THANK YOU Allan. I VERY MUCH appreciate your post and the e-mail you sent me. I very much realize your not trying to discourage me, however there is the fact that my daughter would like to use the camera as well for her school projects. Therefore it might be best to stay with the DV953 with english menus. I did read that the GS70 was slightly better in low light sitations, but like you said it's all subjective and while I could easily adjust the PV953 - having the language problem with the GS100 could be more frustrating than it's worth.

Maybe the whole solution is to just get the GS70 the price is outstanding here in the states (745.00) to begin with, then wait a year or so to see if the GS100 does come out in Europe with English menus. Then like always - there will be something better coming to the market... (laughing) because as I always say .... "you can't keep up with it."

Thanks very very much. I appreciate your honesty and help with helping me make a decision.

We'll write again soon I'm sure.

Best

Rick.

Hi there...

Does anyone know if a manual for GS100 is available online?
Even if it is in japanaese, just to have it online, because I have no idea how I could type in that chars...

Also, I am looking for some sort of online dictionary, other than altavista... Is there one?

Thanks guys... (the cam didn't arrive yet, but that's normal, I'm expecting it to arrive late next week)

Rick, camcorderinfo has just posted a review of the 953. While they don't represent gospel, it's a starting point and will give you a clue of what to check for if you're going to comparison shop. Also, I apologize in advance if I'm telling you something you already know, but the other fora here at dvinfo are superb. There are a lot of participants who are clearly pros or top-flight amateurs, and reading through their posts (as I have been doing) will give you a lot of insight into some of the really important basics - like which tapes to use, which lenses, how to compensate for backlighting, etc. - as well as help you answer other questions the pros themselves discuss. All of that will give you far more than just the 100K or the 953 or any newest device ever could.

Digicam 100 links
 

Some visitors here may not have seen as many pictures, specs and reviews of the MX7000/NV-GS100K/Digicam 100 as they'd like.

Here's a comprehensive run-down of the pages at the Pana Japan site.

Most of these pages have enough of the information on them in text form instead of graphics-text, that it's worthwhile to view them through the Babelfish translator at babelfish.altavista.com.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/index.html The Digicam 100 front page.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/gashitsu.html Overview of optical and optoelectronic elements.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/ga_leica.html Leica lens.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/ga_ois.html Optical image stabilizer.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/ga_3ccd.html 3 CCDs.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/ga_crystal.html Various signal processing techniques to improve images.
http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs10...tal_noise.html
http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs10...stal_axis.html
http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs10...l_degital.html

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/kinou.html Overview of image modes.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/ki_wide.html Wide-angle capability, i.e. 16:9.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/ki_chinema.html Cinema-mode gamma curve setting.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/ki_night.html Night mode, with low-light sensitivity and LCD panel as illuminator.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/ki_shutter.html Shutter speed controls, for stop action or blurred motion.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs10...telemacro.html Macro mode.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/benri.html Ergonomics and user interface.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/techno.html Extensive list of additional advanced capabilities.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/network.html Interface capabilities, and other Pana products they hope you'll buy, i.e. plasma TV, etc.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/3d.html Rotateable view of the Digicam 100 silver version.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/spec.html Specifications. Too bad the camera-controls graphics labels aren't translatable by Babelfish.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/DIGICAM/gs100k/accessory.html Accessories: batteries, lenses and adapters, cases and covers, synced-zoom stereo microphone, illuminators, etc.

Two review-advertisements:
http://ad.impress.co.jp/tie-up/panas...0306/index.htm
http://ad.impress.co.jp/tie-up/panas...306/index2.htm

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/ The master page for all Pana Digicams, including 30, 50, 70, 100 and a little pocket-model (320x240x15fps only) called D-Snap in Japan, or SD in USA.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/movie/index.html A listing of the Digicams with some basic comparative info.

Wow! Thanks for all those links - and welcome to the forum!

