Robert, if you have a wide angle lens and can get the cam set up and focused ahead of time and sort of convince people not to gather in a circle, it could work. Good luck and congratulations on becoming a godfather. Let us know how it goes.

Okay, so to steer this back on to the subject at hand.... Anyone found/received anymore pictures of the GS400?!?!

No more pics and no more specs, yet. Sorry. After several e-mails to 2 Pana head offices I have receieved zip!

<<<-- Originally posted by Frank Granovski : No more pics and no more specs, yet. Sorry. After several e-mails to 2 Pana head offices I have receieved zip! -->>>

Hi Guys,

Anyone know if the picture and specs from this link are accurate? For one, translated specs show10X optical so that's what confused me. Please advise. Thanks! : )

From Panasonic Spain. Had to translate (babelfish) the page though.

http://www.panasonic.es/fichamod.asp...demod=NV-GS400

Translated specs:
========================
CCD effective Megapíxel of 1/6"and 800K x3 píxels

Capture of fixed photo of 4 Mpixel in card SD or MMC

43 optics LEICA DICOMAR of m/m with focal length 2,85-28 m/m

Optical stabilizer of image (OIS)

Optical zoom lens x10; digitalis x20 - x100

DIGITAL VIDEOCAMERA DV OF 3 CCD

Function Web cam (USB). Photo fixes progressive to any means (tape, card SD or MMC). Screen LCD 200,000 policristalino-silicone of 3,5"and píxels. Built-in flash (GN 05). Analogical input/output and digital DV (i_Link - IEEE1394). Function of informed marks and blockade of archives. Automatic approach and ring of manual approach in objective.

=========End of Translated Specs==

Btw: Chuckmeister also has a specsheet at supervideo.

Thanks for that Pana link. I'll check it out. Supervideo doesn't have the full specs, just the ones I sent him via Pana.

Actually, the GS400 looks a lot like a MX500. But the front lens element looks much wider. So no GS100 for the world outside of Japan, eh? Pity. :-))

Basic specs but no pictures (or good stuff like CCD detail) on English Panasonic site

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/camcorder...400b/index.htm

Previous Spanish specs with the 1/6" CCDs make it seem like the GS400 may be a DV953 with a better lense and better still scaling ; I'm hoping for so much more!

Don

still another uk site:

http://www.unbeatable.co.uk/CatalogueItem_18206.html

Again, no specs, and again, it sure looks like a MX500! Thanks for the link. :-))

Hi Frank,

I have a bigger sized pic here. want me to just email them to you? I don't know where to post them.

Joby, sure and thanks! e-mail it to me. :-))

Okay Frank. It's incoming.

Thanks. But why did you send me zip files? Only one pic came out, I think it overwrote the other pics probably bacause all 3 pics had the same file name. I tried to view the one, but could not with none of my software. I tried 5 programs with no luck.

Ooops! :) sorry about that.

okay, I'll try again and send the pics to you but not zipped this time.

Joby,
You can post them in the Members Album on my website.

Guy,

Thanks. I'll do and try that now.

Joby

Frank,

I resent the 3. I had problems when I uploaded the first time to Guy's site (thanks Guy! ). The pictures were not showing.

What I did then was I loaded all of them in my Photosuite, then 'save as' using a diffrent filename and now it's looking okay in the Members Album. Just let me know if they're okay now. Sorry for the many resends. I didn't mean to use up your bandwidth. :)

I'm wondering if pany had some permissions set up that It can't be viewed as I got this from pany espany.

here's the first upload to Guy's site:

http://www.fortvir.net/modules.php?s...view_photo.php

I think you can resize it to normal to see the small version.

Joby,
The picture is fine. So, e.Cam is Pany's Spanish website? Do they have pictures of any other sides?

Thanks again Guy.

Yes, there's 2 more of the same pics we've seen over and over in the other dealers and pany sites but i think these are just bigger versions.

I'm about to post them now as I had to resave them (weird!!!) in order for them to be viewable in your site.

Guy,

I'm not sure about the e.Cam designation. Maybe Frank would know? I know I've seen it in the french and belgian and spanish catalogs.

