Panasonic PV GS320

I did extensive research before buying this camera. The critics mention a lack of an external mic jack and headphone jack, and that most controls are menu-based rather than having dedicated buttons for commonly-used features such as backlighting. The manufacturers also removed the inbuilt electronic lens cap.

It's true that external jacks would be nice. Still, I've found the quality of sound from the inbuilt mic to be very good. While the controls are menu-based, they are very logically placed, fast to access, and the joystick is positioned right next to the start/stop button.

Image quality is awesome thanks to the 3CCD's. I've compared the quality to broadcast cameras, such as news broadcasts. In all sincerity, I often can't tell the difference! No doubt, differences would show in dim light since camcorders always struggle with that.

Build quality is fantastic. The camera is solid in the hand and has good balance. Buttons are positive and the LCD screen and tape compartment open & close with reassuring clicks!

The lens takes a 37mm thread. Since my still camera is a 49mm & I have filters for that, I've bought a step-up ring allowing me to have UV and polarising filters on the camera. With the filters being larger, I don't get dark corners in my images.

The one and only downside? It's minimal. The variable zoom. Videographers like to use a super-slow zoom to create interest and drama when filming a fixed image over several seconds. It's so slow, the viewer often doesn't notice that the image is getting closer. The variable zoom doesn't go quite slow enough and it doesn't start and stop smoothly enough - no matter how carefully you manipulate the zoom control. But I can live with that.

The camera features the option of true 16:9 widescreen. However, a word of caution here. The camera does it fine, but for anyone new to it, be ready for some serious headaches in making it work once the video is transferred to DVD. Nerovision and Roxio can't make sense of it. I've tried freeware software downloads that allow me to change the codes after burning to a re-writable - all to no avail. It seems that unless you're willing to spend out on professional burning software so the DVD is properly flagged as 16:9, you won't have success!

I bought this camcorder because I wanted 3 CCD and I didn't want to pay $$$$. So far it's been good. Nice picture, good sound. The color saturation is great - there is definite improvement with 3 CCD's. The menu is fairly easy to use as are most of the features - though some (white balance in particular) require navigating more menus than they should. Now the bad news. To start, it's a bit bulky, especially compared to the newer HDD camcorders. The thumb menu works well, but it takes some getting used to and, as stated above, some of prosumer features aren't available with the thumb menu and really should be. The 10x optical zoom it not enough, frankly, but the pixelization with the digital zoom isn't bad compared to other camcorders I've used. If you want to tape your kids' soccer games you'll need something more powerful, at least 30x. All in all it's the best you can do at this price, unless size is the most important factor. In that case check out some of JVC's offerings.

A 3ccd camera at this price is just AWESOME! I retired my Sony TRV460 Digital 8 camera and got this Panasonic GS320 for a lower price. Unbelievable! It shoots in widescreen, it takes 3.1 mega pixel still images, it's compact (it fits in the palm of your hand), and it has the best picture you'll find in a camcorder at this price range. Sell your old camcorder and buy one of these (or 2 or 3...) RIGHT NOW! I'm gonna buy another one so I can can get multi angle shots when capturing bands at shows, etc...

The camera is very compact and user friendly. The price was great and we are already enjoying the great family movies we have capture. We enjoy all the extra features that are part of this great digital camcorder.