Here's a list of 953/MX5 reviews:

http://www.dvfreak.com/mx5_go.htm

More resources:

http://www.supervideo.com/MXmouse.htm Offers a "MX7000" manual-on-CD for $10. Also a couple of good pictures, and some other info. Yes, the page does show an MX5000 manual, but supposedly what's currently available is the MX7000 version.

http://www.supervideo.com/MX5000manuala.htm Explanation of the controls functionality of the MX5000. Might be somewhat relevant to the Digicam 100, for those trying to decipher what the Japanese-labeled buttons do.

Some questions for the experts and/or Digicam 100 owners:

1. In Night mode, is the Digicam 100 sensitive to infrared light, like some of the Sony consumer cams? Can you use Night mode without the uber-bright-LCD-screen illuminator? Is it always at 8 fps, or is that a selectable parameter?

2. Has anyone experimented with the high-speed mode, i.e. 16 frames at 640x480 at .07 second intervals? Is the color rendition good in that mode, and does it have any special lighting requirements to avoid strobing?

3. Is there a setup choice for 30p vs. normal interlaced? If so, how do the images look in 30p?

4. Is there anything in the Japanese menu for setup of the camera to use the supposedly upcoming Extended Definition DV tape that will have significantly more bandwidth?

John. Regarding the MX7000: there is no such cam. That's misinformation meant to snag in souls who've heard about Panasonic's MX line of cams.

Yep, I'm aware that "MX7000" is apparently a pseudonym for NV-GS100K, which (just to confuse things a bit more) is marketed in Japan as Digicam 100. I mentioned only the MX7000 designator on the manual-CD-offer because I haven't seen what they're selling, and I can't claim to fully understand the reasons for their product-name usage.

Neither an expert nor an owner�cbut may I reply?

No, the GS100 does not have infrared night mode (that's why the resulting image is colored). The spec sheets indicate that frame rate is set at 8fps under Color Night Mode. Even if you switch to manual mode and press the jogwheel, the manual settings (shutter speed, iris, gain) are not displayed, thus cannot be adjusted. However when I tried CNM under bright lights, I noticed that video motion appear normal. Hence I'm wondering if the cam automatically adjusts the frame rate (minimum 8fps) under CNM according to the brightness of the subject, or, if the cam actually shuts-off CNM when brightness reaches a certain level. The same case is true for 0 Lux CNM. Note that the LCD continuously indicate that either CNM or 0 CNMS is activated even in varying lux levels, but would only exhibit jittery motion under dark shooting conditions (as in putting your palm very close to the lens).

Under 0 Lux CNM, frame rate goes down to 2fps and the cam prompts you to turn the LCD towards the subject in order to illuminate it (you don't have to if you don't want - but why wouldn't you if it's pitch dark).

Default setting is normal interlaced but you can choose between interlaced and frame mode within the menu. You can also activate frame mode very easily by pressing the Procinema button (but it will be in 16:9 with cinelike gamma). How does frame mode look?.. I'll leave that to 953 owners to answer.

The GS100K is not Hi-vision (HD). There is no setting in the menu for anything related to Hi-vision (HD).

One question, JVC is now marketing a DV tape especially made for its HD1/HD10 cams. The cost is 3x that of ordinary DV tape. I wonder if that is the same as the upcoming Extended Definition DV tape.

The only special DV tape I've been able to track down from JVC is a supposed "Professional Grade" product that's described as being of top quality and is implied to offer additional ruggedness and reliability. Here's the announcement press release from this year's NAB show:

http://pro.jvc.com/prof/Attributes/p...&feature_id=08

It definitely does not seem as if it provides wider bandwidth than standard DV tape.

The reason for offering/using an Extended Definition tape, with wider bandwidth, presumably would be to permit a camcorder to operate in a mode wherein it would capture and record higher-resolution, higher-data-rate signals than can be recorded onto ordinary DV tape without lossy compression. As far as I know, the JVC consumer and semi-pro HD cams have no need for wider bandwidth than standard DV, because they have no capability to record wideband signals in uncompressed form.

