Digital-Camcorder Reviews

Was lucky enough get in on this one for $219 during last weeks Friday Sale, and good thing I did, as it didn't last long! Works great out of the box, EXCELLENT quality and deals with low light situations nicely. Can connect it to any VCR or computer with S-Video connection (or analog RCA). Still, I probably wouldn't have paid $349 normal price. But it's really nice and very comprable to DV's. And I got a free case, tripod, and cleaning kit!

I own the JVC GR-DV2000U Camcorder (best camcorder I've ever owned). The only disappointment I've had with the camera was its slight underperformance in low light conditions.

This video light takes care of this. It will come on automatically when the ambient light drops too much. A feature wich not only saves batteries but also makes for extremely easy use. You CAN set the light to always on mode (or off), but I never do.

At first I was concerned about the coverage of the light. Don't get me wrong, it is very bright but it's not going to illuminate an entire room and it shouldn't. Besides, it already sucks the batteries, any brighter and your battery life would drop to nothing. The lumination it provides is perfectly balanced for the shooting of video in low light conditions.

The final point I want to make is that this thing is TINY and it looks great mounted on the camcorder.

I did a comparison of the Kenko SGT-20Hi with the Sony VCL-R2037, and the Kenko had the superior optics. Flare and coma were much smaller in the Kenko SGT-20Hi. Looking at Jupiter at night, the Kenko was able to resolve one of Jupiter's moons to a pixel, while with the Sony the moon appeared only sporadically. Chromatic aberration was a bit less in the Kenko. The vignetting that all the telephoto lenses have when the camcorder is in its wide angle zoom was slightly greater on the Kenko.

With a Sony CCD-TR500 camcorder, some telephoto lenses have a problem of being "near sighted"---unable to focus beyond about 50 feet when the camera is zoomed. This problem occurs with the Sunpak CAL-1160 and Kenko SGT-20 lenses, but is not a problem with Kenko SGT-20Hi or the Sony VCL-R2037 lenses, which have enough leeway in the focus to even accommodate far-spectrum red lights.

Save money for other accessories by buying Lenmar batteries and chargers. They work as good as Canon's batteries in my ZR 70 and the run-time is impressive. You won't regret this purchase.

Amazon was the only place I found a battery to replace my original one with a decent price!

I've only had this camera about a week; it is my first camcorder, and I'm 17.

First of all, it is light and compact, very easy to handle. You can acess all the buttons with relative ease one-handed. The viewfinder I use rarely, except when I turn the LCD screen so that the person I'm filming can see what I'm filming. The light is extremely bright. The resoloution I tested on our 45" screen TV, and it is wonderful. This I didn't notice untill yesterday: The LCD screen, of course, can be flipped over so that the screen is facing the subject. What I didn't know is that it can then be clipped back into place. So you can watch what you've filmedehile keeping the camera compact! It has a speaker, and earphone jacks. Everything displayed on the LCD is displayed on the viewfinder when you use it: you can watch your movies through the viewfinder. It doesn't have infared (magic-vue), but it does have magic-pix, which makes everything much brighter as long as there is some light. However, any movement of the camera or the subject is recorder very slow, and this feature isn't one I use. What else...I haven't tested still pictures yet, but I know if you record a still to the cassette instead of the memory card, it records sound with it (about 5 seconds). This feature is cool. You can buy a 120 min (high quality) DV-tape for 10 bucks. In short, I love this camera, although I haven't had it it long. I've never even hooked it up to the computer. But what I've seen, I like. A lot.

Great light for the money. Doesn't blind you when you look at the camera. A must have for the panasonic digital camcorders. Makes darker pictures crisp. The only downside is that I should have bought it two years ago.

This is my first foray into mini-dv,and I picked a winner.I researched every minidv camcorder on the market,and settled on this one because most of the user reviews were positive,and because I have used Panasonic products in the past,with no problems.
The camcorder is very easy to use.The manual explains everything clearly.I shot some video of my puppies and had them going out to family and friends over the internet in a matter of minutes.
Another thing I liked...you can choose the color of the camcorder.Certainly not important technically,but asthetically,it's way cool!!
All in all..I am completely satisfied with this little camcorder and recommend it w/o reservation.
One more thing: This really isn't a still camera,so using it for that purpose won't be very satisfying..I think if it is used on the spur of the moment to capture an unforgettable image,then it works well enough.

This is my first foray into mini-dv,and I picked a winner.I researched every minidv camcorder on the market,and settled on this one because most of the user reviews were positive,and because I have used Panasonic products in the past,with no problems.
The camcorder is very easy to use.The manual explains everything clearly.I shot some video of my puppies and had them going out to family and friends over the internet in a matter of minutes.
Another thing I liked...you can choose the color of the camcorder.Certainly not important technically,but asthetically,it's way cool!!
All in all..I am completely satisfied with this little camcorder and recommend it w/o reservation.
One more thing: This really isn't a still camera,so using it for that purpose won't be very satisfying..I think if it is used on the spur of the moment to capture an unforgettable image,then it works well enough.

This is my first foray into mini-dv,and I picked a winner.I researched every minidv camcorder on the market,and settled on this one because most of the user reviews were positive,and because I have used Panasonic products in the past,with no problems.
The camcorder is very easy to use.The manual explains everything clearly.I shot some video of my puppies and had them going out to family and friends over the internet in a matter of minutes.
Another thing I liked...you can choose the color of the camcorder.Certainly not important technically,but asthetically,it's way cool!!
All in all..I am completely satisfied with this little camcorder and recommend it w/o reservation.
One more thing: This really isn't a still camera,so using it for that purpose won't be very satisfying..I think if it is used on the spur of the moment to capture an unforgettable image,then it works well enough.