NV-GS400 Software released on Pana Aus site
 

There is a link for NV-GS400 USB Software to suit Video Streaming (in a 17.10mb zip)

don't know if it will tell you anything about the camera but it's might tell something to those of you that know something.

Pana Australia Camcorder Site

GS400 and NLE
 

Sometime back I was using Pinnacle DV500 with Premiere 6.5
and Liquid Edition 5.5 for NLE. I have now found a much easy/faster
and better NLE solution as follows:

1.Capture GS400 footage a to Panasonic DMR-E60 DVD Recorder(DVD-RAM
via Firewire in realtime rendering with all the hardware assisted
goodies found on the E60. The sound is converted to Dolby Digital
AC3 2 channel.

2.Convert the DVD-RAM VRO format to MPG2 and edit the MPG2
with Womble Mpeg Video Wizard(IMHO the very best mpg2 editor) with
no re-rendering(very fast).

3.Author DVD with DVDLAB.

IMHO with the above combination you have a very easy/fast and
fantastic DVD production system. So who needs Pinnacle or Adobe
any more!.

The finished DVD is just over 2 hour with Dolby Digital sound.

Good news about Australian GS400
 

Just picked mine up a few hours ago (after 2 grueling weeks of waiting)

Anyway, apparently for the Australian model (not sure about other PAL models) we have a proper aspect ratio for the LCD screen. ie 16:9 widescreen is displayed as letterboxed instead of stretched!

That was one of the biggest concerns I had about the camera, but now I'm only disappointed that we don't get a black version :)

Edit: oops, think I got a little ahead of myself, I was in Cinema mode, not 16:9 :p

sorry guys

GS 100,400 make small $$$Toronto Only
 

Hi,

I know there is "helping hand" forum but I couldn't find anybody looking or offering this cam for hire.

I'm looking for 2-3 cameras for Sept. 22 (12:30-3:30pm)


just put it on the tripod press record and go for a walk and come back in 3 hours

$75 per camera/ half a day rate

if you have wirless mic I'll pay more

You can use private email

Thanks
Mike

Royce Hall (MX5000)
 

<1024x748 pic>

http://www.dvuser.co.kr/zboard/data/...8/IMGA0996.jpg

high-speed SD cards in GS-100?
 

Does anyone have experience using any of the newer (i.e., 2004) high-speed SD cards in a Panasonic NV-GS100K or similar camera? I'm wondering if using such a card would reduce the time the camera "freezes" while saving the still image to the card.

GS400 vs Gl2
 

I used to own a GL2, and needed to sell it.

I am now looking at the GS400, how does it compare in image quality and low light to the GL2.

Craig

GS400 and AT822: Anyone w/this combo?
 

I'm considering using an AT822 stereo mic on my GS400. I've read many comments that the AT822 is very sensitive to camera motor noise, etc. My experience with the GS400 is that it's a very quiet camcorder so I'm wondering if this would be a practical combination when hotshoe mounted.
Camera mounting would be the only way I would consider using the AT822, although I would employ some type of sound isolation mount.

Has anyone attempted this successfully? Thanks...

GS400 Camcorder demos in Orlando?
 

Anyone know of any place in Orlando or around central florida that would have a GS400 on site to check out?

The widescreen option and pro-cinema feature, (plus the price), make it seem ideal for shooting music videos and shorts so I'd like to test it out first before I decide to make the plunge and buy it.

Circuit City lists it on their website, but don't seem to carry it in any of their stores around town. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Mx500 life using as a vcr, and problem with nvds28
 

Hi,
I've a problem; I usually use my panasonic nvds28 to capture minidv (recorded with different cameras) to pc from my minidv.
I do this to preserve the life of my mx500. But I have some problems:
Some tape has discontinous audio
Sometimes captured video has a noise peak
Some tapes has audio with a lot of metallic flange
Some captured video has a flash of "white squared dots"
This problems with the mx500 doesn't exist.

what's worng in the ds28?I've cleaned the head but with no result...