On the other hand, an evolution of a camera like Digicam 100 or AG-DVX100 could be designed to capture and record signals in uncompressed form that are too wideband for conventional DV tape, but would be practical on an Extended Definition tape. It's conceivable that the present Digicam 100 chassis has such a capability, not revealed in its menus unless the camera detects the presence of a suitable wideband tape-type, and ready to be enabled for a later prosumer version. That's speculation, of course.

I just purchased my GS100K from PriceJapan. Ordered it on Tuesday and recieved it on Friday. Very fast.

Took some test shots, plugged it into my Mac and captured anamorphic footage into FCP. Initial look at Cinema Pro video on FCP looks very good! The gamma seems to be compressed so that the whites are at the 70% in the Waveform monitor. Footage looks a lot more defined than my old camcorder.

The menus are all Japanese - which I can't read! However the GS70 manual is very helpful. I don't expected to use the SD card funtions to take photographs, set it up as a webcam or to take MPEG 4 movies so I did not bother to figure out the menus for those functions.

I managed to figure out how to set date and time, turn off the annoying sounds, turn off the recording indicator, switch the camcorder into progressive mode (you see a square boxed 'P' on the LCD) and get it into Cinema Pro mode, and the low light functions. Enough for me!

What I can't figure out is what *all* the buttons on the inside of the LCD do? Can one adjust the shutter speed in manual mode? Can I use the built-in flash for movies or is it just for photos?

What I don't like: All the manual functions (White Balance, Exposure, Focus) are on the outside on the camcorder lens which is prone to being accidentally touched. Especially the manual focus ring. There is no lock for it. The low light, MagicPix and 0 Lux, functions are useless as any movement in the footage becomes blurry (however, the normal mode seems to capture the inside of my house at night pretty well).

I have more discovery and experimenting to do. If anyone is doing an English translation cheat sheet - I'll be happy to participate! Glad I bought the camera!

P.S. It always amazes me how prevalent English is. Even in a pure Japanese product there is English, and all numerals are Roman.

P.P.S Oh! And thanks to Patricia for her comments on this board. It made the difference.

Hi Eng...

From where did you get your GS70 manual? Is it in electronic format?

I am also looking for a manual(even in Japanese) for the GS100 but I need it in electronic format, so I will be able to use some online dictionary. Any idea where I could find one?

The cam is on the way to me, so in 2 days I'll play with the babe(I hope...).

Hello Eng:

Nice to hear about your GS100 - You give this a little hope when you say you have been able to get through certain menus and that some english is prevalent. I'm also happy to hear that it works so well with you Mac and Final Cut Pro. I have Final Cut v.3 and I'm beginning to get into it but will have get more experience once I decide on a camera.

If you've been reading the forum here, you have probably read that I have been on the fence about the GS100 because of the Japanese menus. I would want the camera for some of the other functions and wonder how difficult you think to access those features for web cam and mpeg movies.

When you have a chance to experiment a little more please let us have your thoughts on the ease of use and your interelation with the Japanese menus and how what we may expect if we go the same route.

Thanks... Rick.

Marius, for manuals, try the Panasonic web sites. GS-70 manual is available on the US web site in the support/downloads section. Can't say for sure re Japanese manual, though, since I haven't looked for it.

I downloaded the GS70 manual from the Panasonic USA website.

I actually found the GS100K on-screen menus to be almost identical to the GS70 (with minor deviations to the MX5000). Going down the sub-menus you will find almost identical menu options.

The key thing is to recognize the words "Auto", "Yes" and "No" in Japanese which is easy to do because the first GS100K sub-menu (which is almost identical to the GS70) has those three Japanese characters and it is easy.

