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- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 5 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Vivid colors and clear sound"
Pros: Vivid color, optical image stabilizer, joystick, sound quality
Cons: access to DV port
Summary: This is my third camcorder. I had two Sony before. The first was an 8 mm camcorder, and it recorded nice footage and had a clear stereo sound. The second one, Digital 8 format, was very noisy and the footage was rather grainy. I was disapointed with this model that broke after just over 3 years. I decided to put Sony aside and give a chance to another maker. After looking at reviews on budget camcorder, I decided to go for the Panasonic PV-GS85. I have had it for more that a month now and I am very satisfied with it. I shot under different conditions, both inside and outside. Now that I am more familiar with the model and its different menu options, I really appreciate its video qualities and ease of use. What I like most are the vivid colors it provides, that are fine in automatic mode, but can be significantly improved by simply using the manual white balance option and a small piece of paper as reference. The camcorder is very silent, which is nice for recording music concerts and plays at school. The optical image stabilization system works nicely, even at high zoom (impressive!), whereas the micophone zoom is OK to cut unwanted low noise, but it transforms a nearby conversation into some out of space voices. Still photos are of low quality, but you have them, Overall, I would recommand this camcorder to a friend as it provides very decent footage and clear sound at an affordable price. Great for family home movies