So Now I've to use my mx500 to capture the tape that had problems with nvds28 ...BUT how long will be the head life of the mx500 if I will use it in this way?Should will I encounter the same nvds28 problems? could I use the mx for pc capturing or will I encounters problems?

I hope you can help me and I hope you can understand something of my unreadable english..sigh!

Wide-Angle for DV953?
 

I'm looking to purchase a wide-angle lens for my DV953. I have no specific FOV goal, but at least 1.5x the FOV of the lens at 1x zoom would be preferable. As most of you probably know, it has a 43mm threaded mount on the front of the lens. What're my choices in terms of screw-on wide-angle lenses, and where can I buy? I checked out B&H, but they don't seem to carry anything this low-end. Any thoughts on suppliers?

GS400 Sound quality via XLR adapter?
 

I was also curious if anyone has actually used an XLR adapter (like a Beachtek or Studio 1) on the GS400 and how they thought this worked out. (contact quality on the 1/8 jack, noise or interference) I have used these on my GL1, wondered how it performed on the GS400.

Thanks

DVC30 for Skintones, & Color Controls useful?
 

Was wondering how this camera is for capturing caucasion skin tones? Overall color reproduction?

I know the color on this cam isn't as saturated as the GL1 and PDX or even the GS400 (as I am told), but do the color/image controls live up as advertised, such as adjusting the pedestal, chroma and color temp? I am assuming I can ramp up saturation in post if I really want it.

I appreciate any honest input on this. Also,

Someone also said that the GS400 is sharper in 4:3 interlace than DVC30, anybody have any experience with that either?

Brian

AG-DVC30 same as DVC33???
 

I live in china and on the websites here (including panasonic's) they have a cam with the same specs and appearance as the dvc30 but its called the dvc33 (and obviously a PAL version).
Would this be the same cam but just with a different number?
by the way the DVX100 is called DVC180 over here. Weird eh?
Why would they do this but only for some cams, the GS400 is still the GS400, GS120 is still GS120 etc..

how the auto ND filter works
 

http://www.fortvir.net/gallery/DV953/mx500_03?full=1

demo gs400 test run
 

Hey guy took the gs400 to manhattan seems like its not going back so far no motor noise or hiss on the audio going to ge two year mack warranty at bandh thanx for the input to all

GS250 Pix
 

Excuse the violation...

Live in LA and have a Panasonic GS400?
 

Hi,

I wasn't sure what section to put this in, but here it is. I dont know how many any members on this board have been following the development of the Micro35 (www.micro35.com) over the last year? Well, if not, in essence it is a 35mm adapter that has come from a few postings on how to build something to a commercial offering.

I am looking at getting one myself, however James & Brian (the guys behind it) haven't tested it on a GS400 yet. However they are more than willing to test it if they can get there hands on a GS400. Well I live in Australia, so I am a little uneasy about sending my baby through the post to LA.

So I was wondering if there is anyone interested who lives in the LA area who would be interested in teaming up with Brian/James to test the rig out on the GS400?

If your interested drop me an email "info at robertrobertproductions.com", or you can get it from my site @ http://www.robertrobertproductions.com.

Cheers

Robert

GS400 frame mode with FX1's HDV footage
 

Hi, I made a clip using FX1's HDV footage and covered some parts with footage shot by GS400's frame mode. You will be surprised how well it merged in despite the resolution difference.

My blog post about this study (including the links to the video files)

nv-gs50
 

Hi all ..

I have Panasonic camera model nv-gs50 ..

my friends ask me if we can make movies by this mini camera ..

i have cinema software i can put some effects in Snapshot ..

if there any one have experience about how take snapshot in minicam :|

Thank you

Campus Film Fest
 

Wasn't sure where to post this, but figured since I used the GS-150 for most of this project, people might be interested how it looks used on a short film.

