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Panasonic DV / MX / GS series Assistant
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Old September 12th, 2004, 10:55 PM   #31
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Some prices from 5 days ago from the duty free area in Heathrow Airport

HC1000 - £1106
GS200 - £850
PC330 - £1191
MVX20I - £680 (=Optura 30)

The prices are excl. VAT. The camcorders are PAL. The store (Dixon´s) had not yet gotten the GS400.
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Old September 12th, 2004, 11:44 PM   #32
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Forgot to mention that B&H now also has the NV-GS400 in stock - at about $200 more than the PV version.
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Old September 13th, 2004, 06:36 AM   #33
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<<<-- Originally posted by Claus Olesen : Forgot to mention that B&H now also has the NV-GS400 in stock - at about $200 more than the PV version. -->>>

What's the difference between them?


Carlos
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Old September 13th, 2004, 06:57 AM   #34
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Thanks for your explanation, Allan. Quite enlightening.

Let me ask a bit more on this LCD touch panel access.

You can only make adjustments using the flippable 2.5" LCD screen or you can also use the eye viewfinder and other buttons?

My plans when buying any of these cameras is to buy a 7" or more external LCD viewfinder (probably Panasonic's), so it would be more practical to do adjustments in a different way, if possible.

About the wide-screen mode, how do they compare? The GS400 seems to take advantage of real 16:9 CCDs, very much like the PDX10 does, but I wonder if the HC1000 does any of that.

About the unavailability of Pro-cinema and frame modes, I am not sure that would be a problem for potential film projects. My understanding of the former is a bit obscure yet to see if it could be of any use. In fact from what I have read they do not seem to help there and seem more like a thing for someone who wants to see a film effect on his home videos. Am I wrong?

The internal adjustments you mention seem fine to me, though that using the same ring to zoom and focus sounds a bit compromising. How do you do if you need to focus while you are zooming, which is quite common?


Carlos
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Old September 13th, 2004, 09:42 PM   #35
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...You can only make adjustments using the flippable 2.5" LCD screen or you can also use the eye viewfinder and other buttons?

Except for manual zoom, manual focus and backlight compensation, all adjustments are done through touch-screen menu. Tiny viewfinder is available but I haven't tried it yet because it induces dizziness in me :-) I wonder if blink control VF is now under development (LOL).


...About the wide-screen mode, how do they compare? The GS400 seems to take advantage of real 16:9 CCDs, very much like the PDX10 does, but I wonder if the HC1000 does any of that.

Based on available info in the net and as far as my eyes can detect, they are very similar (both cams don't make people look super wide-bodied, both cams don't simply put black bars on the top and bottom area of the screen, there is a marked increased in horizontal angle of view compared to 4:3, and there is no visible loss of clarity). Except for the Canons, I have not actually seen better implementation of 16:9 for this cam level. I haven't found any data on their respective resolution under widescreen, unlike the new Canons which boast 1.5MP/1.23MP resolution under HQ widescreen


...About the unavailability of Pro-cinema and frame modes, I am not sure that would be a problem for potential film projects. My understanding of the former is a bit obscure yet to see if it could be of any use. In fact from what I have read they do not seem to help there and seem more like a thing for someone who wants to see a film effect on his home videos. Am I wrong?

As far as my home-video dad needs are concerned, I'm most pleased with widescreen interlaced mode. I never find the need to grab frames, procinema is dim and jerky for my liking, and I feel frame mode is rather bright and tend to reduce contrast. On the other hand, Procinema and frame mode certainly give home video an interestingly different look. Did you happen to see those samples from a Japanese magazine that I uploaded to Guy's site and made available for a short period? Those samples seem to show procinema as the better mode. What about Kaku's samples? Well I don't know and for sure, I'm in no position to comment whether this kind of cam is good enough for film projects. The GS400 and HC1000 are the best consumer cams in the market right now but I would be most interested to find out how much performance real pros can squeeze out of them.



...The internal adjustments you mention seem fine to me, though that using the same ring to zoom and focus sounds a bit compromising. How do you do if you need to focus while you are zooming, which is quite common?

