2 lux seems to be the rating under Colour Night View so I'm not at all excited about that. My black mamba can do zero lux colour night view and 2 lux under smooth night mode (could be the same feature).

There goes the theory of the physically wider GS4 lens makes better low light! :-))

My apologies to Joby for breaking his link in the above post. But I moved the spec graphic into the GS400 album with his other pix.

Thanks for the post Allan. I too wonder about a 2 lux spec with a 1/4.7" chip. It must be a 1/8 shutter and 18db gain. Isn't that the low end on smooth color night mode? Also, is cinema gamma available in smooth color night mode?

Also, seems like it loses some width at full pullback...45mm equivalent.

Guy, it's alright. I edited and fixed my link so it's okay now. Thanks for moving the file to where it rightly belongs.

I temporarily placed it in the virginia beach mariners soccer album as I was waiting to see if it was the same graphic that Frank got from pany months before.

And yes, this came from pany europe via email and i've already sent out another email to them asking clarification on the Minimum illumination of 2 lux and pro-cinema, soft skin modes maybe some other pictures as well. No answer yet as I guess it's the weekend there too. I hope they'll remain as accomodating as they have been so far. *fingers crossed*

.... I too wonder about a 2 lux spec with a 1/4.7" chip. It must be a 1/8 shutter and 18db gain. Isn't that the low end on smooth color night mode? Also, is cinema gamma available in smooth color night mode?

Shutter speed under smooth color night mode starts from 1/8 and goes faster depending on the light level. The newer GS200 and GS120 don't have this feature. Hopefully, the GS400 will have it.

The JERKY/crappy color night mode of the MX5000 sets the shutter speed at 1/4.

Procinema and smooth color night mode cannot be combined.




..Also, seems like it loses some width at full pullback...45mm equivalent.

Yeah that seems to be the case. I also cross-checked with the similar 12x zoom of the MX3000 which has 40.9mm equivalent at full pullback. BTW, the MX3000 is rated 10 lux (so that's probably the best the GS400 can do with a lot of help from the 3D Noise Reduction process under the Crystal Engine - but most likely the GS400 will be rated 12 lux too, which should be commendable enough considering the Sonys equipped with the same 1/4.7" CCDs are rated 15 lux :-)) ). As Yowch posted somewhere, it is more expensive to make the lens wider than give it a longer zoom :-))

This seems to hold true for camera lenses. Yow da man! :-))

Received a Second Specifications Listing from Pany Europe (Different Pany division), sent as xls and converted to jpg. Haven't had time to compare with the first one released but there is a "Terminal" and "Standard Accessories" added.

Second File Spec

Okay, I did a line by line comparison between the first and the latest spec listings. The first one, which was sent as a pcx file (from a first pany division), was a truncated version with the last line at 'Audio Dubbing'.

The latest file, which was sent as an excel spreadsheet (from a different pany division) contains exactly everything the first one had but was not truncated so the remainig specs after 'Audio Dubbing' are now seen. But there doesn't seem to be any surprises there yet.

At least, as I see it, we now have two pany sources agreeing on the specs.

But again, maybe this second one's truncated too and there's more underneath it? :) ahhhh...more waiting!

What's all this about audio dubbing? Like the MX300, MX500 and the GS100, I'm sure the GS400 can do it. Even my old JVC DVL9500's can do it (all you need is the remote). :-))

Ooops! I wasn't referring to audio dubbing as a surprise feature.

I was only using "audio dubbing" as a reference point. Every line of specs was exactly the same for the two lists, up to audio dubbing. Then the first one got truncated. and the latest one continued to have the following:

.
.
.
Index Yes (Auto Marking)
Counter "Linear Time Counter, Time Code"
Tape Remaining Indication Yes
Playback Digital Effects Wipe / Mix / Strobe / Trail/ Slim / Stretch / Mosaic / Mirror /NEGA-POSI / MONOTONE / Sepia /ART /ZOOM

TERMINAL TERMINAL
Power -- (Battery Style Adaptor Cable)
S-Video Input/Output Yes (In/Out)
AV Input/Output (mini) Yes (In/Out)
Microphone (stereo mini) Yes
Headphones (M3) Yes (HP Out or AV In/Out)
USB Yes : 2.0 (mini B)
DV Input/Output (IEEE1394) Yes (In/Out)
Accessory Shoe Yes (Hot)

STANDARD ACCESSORIES
AC Adaptor Yes
Battery Pack Yes (Lithium-Ion)
Shoulder Strap Yes
Free-style Remote Controller Yes (with Mic.)
AV Cable (RCA - 4 pin) Yes (Stereo)
IR Remote Yes
Lens Cap Yes
Cleaning Tape NO
Memory Card NO
PC Cable Yes (USB)
CD-ROM Yes (USB Driver / SD Viewer / G.726 Driver WEB Camera Driver / MotionDV Studio for USB / Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Okay, so I found this site where the MX500B specifications are almost the same template as the one Pany sent out for the GS400:

MX500B Specifications

So, I wondered how they would look side by side. Hence, I added new columns for the MX500B in the GS400 xls file and saved this graphic. I had to place new spec rows where the MX had them and the GS didn't and also placed ??? where I wasn't sure the values were.

GS400 and MX500B specs

Again, the MX500 specs sheet had inaccuracies (like weight = 680g?) so I placed the mx5000 weight of 760. Let me know if you see anything else wrong so I can either fix the values or just take away the chart if it's grossly wrong. :)

I can see where the GS400 can be cheaper as it doesn't come with an SD card and the voice recorder function seems to have been omitted. And what's with the motion picture feature? They left a LOT of empty space there so maybe there's a lot they intend to put later? :) just my thoughts......

More snippets:

What is Pro Cinema Mode? And what this about the wide screen? Will this be the new indie cam for the beginner?

-Nate

It'll be more than that. It's high resolution wide screen. :-))

frank the theory about low light still can't be discounted. you might recall that the reason why the black mumba had 0 lux is because it was in fact the first ever consumer camera with infrared night vision. Lets just keep hoping heh

Justin