Panasonic PV-GS85 Mini DV Camcorder

yanweizhuang... from TX

Member Since
Jul 2005

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User has 15 Days of experience with this product

Good camcorder

Strengths:

Easy to use.USB conncetion to PC. With built-in light.

Weaknesses:

Have to take off the battery when downloading images to PC

Posted Dec 3, 2007 - This is the second camcorder I bought-the first is a SONY HC28. I got it on Thanksgiving holiday as a gift to my parents. At the price around $200.00 it is a pretty good choice. The image is clear and sharp. The built-in light can improve the performance at low-light especially indoors. Although it is larger than SONY HC28, it is not too heavy to hold. It supplies the USB connection to PC which is very convenient to download the images. You can also use SD card as the media. I highly recommend this camcorder.the only shortage is that you have to take the battery off when downloading images to PC.

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User has 2 Years of experience with this product

converting to disc

Strengths:

32x optical zoom is great for wild life. and you can take stills while recording and take stills while watching the video

Weaknesses:

hard to convert to disc

Posted 1 year ago - I would like to knw how to copy the "cassette" video to disc. I've used the dv port to firewire but can only watch the video, not record or save it. HELP!

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zhisc from NY

Member Since
Jan 2005

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User has 7 Days of experience with this product

decent camcorder

Strengths:

Compact size, Still Picture feature, Stabelizer, zoom

Weaknesses:

can't charge the battery while using the camcorder, all output ports are located BEHIND the battery, so-so performance in the dark

Posted Dec 5, 2007 - The GS-85 is a decent camcorder at entry level. The tele-zoom is very quiet and image stabilizer works very well. I am satisfied with the video quality for outdoors. However, pictures look terribly dark for indoors. When I connected the camcorder to my SONY LCD, the picture looked brown and dark…The biggest turn-down for me is actually not the poor performance at night/indoor, but the STUPID battery charger. You can NOT use the camcorder while charging the battery and all the outputs are located BEHIND the battery!! I have never used its webcam feature, and still don’t get the point of using such a $200 camcorder as a cheap webcam. It just doesn’t make any sense for me. Over all, it’s a decent camcorder for the price I paid. But for little bit more money, you can get a better one.

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khundeen from WA

Member Since
Sep 2007

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User has 30 Days of experience with this product

Great camcorder for the price

Strengths:

Pro: VDO quality, Sharp LCD, External Horse shoe, Zoom Mic, Built-in light, and Webcam capability

Weaknesses:

Heavy, Can't charge battery while connect the DC jack to the camcorder, Optical Image Stabilizer

Posted Nov 7, 2007 - Before I decide to get this camera, I compared it against Canon zr 800&830, and JVC GR-D750&770. You can find more detail at www.camcorderinfo.com/.... I have budget for $200-250 and this camcorder seems to beat the others. I like the image quality of the camcorder as well as the features. It doesn't pick up much of the motor & zoom nice like the canon. The GS-85 is a very decent camcorder. It works right out of the box (after charing the battery) if you use Windows XP. The webcam feature works with MSN right away. The overall video quality is great and it has very decent LCD. It is only model of the same class that has an optical image stabilizer feature. It is good if you use tele-zoom often. It seems to have decent low-light performance, and the build-in light helps a bit. However, you can always get external light to put on it's external horseshoe.

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miamiflp from FL

Member Since
Nov 2005

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User has 1 Week of experience with this product

Very good standard definition camcorder

Strengths:

OPTICAL image stabilization, 34x zoom, MiniDV format, native widescreen mode, thumb dial menu system.