Set the ring function to manual focus mode then use the zoom rocker on the rotating grip for zooming in and out, or, set focus to auto :-). A few more impressions about the controversial rotating grip. Copied from JVC/Sharp or not, IMHO, I think it's one feature (or a variant - depending on your shooting angle, I think it would be nice if the grip can rotate from 0 position towards the other direction as well) I'd like to see in future Pany cams. It Does work well in allowing a shooter to find his most comfortable grip. At the default position, stress on the palm and wrist is pretty bad due to the heavy front of the HC1000. However for every slight turn of the grip, you can actually feel the relief and gradual improvement in cam balance. In fact, I feel more comfortable holding the HC1000 with the grip rotated at approx. 45 degrees compared to the long-bodied GS400 and I would dare claim that it would be less tiring to shoot with the HC1000 at that position for a long time compared to GS400, despite having more weight. That is not to say that GS400 is not ergononically designed but the previous GS100 has a more balanced feel, most probably due to the discrepancy in size of the lens block between the GS400 and GS100.
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Old September 14th, 2004, 07:18 AM   #36
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Thanks, Allan.

My main concerns are now with that touch-screen system as being the only option to handle menus.

IMO they might be prone to get deffective soon enough and that would be an expensive thing to repair.

I will find out (where?) more about this Sony touch screens and see how they behave in the long run. Do prosumer models like the PD150/170 or VX2000/2100 use them too?

About quality pro-like results you can get from the GS400 or HC1000 I will get back here with comments about them when I get to do some tests.



Carlos
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Old September 17th, 2004, 08:51 AM   #37
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Now finally I, for the first time, held the Pana GS 200 and GS 400 in my hand, in Bangkok, where the PAL versions cost around 900 and 1200 Euro, if I remember correctly. I must say that I had a hard time to have the GS 400 comfortably in my hand.
Just now in Kathmandu I had tried out the Canon MVX3i and MVX10i, or Optura XI and Optura 500. I liked the feel of the MVX3i, but it is an rather old model by now, and one cannot zoom with a ring on the lens, is that correct? I really liked this on the GS 400.
The MVX 10i is so small and light...I must say attractive because of that, since I do a lot of travelling.
Well, the main point of my post however is: prizes here in Nepal are very attractive for PAL models ( also for digital still cameras )
They are the european models with european warranty, and the Optura XI cost 900, the Optura 500 850 Euro.
tempting....!
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Old September 17th, 2004, 09:01 AM   #38
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I had the Optura Xi but only kept it for one month after finding out about its poor low light performance (and auto focus in low light). I also found its contrast ratio to lacking compared to the past Pana 3CCD DV953 and GS100.

I have yet to get my hands on a GS400 so I cannot comment any further other than to say it appears to be better than my past DV953 and GS100.
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Old September 17th, 2004, 03:50 PM   #39
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Andreas, FYI - I just saw that amphotoworld has the nv-gs400 for $1149. Not bad if it doesn't come with any catches.
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Old September 19th, 2004, 11:48 PM   #40
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Wow, not a bad price. In Singapore, the PAL GS400 costs around SGD$2000 (i.e. about USD$1175).
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Old September 20th, 2004, 04:29 AM   #41
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A&M Photo World?

I wouldn't wish that on anyone!

Please research any company before making a big purchase like this.

I always recommend Resellerratings.com and here is the direct link for A&M. It ain't pretty!

Click here

Here is the list of DV Info's sponsors: Click here
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Old September 20th, 2004, 06:06 AM   #42
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das Gemut---I found both the GS200 and GS400 extremely easy to hold, unlike my MX300; and I have small hands. Guten tag. :-))
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Old September 20th, 2004, 09:26 AM   #43
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Frank, more German please! ;)

If anybody is interested to hear my opinion, I also find my GS400 very easy to hold, it could even be a bit taller. I only wish the zoom rocker would be a real rocker and the other direction, from front to back instead of the small slider from right to left.

Gute Nacht! ;)
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Old September 20th, 2004, 08:31 PM   #44
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Tommy - "A&M Photo World?...It ain't pretty!" - Yes, I saw that too after posting here. I should have checked first. Does indeed sound like a nightmare and something to stay far away from. How they still can be in business with a rap sheet like that is beyond me. The price difference is not worth the trouble. Besides, I have a feeling that that price might be without the standard accessories - if they honor it at all.
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Old September 23rd, 2004, 02:07 AM   #45
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It's autumnal equinox and a national holiday in Japan. I went out with absolutely no plans of buying anything but went home with my own Black GS400. Wasn't planning to buy until around 10 October but found a deal too hard to resist. Now it's time to let go the black mamba to my close relatives.

For those even remotely interested in the Japanese GS400, there is a special sale in one of my sources until 26 September 2004. Price shipped to NA is down to only $930!
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