Other things are easy: Web is spelled "WEB" , MPEG-4 is spelled "MPEG-4". The AE modes and White Balance modes are all icons - challenging both English and Japanese people. Shutter speed is "1/60" etc. "WB" is white balance, "MNL" is manual, and "MF" is, of course. manual focus.

Like I said, the Japanese have so much English mixed in, it is a different culture.

I have not fiddled around enough to create a definitive cheat sheet but I am sure it can be done easily and with only a little help from a Japanese reader.

More later.

Taken away from GS100
 

Hi everyone,

Wonder if somebody noticed that the camera data was taken way from GS100. In the MX5000 menu there is option you can activate or disable collection of the shooting paramenters (Shutter speed, gain value, white balance setting, iris value).

In comparison table in Japanese Pana catalog it's written also that the skin ditter mode is gone too. From previous post I learned it might be same as the skin detail button.

Now does that mean that the camera data is recorded by default (without having to chose yes or no)? People who own GS100 can you recal this data while playing back (using the remote for example).

If not, does that mean we don't have saved this data on the tape? If so it's terrible for a model so high in the consumer line (but not really pro-sumer).

Another thing is the input/output issue. Now we don't have the dedicated mic input as on MX5000. Well it's plug in power but shared with the wire remote. When is most likly to use mic? When having the cam on a tripod and using the remote.
MX had its headphone out shared with the remote so you could not eventualy monitor the sound while using this remote. As there is no lanc conector on both cams I think this is really frustraiting.

I don't want anybody to understand me wrong because in fact I'm going to buy GS100 very soon. Just want to hear from other people their opinion.

Other weak point is the low resolution viewfinder. If all above issues were solved I would pay extra 200 $ for that cam. Still it would be cheaper than TRV950 or other closer to the prosumer level cams.

Obviously Pana decided to chase the mass market and cut off essential functions to save few pennies.

Bogdan, my guess is that eventually Pana will offer a prosumer version of the camera with a higher-res viewfinder, possibly some sound connectivity changes, and whatever other minor setup changes and accessory-package inclusions the prosumer will be willing to pay for. Sony did so with the PD150/VX2000, and JVC with the JY-HD10/GR-HD1. I would think that a similar move would be obvious to Pana as well, because there are probably many people like yourself who would be willing to pay $200 more to get a few features improved.

Bogdan,

Camera data is automatically recorded by default. However, the user has the option to display or not the data during playback. That option is in the playback menu.

I guess Pany want us to buy the new hot shoe compatible mic.

I guess Pany think that most users of the GS100 would be using the LCD most of the time rather than the VF.

Regards

But how does it look??
 

C'MON GUYS. I hear lots of banter, but how does the 30fps look? In 16 x 9? Is this the same chipset as in the dvx100? They must have "neutered" it somehow...worse in low light?

Can you only use the panasonic additional microphone or does the hot shoe accept an azden, sennheiser, etc etc?

Some one post some grabs! ;-)

close to pushing the "buy" button...

Michael

Bogdan, I guess it is OK to 'complain' or 'bash' a camera if the facts are presented correctly. And it is not 'hypocritical' to bash a camera and buy it. There is no perfect camera out there and each has its own strengths and weakneses. The joy of a forum like this is to be able to discuss the pros and cons openly, so that we can all know of the benefits and drawbacks of each model, before we commit to a purchhase, or to use a camera better.

For the record, yet again, I chose the older MX350 over the MX500. I still find the MX500 not up to my expectations and taste as compared to the MX350. But the MX500 is a good camera. When my MX350 dies and I need a replacement immediately, it could well be the MX500. The fact that I have not been barred or kicked from this forum, even with my incessant complains of the MX500 (almost unfairly!) shows that open discussion based on facts is well accepted here!

This is out-of-topic and I apologise for that.

FYI. Masaki-san has posted the English translation for the GS-100K menus on the MX5000 Yahoo group a few minutes ago.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MX5000/files/GS100Menu.zip

Hello Mr. Lee

I am sorry that it is not PDF files. Can someone convert to PDF for everyone who need them?

