Panasonic NV-GS15B

To treat myself on my upcoming holiday I decided to purchase a Panasonic NVGS15b Digital camcorder to replace my 2 year old JVC GR-DVL 150 this is of a similar set up to the Panasonic just older with a 800 pixel sensor the same as the Panasonic. To help fund my new purchase I sold my JVC, now to my horror I have found that my old JVC would have run rings around it,I personally regret buying this camera, the main reasons I did by it was for the 24 x zoom and the reassurance from my local dealer that it would be way better than my old JVC, in my personal opinion the camera is noticeably cheap with poor picture quality for a DV camera. I have seen better results from HI8's.

However it's all down to personal preference if you have never had a DV camcorder before you may not know any better and be quite pleased with it or if you accept it's faults for it's size and price then you may see it as a fair trade off.

I personally will be looking down the Sony route for my next camera, as I have always found the quality way better especially as they use Karl Zeiss lens.

I had put off buying a camcorder for years, much prefering still photography. As my daughter does more and more things worth capturing (school concerts etc) I took the plunge. The Panasonic NVGS15B Digital Camcorder is just superb. I shortlisted Panasonic and Sony, and the Panasonic won on price and styling, and also because I plan to upgrade my Sony digital camera to a Panasonic Lumix, and I want to share the SD storage cards.

I'm not going to bother listing all the features - you can read them anywhere. I can tell you that within 5 minutes of unpacking the camera I was filming. The image quality is excellent, if a little muted in colour. The sound is as good as you can expect from a built in condenser mic, I have an external mic which I will use for important occasions. The sound quality is a little 'light' but it is very sensitive and effective. Certainly good enough for most uses.

There's no accessory shoe on the top as the older models had, but it does have a built in light which is surprisingly good, although it will obviously impact on battery life. The colour night shot is pretty good, allowing you to shoot in near-dark conditions (why would you want to do that?!)

The fold out screen is very clear and bright and folds out to 120 degrees so it's easy to show other people your recordings. The viewfinder is good enough for the occasional times you need to conserve battery power.

The accessories are very good, remote control, an odd cable remote control like the thing you get with a personal stereo which allows you to control recording without touching the camera (useful if it's on a tripod), TV cable, USB cable. The only thing missing is a DV cable to hook up to a PC which cost me an extra £8.

All in all, a great little camera, very light, easy to use, easy to carry around with you and gives great results.