An Impressive Camcorder
Written: Oct 25 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Packed with features, excellent picture quality
Cons: Kind of pricey
|
|
|
| weslake's Full Review: Panasonic PV-DV400 Mini DV Camcorder |
I needed a camcorder because in a few short weeks I will be a first time daddy. If I did not have a camcorder, then I would forever be regretting that I did not capture special moments on video. Hence my camcorder shopping began...
I came across the Panasonic DV-400 at Future Shop on Oct. 22, 2000, and it was marked at $1499 Cdn ($1000 USD). The features that were packed into this little unit blew me away when compared to a lot of other camcorder priced at about the same. I bought it for $50 less than the marked price, plus a free DV tape, and, because of a special Panasonic offer at the time, a free remote control, light, and software.
This camcorder has 500 lines of resolution, night vision, an 18X digital zoom, all kinds of special recording features (such as thinning, strobe, mosaic, etc.), digital still camera capability with a memory card for the photos, IEEE, a 3" LCD, stabilization, etc. etc. etc.
When I was testing the camera, I zoomed onto words written on a sign with the bright sun shining in the background. Usually this makes it so that the only thing that can be seen is the sun and everything else in the picture is dark. Not so with this camcorder. Every single word on the sign could be read with ease. I also used the camcorder as a microscope, filming things that were millimetres from the lens - and it was all crystal clear!
The manual with this unit is thick. Be prepared to do a lot of reading just to understand all of the features that are packed into this unit. It is very well written and generally easy to understand.
Filming is simple. Drop in a tape, turn the camera on, point, and click the big red button. The same button is also used to pause recording.
Transferring the recorded home movie to the computer was quite simple too. I have a firewire on my computer, so all I had to do was start up the software, press the Play button on the camcorder, and then press the Record button on the software.
I am very impressed by the quality of the video. Watching the action on my computer screen it almost felt like I was there in person. The sound is really good too. Panasonic has put the microphone on the front of the camera below the lens - which is a great idea. The microphone picked up all the sounds.
I am glad I bought this camcorder! It is absolutely packed with features and is simple to use (provided you have a lot of patience to read through the manual). Definitely looking forward to capturing many special moments on film over the next few years.
I give this camcorder a 4.5 out of 5. That is simply because I never give 5's.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
weslake
|
|
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 2 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.