camcorderinfo.com review
 

Camcorderinfo.com's official review of the gs400 is on their site. Doesn't say too much about 16:9. I hope dvspot has more to offer.

Did they actually have one to test?

Yes, Robin said she had it with her last night when she asked if anyone had any specific question before she finished the review.

I am also looking forward to the DVspot review.

If camcorderinfo has it right, then maybe Japan got the stripped version: no mpeg4 shown on Pana Japan site's. Robin said the U.S. version does do mpeg4, but does not offer the WB option for fluorescent lighting. Seems an odd trade-off.

But the Japanese get the black version.

<<<-- Originally posted by Patricia Kim : If camcorderinfo has it right, then maybe Japan got the stripped version: no mpeg4 shown on the Pana Japan site's. Robin said the U.S. version does do mpeg4, but does not offer the WB option for fluorescent lighting. Seems an odd trade-off. -->>>

Interesting. My GS400 does not have MPEG4 for sure.

Personally, I would wanna have WB option than mpeg4 (I usually converted by the software anyway) and mepg4 option is on my GS100, so turn out to be okay for me.

So does the Japan GS400 have the option to WB for fluorescent lighting? My GS100 does. I agree with you, I'd rather have the WB options. It just seems strange to send out a cam of the quality of the GS400 that can WB except for fluorescent lighting.

hey amigos, you figure ! camcorderinfo.com pulled, as of today, their review on the gs400- they must have been reading our posts !

Just for the record. I used the mpeg4 option on my mx500 and it wasn't worth the trouble. 10fps choppy crap that wasn't worth the time to record it. I was trying to record my sons graduation so I could send it out to the net immediately. I purchased a large (256mb) memory stick just for that purpose.

Waste of time.

As far as I can tell, the gs400 review is still up at camcorderinfo. I'm wondering if they got a prototype that may still be "fixed," or a sample of what will really be on U.S. shelves next month. Lessening the WB flexibility sounds like a step backwards.

Mpeg4 on my gs100 was excellent - but only usable with WMP - not good for a Mac user - never found a way to edit footage, which was a shame, as I would have loved to drop a couple of bits into a larger video, movie-in-movie mode. I sent a sample to an acquaintance who uses the cam - he told me afterwards he had started telling friends not to hesitate to use it. That said, mpeg4 recording capability is not a key feature for me. I'd rather have better resolution and low light shooting capability - and great optical image stabilization.

It was definitely off for part of the day and it looks longer- my imagination ?

For the fluorescent lighting preset, see this thread.

<<<-- Originally posted by Patricia Kim : So does the Japan GS400 have the option to WB for fluorescent lighting? -->>>

Yes, it does.

Well, then, here we go again. The NA version (and PAL, too, from what the brochure says) are not the equivalent of the Japan domestic version. I wonder why. So many of us who shoot indoors end up dealing with fluorescent lighting at one point or another, and often it's not a matter of choice. Bummer.

It will probably have WB setting mode usinc white object. But you might have to carry around white paper.

Kaku, do you know that I actually have a WB card? Great if you have time to set up (or have 4 hands, two to hold the card in place and two to hold the cam in place). Not good if you are running in from outdoors and have to shoot immediately (happens a lot when what you do is family events).

I should buy that from B&H (lol).

GS-400 not good for photo ?
 

I'm surprised with this affirmation, at this time i was taked more than 10,000 photos with my GS-100, especially in tele-macro mode and i'm very happy with the result.

Is there a better photo quality with a 1 cdd camera ?

Re: GS-400 not good for photo ?
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Jean Pepin : I'm surprised with this affirmation, at this time i was taked more than 10,000 photos with my GS-100, especially in tele-macro mode and i'm very happy with the result.

Is there a better photo quality with a 1 cdd camera ? -->>>

Did it say that in the review? I also mentioned that I am not interested since my Nikon Coolpix5000 takes fab. photos, but someone who takes both photos and video, GS400 comes in handy. Espcially, with GS400, you can be shooting video on the tape and at the same time, you can shoot still photo on the memory card. But it is limited to when you are shooting 4:3, not in the wide or procinema mode. So, unfortunately it is useless because I stricktly shoot in wide or procinema mode.

Did it say that in the review?
 

He said :

Typically, we just recomend that you get a dedicated still camera. I still think you should get a dedicated camera, but the stills from the PV-GS400 are quite good.

Who i interprete for a pejorative qualification.

This is why i ask the questions:

A dedicated camera do really better pictures ?

Is the 3ccd have an influence on photo quality too ?

Any 4MP digital camear (with a true 4MP CCD/CMOS sensor) will blow the doors off the GS400 for still performance. Remember that the GS400 has three 1.07 MP CCDs and uses pixel shift/interpolation to achive its maximum resolution. You'll probably get better results by staying closer to the native resolutions of the 1.07MP CCDs. Maybe some 1280x960 or 1600x1200 stills would look better.

I loved the 640X480 stills on my GS100 when in a pinch but I've always had a seperate still cam for quality photos.

RE : Any 4MP digital camera
 

At first view, technically it look evident that 1 ccd with more pixels do better than 3 ccd with interpolation. But i'm not ready to say any camera, because i saw lot's Camera from 3 to 5 mp having poor quality pictures.

I think the subject is more complex and there is variety of factor, like lens, Dmax, etc. The best way is to compare the result for the same subject with these different medium.

At this time i cannot, because i'm not interested by the 1CCD devices, maybe in the future when it will appear the real still camera ;-)

I haven't but thats not to say they don't exist. I guess I should mention on digital cameras over $300USD with optical zooms.

I've owned the Canon G2, Sony F717, and Canon 10D and there is no competition whatsoever from any camcorder on the market today.

Here is a low light still from my 6MP Canon 10D.

Click here

Here is an outdoor shot from my 3MP DV953

Click here