Weaknesses:

digital stills have very low resolution (640x480), low-light performance,

Posted Nov 29, 2007 - I needed a camcorder soon, but I wasn't willing to fork over $700+ for an HD camcorder that I really want (Canon HV20). I chose this model because it was recommended model for 2007 by a trusted review site (camcorderinfo.com) and it would suffice for now. I've only had it for a few days, but that's all I need to tell if it is good or not. I was able to upload video via firewire to my PC using Ulead VisualStudio 11 Plus (learning this powerful program is going to take much longer!). It recognized the cam right away and I was controlling which scenes to capture. I had several requirements when I was searching for a camcorder: - Must have a favorable review from camcorderinfo.com - Must use MiniDV tapes - Must have *optical* image stabilization I was leaning towards getting a hard drive-based cam, but I decided against it because of format incompatibilities and image-degrading compression rates. MiniDVD tape is a good way of backing up RAW video without depending on a PC or external hard drive. If we were on vacation without a PC, we would be limited by an HDD cam's available space. MiniDVs are available at any store's electronic department. Image stabilization is absent on many basic camcorders these days, but thankfully Panasonic includes it. Optical is better than digital image stabilization from what I have read. At the long range of the zoom, the IS seems to have a mind of its own sometimes, but it does the job well overall. If you are looking for a dependable basic camcorder, look no further than the Panasonic PV-GS85.

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yuan107

Member Since
Oct 2007

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User has 6 Months of experience with this product

Great small camcorder

Strengths:

small, very easy to use, large LCD display, good image quality

Weaknesses:

no date information when you burn the DVD

Posted 1 year ago - We bought this camcorder for our little girl. It is affordable and reliable. The image quality is better than many other camcorders I tried before. The good thing for this camcorder is you can use it as a super high quality web cam. So you can buy a camcorder and web cam for 200 bucks!

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BranRob

Member Since
Apr 2008

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User has 7 Months of experience with this product

Great Camera

Strengths:

Great Quality, Still Pictures, 32x Zoom, Optical Image Stablization (OIS), good internal mic, built in light, good low light filming

Weaknesses:

Remove battery to charge/capture to computer, no mic input jack, slower zoom,

Posted Apr 8, 2008 - My friend and I film short comedy videos and we put them on Youtube. When you upload a video to youtube, they convert the file to their own format with specific resolution, so if you were to save a video in HD format, you would loose quality. But with proper lighting, and auto color correcting, it looks great even on Youtube. This is a great camera. My only problem is there is no input jack for external mics. But this camera does have good internal mic. removing the battery to charge isnt a big deal, it actually saves space cause you can put your camera away while it charges. Overall its a great camera and with proper lighting, the quality is awesome for something this affordable. Im glad I bought this. I recomend it for anyone on a budget. But beware if you might want to get an external mic in the future.

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p_balasubram... from OH

Member Since
Dec 2005

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User has 2 Months of experience with this product

Good for price

Strengths:

Easy and convenient to us,great optical image stabilizer Good video quality

Weaknesses:

The battery needs to be removed to connect USB to the computer

Posted Feb 5, 2008 - Overall, it is good, The Panasonic PV-GS85 is a serviceable budget camcorder, The PV-GS85 also has an SD card slot for recording stills. Colors looked neutral and accurate, and footage was relatively clean and free of grain. the PV-GS85 has a built-in video light--so you won't be left totally in the dark, when shooting in the dark

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wuli_masters from PA

Member Since
Aug 2005

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User has 2 Days of experience with this product

Good camcorder (great for the price)

Strengths:

Amazing Zoom, great optical image stabilizer Good video quality Nice small led for low light

Weaknesses:

Bad stills resolution A bit plasticy. Wrist band location doesn't hold hand correctly.

Posted Dec 12, 2007 - All in all I am very pleased with this camcorder. For this price you can't match the zoom with optical image stability. The video quality is very nice (not professional - but what do you expect from this price). This is probably the last year (or maybe two) that DV Camcorders will be around, but you get great quality for low price. Much easier to work with compared to DVD camcorders. + Good video quality + Great zoom with OIS (optical image stabilizer) + Led for night work very well although it is so small. - Low still resolution - but i don't really use it anyways. - Wrist strap isn't really comfortable - but better than the Canon ZR800,830,850 that is built on the cassette cover. But this camera if you want an inexpensive good quality, budget camcorder. Don't buy if you need special inputs like mic input and want modern media like HDD. All in all great buy in my opinion

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32x Opt, 1000x Dig, 2.7" LCD - MPN: PVGS85

Good camcorder

converting to disc

decent camcorder

Great camcorder for the price

Very good standard definition camcorder

Great small camcorder

Great Camera

Good for price

Good camcorder (great for the price)

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