Here's the other two pics now:


http://www.fortvir.net/modules.php?f...view_photo.php

http://www.fortvir.net/modules.php?f...view_photo.php

By the way, is there a limit to what you can upload?

Thanks again Guy!

Jobz

Well, my site maxes out at 800 Meg ;-).

Your site actually uploaded the pics pretty fast. 800 megs? with all the clips and pictures now in there? hmm... okay, we'll let it go at that hehe! :)

Anyway, looking up close at the details, doesn't it seem to look more like an mx5000? Even that thin red thingy in the inner part and beneath focus ring. Does the gs100 have that too? I don't have a gs100 so can't really compare.

finally some "news" =)
there were no specs, no pics for a while now, thanx for posting those.

e.Cam is the general Euro page for Pana camcorders.

I don't see any buttons behind the LCD. Can someone check if you can see buttong on your gs100 or mx500 from that angle in similar LCD position? I think on the 953 you can see something, and here you don't see anything. ?

Guy, thanx for hosting =)

Chances are that the pic is of an unfinished prototype, and thus there are no buttons there.

Usually companies want to show off what they've got and if their not going to make the prototype available at a public viewing, then they can cut corners to get the pictures taken for product literature, etc.

While the pics are great, I still want a complete spec sheet! :)

George, on my mx5000, I can't really see any buttons behind the LCD from a similar angle. There's about almost an inch of space before you can see the buttons. I've uploaded mx500/5000 pic from almost the same angle and it doesn't show buttons either.

http://www.fortvir.net/modules.php?i...view_photo.php

So any similarities between the GS100 and GS400? What's that white button behind the GS400 LCD? Is that on the GS100 too? MX5000 doesn't have that.

I'd say pretty detailed job for a GS400 prototype. They even have the 'AUTO' label 'lit' up. Is that how it is, too, with the GS100? Oh well, more questions!!! lol! :)

So any similarities between the GS100 and GS400? What's that white button behind the GS400 LCD? Is that on the GS100 too? MX5000 doesn't have that.

That's the power LCD button Joby (increases the brightness of the LCD 2x for better viewing even under bright sunlight), a standard feature among all 2004 models. That's why I am speculating that the GS400 will probably have the new big dial mode at the right back side and the cross-layout control buttons inside the LCD panel similar to the GS120, GS200 and GS55, replacing the jogwheel of the MX5K and GS100.

The GS100 looks cooler IMO.

Thanks much Allan. I wasn't aware of the features of the gs100 and 2004 models. And yes, you're right about that. I was just looking at some close up shots of the Black Mamba at Chuckmeister's and indeed, the layouts in as far as what can be compared so far, are different. Well hopefully, the looks notwithstanding, the 'cool' factor in the GS400 mightl be in it's better functionalities and technologies, whatever they might be turn out to be. :)

That could very well be true since one of the Pana headquarters had 2 dummy-like, unfinished GS400's. That was about 6 weeks ago.

<<<-- Originally posted by Joby Arandela : Thanks much Allan. I wasn't aware of the features of the gs100 and 2004 models. And yes, you're right about that. I was just looking at some close up shots of the Black Mamba at Chuckmeister's and indeed, the layouts in as far as what can be compared so far, are different. Well hopefully, the looks notwithstanding, the 'cool' factor in the GS400 mightl be in it's better functionalities and technologies, whatever they might be turn out to be. :) -->>>

Other than the power LCD, the functions and technologies seem to be similar (based on available specs). But if the GS400 adapts the new universal design of Pany (as I described in my last post), actual cam operation would be a little different; more convenient to beginners and those who shoot in full auto most of the time, but probably less desirable for heavy manual feature users). The GS100 certainly could be improved in terms of widescreen quality and if the GS400 has 1MP ccds, that should effect some difference. Any improvement in low-light performance is quite desirable as well (although the GS100 is good enough for my personal needs).

I wonder, if a limited edition black GS400 comes out, how would we name it then? :-))

Black Mamba 2.

You spell mamba wrong.

Fixed. Thanks! You have a sharp eye. :-))