Having just bought an Optura Xi for just over the $1000 mark I feel this counts. It seems like I'm cheating to suggest this as its such a great camera. A quantum step up from my ZR10 - which I loved.

The Optura Xi may just be my next cam, unless Pana USA brings in the NV-GS100 at a fair price. But by that time, the Xi will probably have even a cheaper street price. :)

PS: a quick and dirty way of testing a cam's low light is to go into manual mode, but use all the auto features except fixing the shutter at 1/60. Use the same light; same TV for playback. The easiest way to do this is bring along a miniDV tape. Then play the tape back with your cam and your TV at your leisure. Just don't forget to talk into the recordings of which cam is being tested. Like I said, it's quick and dirty, but it should give you a good idea about the video quality in lower light. :)

To Joe Kras and all others:
(Adapted from a french website: http://www.digital8.fr.st/)

Do you want best of both worlds?

SteadyShot electronic stabilizer ON and 1/50 shutter speed (1/60 NTSC)?

Try this:

1. Make sure SteadyShot is ON and Aperture is in Auto mode.
2. Turn Camera OFF.
3. Put lens cover over the lens.
4. Turn camera back ON with the lens cover on. This forces the shutter down to 1/50 PAL (1/60 NTSC).
5. Switch to manual aperture and dial the iris control down 4 to 5 steps from max to reduce gain. Leave iris control on MANUAL.
6. Remove lens cover, adjust aperture and focus properly.

Voilà!

You should be at 1/50 shutter speed (1/60 NTSC) WITH SteadyShot ON.
Ideal for long shots from the back of a church for example, even on a tripod.

Note: If you switch the cam OFF or go back to Auto-Iris, you must go all over that procedure again, as it will resume to its default setting (1/100 NTSC) with SteadyShot ON.

Dave,
As far as I know, most consumer camcorders combine the gain control with the iris control. That is, the iris will open step by step from f22 or f16 (closed) to f1.6 or f1.7, then electronic GAIN will be applied by 3dB increments up to +18dB. So the "wide open" position (f1.6) is not the max position of the aperture dial. It's the 6th or 7th notch down from max.

Don't be shy about them Xi s, guys! What do you think? Speech! Speech!

Norm,

Thanks for taking the time to translate and post that.

I'll try it!

Joe K.

Just thought I'd let you know that I just picked up a Panasonic
DV53 and posted my initial impressions over at the Panasonic DV board in a thread entitled "My First Weddings with GS100". The DV53 is one of the least expensive miniDV cams available.