Well, I don't have GS100K so, I don't need it :-P

Anyway, This thread is toooooooo loooooooong..........

Thanks to all who replayed to my worries.
Well, sorry for entering with the negative side, I just thought there is no need to repeat the good things which are much more.

Allan, I feel relieved that the data can be replayed. Thanks for all the presice information you are giving us.

Other wise I also wish better inegration on the border of consumer and pro. Or at least to be given the choice wich way to go Yow! I think it's fair to complain about this. Even consumer models of Sony have separate mic, headphone, lanc conectors. They also sell proprietary hot shoe mics but you can chose not to buy such and go with other brand. Not with this lovely Pana though. I have to go with their gun mic.

Cheers,
Bogdan

Mike, that's good stuff. Did you do this, or what was the source...is this posted somewhere (other than here, of course, now)?

Masaki and Mike, you are both gentlemen and scholars. Thank you. Now, Masaki, it should be possible for people to start a few new threads, eh? Maybe Eng Yew Lee can begin with some of those "grabs" people have been clamoring for. You would be doing all of us a service. Here's hoping.

<<<-- Originally posted by Marius Burz : Hi Eng...

From where did you get your GS70 manual? Is it in electronic format?

I am also looking for a manual(even in Japanese) for the GS100 but I need it in electronic format, so I will be able to use some online dictionary. Any idea where I could find one?

The cam is on the way to me, so in 2 days I'll play with the babe(I hope...). -->>>
You may find the PDF version of GS100K manual here:

http://panasonic.jp/support/video/manual/manual.html

But it is in Japanese version.

Great job on the pdf english manual
 

Thanks!

Now if someone could post 16 x 9 30 fps footage it would be tremendous.

M

Hey, everyone. You ever start responding to a post to describe something and from there you, perhaps, start asking yourself questions to better describe something or suggest something, then your mind wanders, you start something else and you totally forget about finishing the response? Well, that's what I did - started to respond to John's post 2 hours ago and went off on a tangent and totally forgot about the reply.

To sum up the past couple of hours, I started by replying that the source of my PDF was Masaki's translated BMP's and WMF's that I simply put in Word DOC to PDF. I included the DOC so people could edit it to whatever page size they wanted and add whatever content they need to make a nice small cheat sheet.

Then I started thinking about what we could add. I remembered the Japanese manual in PDF mentioned earlier and wished it could be directly input into one of those web translators which unfortunately seem to only accept HTML or plain text.

Then I figured someone must have a PDF to HTML converter and I found some. A couple didn't run well and others didnt' support Japanese until I found an Adobe Acrobat plugin called Magellan which works beautifully except that its $200 for a full version and the demo only converts odd numbered pages. Even numbered pages are replaced with a demo warning instead of an interpreted page. So, I cooked up a blank page in Word, printed it to PDF and inserted it into the manual, displacing all pages by one so evens become odd. Magellan converted these pages as before.

The problem is you'd have to have two browsers open, one open to the odd page version and one open to the even page version, and switch between them everytime you moved from one page to another. I found a file renamer called Flash Renamer that makes file renaming easier so I could take all the html pages and associated graphics which have the even page content (but odd numbered html/graphics files) and rename them down 1 step to the correct even pages and replace files in the first odd-only HTML manual. This took several steps to get the automatic file renamer to end up in the desired result.

The last problem is editing the actual HTML code so the image tags in each even numbered HTML page calls for the graphics files with the correct pages. For example, page 96, which was originally page 97 under the pagination of my demo work around, is looking for graphics labeled for page 97, but all of those graphics files have been renamed to 96. I couldn't simply leave the HTML code and image files at the odd numbers because the image files of the real odd numbered pages would be overwritten.