A friend and I decided to enter a film contest here at my school last week. We just wanted to see what we could do with a camera, 7 days, and iMovie. We ended taking first place in the competition, which I'm still having a hard time believing. Anyways, just thought I'd make a post here about it since this site has helped me so much in educating me as to what tools are available on a students budget.

Let me know what you guys think

The Incident at Telegraph Hill

NV-MX8 VTR playback failure
 

Hello again,

The saga continues. Two nights ago I was capturing some footage onto my powerbook, my son touched the closed tape transport door VERY SOFTLY and I started getting some heavy banding and horrible screeching sounds.

When I had reset everything, I couldn't capture to the laptop. I discovered that the timecode was not changing on the camera.

After further investigation, I've discovered that the camera has full funcionality in camera mode, and most functionality in VTR mode, except that the motor doesn't engage when I select Play.

Any ideas on this one?

PVGS65 - I'm gonna buy this one...
 

so ive bene meaning to buy a camcorder for ever, and today i will go out and purchase this thing. i know it's not the best out today and for an extra few hundres i could get a 400, but im on a budget due to it being xmas time right now. im a noob to video, so i thought i should start off with something affordable.
i'll be using this camera for:
skateboarding
live local bands
short films
other random stuff.

so, someone tell me. should i buy this camera? or should i just go for an Elura 85 instead? i need some decent low light performance for filming at club shows.

For around $500 I think the PV-GS65 is a great buy and from what I've seen it does noticeably better in low light than the Elura 85. I'm not talking about night and day difference but the colors keep longer in the PV-GS65 in dim lighting and with less noise.

Not sure if it matters but the Elura does offer a higher resolution 16:9 mode.

Good luck and let us know what you go with!

GS250 questions
 

Does this camera have a LANC jack?

Is there a way to prevent the camera from going to sleep when paused?

Does it have real 16:9? I'm really confused about this. I've seen people express doubt about it in previous posts. But the test that Camcorderinfo.com did measured 524.1 horizontal lines of apparent resolution and 219.9 vertical lines in 4:3 mode, compared to 545.1 to 256 in widescreen mode. That sure sounds like real 16:9 to me.

Which is better in low light, the GS250 or the Optura 60? Camcorderinfo.com declared the GS250 the winner, but the Optura 60 has slower shutter speeds available which I doubt they factored into their test. I think that the Optura 60 actually does pretty well at a 30th of a second. Comparing the GS250 (using gain) and the Optura 60 (at a 30th of a second), which camera wins?

Which has more accessible controls, the Optura 60 or GS250?

Which camera has a better contrast range, Optura 60 or GS250?

Nightvision on Panasonic NV GS-17?
 

Hi,

My younger brother got this small ccd-cam for his birthday, but I just CAN NOT figure out how to activate the nightvision function. You know the one where it uses infrared light.

I've browsed alot through the manual, but the only thing I can find is a nightfunction, where the shutter is just cranked way up. Result = alot of light, but unuseable camera.

In front of the camera there's a blue/purple'ish plastic shell covering a bulb of some kind. I definately looks like an infrared function, but maybe it's just IR for a remote?

Can someone please clarify?

Panasonic Battery
 

Okay, I have a pv-dv953 with standard battery. It seems the battery is crapping out. For some reason, it will only take half an hour to charge and then when i put the battery in camera it starts out with about 75% charge and rapidly goes down to 0...what to do..

Is this the battery it came with? If so its probably time for a new one as two years is about max of regular use. I have even less luck with laptop batteries which I barely get 12 months out of.

has anybody successfully changed japanese menu to english?
 

thank's to help from Allan and others in this forum who helped me to decide which cam to buy I own since about a year my first video cam, a japanese Panasonic GS400. I am very happy with it, but I'd be much more so if there was an option to change the menu to English.
Therefore my questions:

- Has anybody successfully changed the menu to English yet?

