GS100: What should i buy from Japan
 

I will be ordering a dark and deadly GS100K from pricejapan.com this week, but just wondered what accessories i should purchase along with it vs. pick up here locally in the US? If there is something that can only be had for this camerea from Japan i might as well order it with the camera to save shipping.

Video light?
Lens filter?
Tele lens?
Wide lens?
Microphone?

Or better yet i should also ask, where can i get the 5 accessories above that will work for the GS100?

You can get those things here and probably save money. However, you might be interested in an underwater or water resistant housing for the GS100. I believe these are only available in Japan.

how much is the housing for it?

I suggest taking a good look at the waist pack battery. It's not available outside of Japan from what I understand, and if you plan to do shoot any events (family or otherwise), it's a great addition. (Also doesn't add weight to the camcorder the way a larger non-waist pack battery would.) The other item which is not available except in Japan is the hot shoe mike. (The hot shoe on the gs100 is not "hot" except for the specific items made by Panasonic to fit that shoe, from what I understand, though you can work out a different configuration using items made by other manufacturers if you don't care about the weight issue.) pricejapan can give you a quote on price for the items made by Panasonic, including the underwater housing.

Hi Penelope & Patricia,

The Panasonic VW-VBD7 Waist Battery is supplied with a CGA and a CGR Battery to Camera Adaptor. The Battery is the same as the Panasonic CGR-D53; however the CGR-D53 is supplied with the CGR Adaptor only. I ordered the VW-VBD7 with my GS100K from Price Japan for 16,200 YEN.

All Panasonic GS series cameras including the GS100K use the CGA Batteries; the DV953 also uses the CGA type Battery. The DV852 uses the CGR type Battery. I wonder why Panasonic North America does not include the CGA Adaptor since they do sell Cameras requiring the CGA Batteries.

You can find CGR-D53 Batteries on eBay from $39.00 - $120.00+. Keep an eye out for the lower prices, they do come up regularly.

I ordered extra CGA-DU21 2040mAh Batteries from a contact in Hong Kong for $50.00 each including registered insured Air Mail. They were less then half the US Price. I had them in 5 days.

I hope this information is useful to all Panasonic Owners.

Best Regards,

Brian