini-dv I have owned yet !! Low transport noise and the joystick rocks . You basically just open the box and shoot . As with any camera you should always adjust your own white balance .It fits in the palm of your hand and comes with a remote and a mic ! No battery complaints as of yet . For the price get it !!

Pretty decent camera for the price 2005-04-30

I have had this camera for about 3 weeks. Bought this after lot of research(mini-dvd versus miniDV). Read some horror stories about an entire disk getting wiped out with mini-dvd camcorders.

GS150 does an amazing job in bright day light. Colors are vibrant compared to 1 CCD cameras. Low light performance is so so. Overall, I am a satisfied customer.

If you plan on transferring video to a computer, get a fire-wire cable. This camera needs a 4 pin male connector. I have a MAC and transferring video and burning into a DVD was a breeze.

Decent camcorder with a few cons 2005-04-30

The camcorder offers outstanding video quality (at its price level)in adequate lighting condition. I had a chance to compare it to Cannon Opture 500. I think GS150 produces better color than Opeture does, due largely to 3ccd, but makes slightly more noise in low light settings.
I like the joystick, which makes the control panel look clean and simple.
However, there are a few things I am not happy with.
1. Generally, EIS does not improve much from GS120. Without a tripod, you still need to hold your breath if you want to get really stable video.
2. There is no EIS in widescreen mode.
3. Again, low light performance is not satisfactory.
So, if you do most of your shooting outdoor and are confident on your "stability skills," this is a great camcorder to buy.