- Or does anybody have the English manual for the japanese GS400? Yes, manuals specially made for people who cannot read japanese but use the japanese GS200 or GS400 do exist, though only in the form of Xerox copies. They feature the original japanese characters as found on the menus in the cam and translates them to English. When I had bought my cam I was shown such a manual for the GS200, the one for the GS400 was not in stock and I did not order it then because besides having to wait 2 weeks and paying 25 bucks - then - I had thought that I would not need it. It should be much more useful then the manual for the US model NV-GS400 which I am using after downloading from a link given in this forum. It's biggest shortfall being not listing the final options of each menu in it's 'list of menus' as it asumes that one reads them directly on the cam's menu displayed on it's LCD...

If anybody had this manual I would appreciate very much if it could be made available for download.
If not but there are others interested I will try to get it on my next trip to Japan ( which could be still a few months from now ) and to make it available for download.

GS 250 Refurb 570 or New for 745
 

Is it worth it to get the new one with a year warranty for 175 dollars more? You could look at it like the same price as the GS150. Just wondering the deal is at newegg.com? I wish I could get a GS400 but maybe later :-)

Thanks for the great forum!

Computer not detecting my pv dv953
 

I have a Panasonic pv dv953, and I cannot connect it to my computer. I've tried my computer, my friend's computer and my mom's computer with s-video, firewire and usb, and nothing seems to be working. There's a tape in my camera, it's on, set to play, but nothing happens when I plug it into my tower.

It used to work with firewire on my mom's computer, but now it won't work at all. Do the settings need to be set to something specific for it to work?

Panasonic Nv-gs-150 Gc
 

HI EVERYONE WHISH U AL A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
I AM VAMSHI FROM SOUTH INDIA. I AM GETTING IN TO CINEMATOGRAPHY. SO I THOUGHT OF BUYING A HANDY CAM TO TAKE LOT OF SHORT FILMS. AFTER GOING THROUGH LOT OF REVIEWS I BOUGHT GS 150 GC. I TOOK 3 SHORT FILMS IMMEDEATLEY WITH OUT WASTING TIME. I HAVE A COMPUTER IN HOME IN WHICH I HAVE ADOBE PREMIER PRO. MY FRIEND EDITS IT. AFTER EDITING ONE SHORT FILM I NOTICED THER IS SOME QUALITY LOSS IN PICTURE. I CAN SEE PIXELS TO SOME LOW EXTENT. WHY THIS HAPPENS. I HAVE SHOT ALL THESE IN DAY LIGHT IN MANUEL MODE AND AUTO MODE TOO. WITH MEDIUM SHOTS ONLY NOT CLOSE . CAN ANY ONE GIVE ME SOME INFO ABOUT THIS. IF I WANT TO GET THE CLEAR QUALITY OF THE WORKS WHAT SHOULD I DO. WHAT ARE THE THINGS I SHOULD HAVE IN MIND BEFORE SHOOT AND WHAT ARE THE THINGS I SHOULD CONCENTRATE AFTER SHOOT. PLS GUID ME.

U CAN MAIL ME AT focusinn@hotmail.com

thakn u
lov vamshidharan

Just little off topic.

It is quite rude to post your message in capital letters.

Regards
Leigh

43mm Raynox HD 6600; thread size ok?
 

GS400 - Just want to make sure I won't get any rear vignetting by using the 43mm when zooming through? ... In other words is the 43mm a clean fit with no hassles or should I go a bigger mating thread for the Raynox and use a step up ring?

Thanks, Simon

How to set semi-auto mode on DV852?
 

When I switch to manual mode the top level adjustments are white balance, shutter speed and iris/gain.
If I want to fix one item, like shutter, and have the camera auto-adjust the exposure (iris/gain), how would I do that? It does seem to notice the last automatic value before switching to manual and carry it over.
Second if I want an exposure adjustment: say 1 value (3db) above whatever the camera would have chosen automatically while adjusting for any changes in scene brightness - is there a way to do that?
The manual does not go into detail and I wouldn't be suprised if the cam has more options than the manual explains.

