http://panasonic.jp/dvc/popup/gs400k/img/sample_photo_1.jpg
http://panasonic.jp/dvc/popup/gs400k/img/sample_photo_2.jpg

I looked at the 1st pic. It's terrible. Probably no fault of the cam, though.

Looks like they have slightly improved the quality of stills on the GS400 from the DV953 but as with all megapixel camcorders its nothing to write home about.

Click here for my 3MP pic from DV953 (MX500/MX5000) (http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-5/74415/BEE3MP.jpg)

The DV953 takes amazing stills if you leave it set to 640x480 which doesn't require any interpolation of its three CCDs. I noticed the GS400 offers more than just 2288x1728 and 640x480 for still resolutions. It also has a 1600x1200 and 1280x960 setting and the 1280x960 is very close to native resolution for the 1.07 megapixel CCDs.

So if anyone can find a 1280 resolutin still I'd love to see it!

If you want estimate the quality perfectly - just print the image in good lab. I believe GS400 quality will be enough up to 15x22 cm printing.

If you look pic on PC - use appropriate viewer, as ACDSee, and set zoom no more 50%. it's a usual recommendation for viewing any high resolution images

I printed some stills from a GS200 on a dye sublimation (Canon CP200) printer and they were, frankly, terrible. Even a fairly inexpensive 2mp still cam like the Nikon Coolpix 2200 took vastly superior photos than the GS200. I can't see the GS400 being much better in the still department. And I cant see a pro lab doing a lot more with the images.

Sometimes I wonder why these otherwise reputable companies try to market their video cameras as viable options to a reasonably inexpensive dedicated still camera. They should instead focus on the superior colour definition and video quality their cams have compared to the competition.

I guess that's why I dont work for the Matsushita marketing department .

Agreed. I don't know who the market is for these combo units but I guess the manufacturers know who they are. Sigh. I often shake my head thinking what else they could do instead of putting all the hardware and firmware on the cam for still photos. Bigger CCDs? More CCDs? Lots of other things. Oh, well.

Dennis Vogel

Bigger CCDs? More CCDs?

Bigger CCDs (three of them) with just enough pixels for a native 16:9 mode (400k-500k). I see larger and larger CCDs in the single chipper division but they are burdened with 2 and 3 megapixels ruining any low light benefit of the large (usually 1/3.6") CCD.