Product Description

Panasonic's vision of the digital future is driven by the needs and aspirations of its business customers and millions of consumers around the world who use its products every day. The company shares their dream to live a fuller life by providing ways of working smarter and enjoying the rewards of technological advances.MultiCam camcorders feature digital camcorder and digital still camera capabilities, all in one easy-to-use camcorder.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54553 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: PV-GS12
• Released on: 2004-04-15
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 3.38" h x 2.75" w x 4.38" l, .88 pounds
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• Digital Palmcorder MultiCam camcorder and digital still camera with 680,000-pixel CCD
• 20x optical zoom lens (digital zoom to 800x) and image stabilizer
• 2.5-inch rotating LCD and black-and-white viewfinder
• Low-light recording settings and built-in LED color enhancement light
• Rechargeable Li-ion battery pack lasts for up to 1 hour and 15 minutes

Amazon.com Product Description
Blending innovative technologies with new, simple-to-operate controls, Panasonic's PV-GS12 camcorder is an affordable entry into digital video with powerful features. Panasonic continues to innovate, adding more optical zoom capability while reducing the overall size. This MiniDV camcorder features a 20x optical zoom, ultra-fast 1.3-second start-up time, SD memory card slot for digital stills, and webcam capability.

Optics
The PV-GS12 is equipped with a 1/6-inch, 680,000-pixel CCD and 20x optical zoom It also features a 800x digital zoom that allows you to zoom in on incredible close-ups.

Digital Stills
In addition to shooting video, the PV-GS12 can also capture digital still images up to 640 x 480 pixels--good for sending photos to friends and family over e-mail or posting to your Web site. They are stored to the Secure Digital (SD)/MultiMedia (MMC) memory card slot. The Direct Mode Dial can be used in digital still mode lets you quickly select the desired digital camera mode, such as Record, Playback, Card Record, or Card Playback.

More Features
The 2.5-inch LCD screen can be opened a full 120 degrees away from the camcorder's body, making it easier to view motion images as theyÕre being captured.

The Quick Start feature enables the PV-GS12 to begin taping 1.3 seconds after turning the power on so those unexpectedÊmoments wonÕt be missed.ÊAfter pressing the Quick Start button, the camcorder will bring up the previous settings that you were shooting with--even if they were manually entered.

The Soft Skin Detail function detects the different skin tones being recorded and softens the focus to create a realistic blend.

Other features include:

• The image-enhancing MagicPix feature allows for rich videos under low-light conditions.
• Digital Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) helps take the jitter out of hand-held video recording and compensate for unintentional hand and camcorder movement.
• Web cam capability, which is ideal for video conferencing with friends or family, or use as a simple monitoring device when consumers are away from home.
• The unsnapping hand strap doubles as wrist loops, enabling you to carry the camcorder like a small bag or purse.
• Black and white viewfinder

Inputs and Outputs
The PV-GS12 comes with the standard DV IEEE 1394 port (also known as FireWire; Panasonic refers to this connection as iLink) for a super-fast, lossless connection to a PC or other DV machines.

MiniDV Format
MiniDV is the preferred format for personal and broadcast-quality video, and it is highly regarded for its high audio and image quality. With up to 540 lines of horizontal resolution and minimum color noise, MiniDV delivers a 2 percent clearer picture than analog camcorder formats. This is all delivered on a cassette that's 1/12th the size of a standard VHS tape. A MiniDV tape offers digital recording time of 2 full hours--20 times the capacity of a CD.

Customer Reviews

Great Cam for the price... Nice Job
People have to remember that this is a very affordable ENTRY level cam. It does the job very well. Nice viewfinder, excellent zoom (one of the deepest at 800x) and simple features. This is a beautiful cam at a great price!!! I have not found any drawbacks on transferring or downloading either. Fun also to add zoom lenses and/or wide lenses affordably. Overall a great buy!!!!!! If you believe you are a director, you may need to look into advanced models at much higher prices. Enjoy!!!!!!!!

Great little camera
I bought this camera after having numerous problems with my Sony. Although it is only 4 years old my Sony has been repaired 3 times and broke once again. I paid alot of money for my Sony and was very unhappy with it. So I decided against Sony for this purchase. I may have just had bad luck with them because I know they usually make good products... but to be on the safe side we decided to go with another brand. I did alot of research on the internet for different camcorders. I also went and did alot of store research. I felt all the store employees out for what they felt to be good and how many of the various brands get returned for different reasons. Although the Panasonic was not the most recommended camcorder, it did not get bad reviews either.
After shopping around for sometime and playing with the different camcorders on the market, I went with my "gut feeling" and chose the Panasonic.
After using it a few times, I have to say I LOVE IT! I am so happy with my purchase and am so glad I chose Panasonic.
I have to say I am not real Technical when it comes to all the features it has and will probrably never use 1/2 the features it does have. But the recording quality so far has been excellant! I have no complaints with it being grainy or anything. It is simple to use and weighs less than 1lb. And when you have 2 kids who require a whole suitcase to go anywhere that is a major plus!
All kidding aside though, I give it a 10 on the scale of 1-10. Again it is very simple to use and the quality of the recording is great if not excellant.
This is a great camcorder for anyone who does not want something real technical. The 20X zoom lens it awsome!

Good DV Camera
I've been happy with every aspect of this camera except for one: The night shot mode isn't an infared type deal like some other cameras where the pictures gets that greenish tint but you dont loose frame rates. The night-shot on this camera (MagicPix) turns the shutter speed WAY down so the video becomes very choppy, even with a tripod. The build in LED light works in gain mode, but only for short distances.

Otherwise this camera is great. It hooked right up to my firewire card and Adobe Premiere already had drivers built in for it. the Video and sound quality are excellent, the size of the camera is great, and the features are very straightforward. Plus, if tweaking settings to your liking is your thing, the instruction booklet is very easy to follow. So, if you are going to be doing a lot of VERY low light recording, like I figured that I would, you might want to look at how other brands' night modes perform. Otherwise, this is a great camera for you