Most of the time I can see a good enough workaround: set the gain manually when I begin filming and accept or clean it up later if the light level changes.
If the image appears dark in the viewfinder shoud I lean towards over or underexposure? I'm sure I could darken with an editor; I suspect you can't do much about a shadowed out detail.

I wouldn't have known about the 852 without this board. 2yrs later it's still all the cam I need, though I wish it had IR b+w mode for really dim conditions - b+w with good greyscale nuance can be quite attractive.

btw, if anyone reading wants a 43mm (no adaptor needed) .66 WA lens, Adorama has such. Not the cheapest but it claims no distortion. Same filter is avail in 49 and 52 also.
http://www.adorama.com/RXHD6600P43.html

Which External Light for GS150?
 

Something that doesn't use the camcorder's battery is prefered. Thanks ahead. Budget is flexible.

NV-GS400(PAL) Advice
 

OKay confession time. I spend my time on all these forums because I just enjoy film making techniques etc. I am actually a writer not a technical person. Although if i do say so myself, over the last 2 years here and other sites i do know and understand very much. I digress..

Anyhow, I have never bought a DV cam in my life. Never. So, i am going on holiday this year with my many 35mm adapters which i have bought. So i am thinking of buying a gs400 very seriously, because i think it will be great for an enthusiast/wannabe film maker like me. However can someone answer some questions for me?

1. I am buying the pal version, will it be 25p or 25f. i.e. if it's 25f and deinterlacting fields and not true progressive will it loose resolution?
2. in pro-cinema can i still adjust the shutter speed?
3. is it true 16:9 mode, do i loose resolution if it is not 16:9 mode?
4. is there much motion blur in 25f mode?

What i plan to do with my footage is use a 35mm adapter, shoot a mini documentary for the family on holiday, then crop to 2.35.1

So guys, can you help me?

The PAL version of GS400 is 25fps interlaced. It is not progressive. The Pro-Cinema function records at a rate of 25 frames per second and the manual warns you will get a strobe like effect if you use it.

The ccds produce a native 4:3 720 x 576 picture. Nevertheless the 16:9 mode (also 720 x 576) produces, to my eye, a very acceptable 16:9 picture. I now use it all the time. Note that the 16:9 mode is different from the 16:9 Pro-Cinema and Cinema functions - which are inferior in my opinion. I have never used these other 16:9 functions seriously so I cannot comment on blur. I do not suffer from blur in the basic 16:9 mode.

I have no experience of using a 35mm adapter. My suggestion would be to experiment with the camera as it is before fitting one. It is more important to buy a couple of ND filters and a polarising filter, especially if you will be shooting in bright sunlight.

bigger thread are recommended because of less liklyhood of vignetting.
many use 58mm, I use 52mm thread.

Canon Optura 50 vs. Panasonic PV-GS180
 

I have between $400 and $500 to spend on a digital video camera. I have narrowed it down to the Canon Optura 50 and the Panasonic PV-GS180. I plan to use the camera for production of some educational videos as well as a bit of documentary type work. I will be distributing the videos on DVD and on a web site. I have done a bit of digital video already using a borrowed Panasonic PV-GS15, but I want to move up to a quality of production that viewers can take more seriously.

As far as quality of video, does anyone have any real experience with these two cameras?

I have read some reviews and basically the advantages of the PV-GS180 are that it has 3 CCDs and has slightly better low light performance, while the Optura 50 has a larger image sensor, optical image stabilization, and a focus ring.

In general use in fairly good lighting, which can I expect to produce better quality video? Is one larger sensor better than three? I just want the best quality video for the money. Any input on which would be the better camera would be greatly appreciated as I do not have a way to test them in person. If you know of any other cameras to look at in the price range, I’d appreciate it too. Thanks!