DV Info Net - My new GS400 photo

DV Info Net (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/)

- Panasonic DV / MX / GS series Assistant (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/panasonic-dv-mx-gs-series-assistant/)

- - My new GS400 photo (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/panasonic-dv-mx-gs-series-assistant/33194-my-new-gs400-photo.html)

These still photos have convinced me that the still photo capability was much improved from the 953 to the GS400. I was never very pleased with the stills out of my 953. But, I didn't buy it as a still camera so it doesn't bother me.

-gb-

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Boston

Hi Greg,

I shot some photos with reflector and 500w security flood light. Otherwise, I don't think the photos will be interesting. I learned that the camera is not the most important thing.

I did not know that f4.0 to f5.6 is best for gs400. So I was using wide open to get min depth of field as this is the simple way to focus attention to the subject. Now I realized that I can simply set to f4.0 to f5.6 with the help of extra light and position the camera and achived small depth of field without problem. Sometimes I thought that small depth of field is not so important. And minidv has deep field which might make something more interesting.

Regards
Leigh

http://www.salenz.com/8/8.jpg

This one is to celebrate that I own nv-gs400 for a year now and nothing goes wrong with the camera. ;-)

Leigh,
These pictures are all very nice, but how usable is the GS400 as a DigiCam?

What I mean here is how is latency and exposure control in terms of ease of use?

I've got the predecessor (MX500B/PV953) and find that it's sluggish and unwieldy with a pretty fiddly control menu system in comparison to my still digicam.
Alex

Hi Alex,

Latency is terrible. You can only shoot one photo at a time, then wait several seconds to shoot next photo.Of course it depends on sd memory card, but I suspect not much difference even get a faster memory card. But it is ok for me, I am easy. ;-)

Exposure control is excellent.

In term of ease of use, not very good. I really think Panasonic should offer three rings instead of one multifunction ring. If LCD screen is open, it is very hard to push three buttons to switch function of the ring.

I bought my camera in Japan which has a Japanese menu system because I want to pay less. ;-) I can't read japanese. I change menu by referencing GS400 English menu I got the link from this site. Glad that Panasonic maintain same menu item sequence in the menu system. You will see how hard it is to change the menu. But I changed menu not very frequently. I can live with that.

>> but how usable is the GS400 as a DigiCam?

Reference Ken Rockwell's statement, your Camera Does Not Matter.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm

Regards
Leigh

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Lake

Thanks for that, Leigh.

I guess it's as I feared - i.e. the GS400, good though it is, is not a one-box solution.

I'm not sure that Rockwell always applies. If one is interested in taking pictures of family/children, then latency is critical!

Clearly your photo's are more of a studio nature, so it's not a bad option.

Quote:

If one is interested in taking pictures of family/children, then latency is critical!

I was thinking the same thing. I've got some really great static shots with my digital camcorders but catching a child in action is a lot easier with the shot-to-shot speed of a D-SLR. I took my Sony F717 5MP last night for trick-or-treating for its laser-assisted autofocus system but I sorely missed the speed of my D-SLR.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Lake

Hi Alex,

You might be interested in Nikon D70/D70s. ;-)

Here is the link.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d70s.htm

Regards
Leigh