The only way I can figure out to get the image file references corrected in the HTML is basically by brute force - I'm using an HTML editor (Homesite) and opening every even paged HTML file and changing the numbers for each image tag. Thankfully, there's the Find and Replace tool to quicken things up a bit, but it's still going to take a while. Each page takes about 5-7 seconds of time (thank goodness for keyboard shortcuts) and about 3% off of my tedium tolerance.

Right now, I'm uploading a preview for everyone that doesn't have everything working correctly, yet, so you can see what I should have done by tonight. I'll check back in a little while before I'm done to see if you all think it's worth completing. Unfortunately, there's 212 pages of worth of HTML and graphics so it's going to take a while to upload even the incomplete version. The link should be http://404.realmud.com/mike/misc/nv_gs100k.htm.

I tested what's uploaded so far through babelfish.altavista.com and main frame with the actual pages isn't being translated. When I try inserting the URL for the cover page without the frames (http://404.realmud.com/mike/misc/nv_...v_gs100k_1.htm), it works (well, it works as well as web translators can translate). Right now, I can't think of a work around for this. If anyone has suggestions, let me know.

Thanks,

Mike

http://www.panasonic.com.au/support/...%2C%27RMSDC%27

direct GS100 link for manual

Well, it went faster than I thought. I guess I got fast at the repetition. I'm sure there are errors, especially with all the renaming and text replacing I did, but it looks OK overall. I guess the next step is to start feeding it into the translators and interpreting what comes out.

The Japanese HTML manual can be found here:

http://404.realmud.com/mike/misc/nv_gs100k.htm

and a zip of the entire thing (4 MB) here:

http://404.realmud.com/mike/misc/nv_gs100k-html.zip

Victory!
The cam is here!
I had no chance(yet) to transfer video to my PC but from what I see on the LCD I love this cam. As soon as I'll have some footage on my system I'll upload some segments somewhere. Until now I used only the auto mode(I still have to learn how to operate it properly).
I am looking for UV/skylight/pol filters(43mm) for this babe. Could someone recommend me some brands? I have seen good deals for Hoya on ebay, but Hoya doesn't tell me much(I am a beginner, BTW)

It took a bit more than 2 days since the cam was shipped til I had it in my hands. That is what I call fast(from japan to germany using DHL).

What to say abour pricejapan.com? Only good things. Very good contact and very fast replies to my emails. And they were patient and friendly all the time although I had a lot of questions for them. They shipped it very fast(several hours after my wire arrived there. I used wire becuse I don't trust paypal). I chose the double packing(20 euro extra) and what I can tell you is that the packing was extremely good with a lot of air bubbles. The content of the package, all brand new, not a single scratch. So this is really new.
So all I can say is: I am a happy customer :)
(I was not paid by them to say this. When I was looking on the net to find some opinions about them I found almost nothing, so that's why I expressed my opinion here)

Marius,

Check out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MX5000...K_Menus_01.zip



Hope it helps. Let me know of any corrections. Masaki-san has already given me some guidance and I will be revving it tonight.

Thanks Eng...
Already checked that and it was of great help to get me started. I will start a new thread regarding the operation of GS100K.

By the way the code for silver edition is GS100K-S and for black it is GS100K-B.

I went to that link and only get this message:

The requested file or directory is not found on the server.

Do you have the correct link?

Frank, the correct link can be found under my new thread regarding the operation of the GS100K.
This thread being so long got hard to read.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MX5000...K_Menus_02.zip

Thanks. This one seems to work.

Am I correct that the GS100 can do Progressive (30p) and 16:9 Widescreen at the same time!?

GS100 through Pricejapan.com
 

I hear good things about pricejapan.com

I just wonder if anyone ordering from them had problems with customs? Or did DHL delivered at your door step without any hassle or headache? Anyone had to pay any import tax/duty?

Just wondering. I'm in Thailand and DHL tells me that there would be 3% import duty (which if it's true is not too bad). Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I can trust their information.

Thanks for any comment.