Jefft
21-02-2004, 18:20
I was looking forward to receiving this camcorder to replace a Canon MV400i. I thought that being a newer model and carrying the Panasonic name the performance would be much better but I was very disappointed.
Having a black and white view finder is a waste of time as you have to use the colour monitor all the time which is a pain. The Canon, 3 years older, has a colour viewfinder and is in the same price bracket. My main reason for replacing the Canon was for an improvement filming in low light unfortunately the Panasonic was worse with a very noticeable multi coloured mushy grain ruining the picture. The colour night scope feature is totally unusable as any slight movement results in severe smearing of the picture, this only useable if both you and your subject remain absolutely still. Increasing the gain results in very jerky pictures. My older Canon has grain on the picture under low light conditions but not as bad and not multi coloured. Increasing the gain does cause jerkiness of the picture but no where near as bad as the Panasonic. The play back buttons are located behind the pop out monitor which is inconvenient as I like to push the monitor back into the body to watch playback. The Canon has these buttons conveniently above the screen. I did not get as far as trying this camcorder in daylight as the major snags resulted in it being boxed back up and returned to the supplier straight away. I paid £288 but even at this price I was very dissapointed and gladly sacrificed the postal charges to be rid of it.
Come on Panasonic I can't believe you have put your name on this inferior product.
Having a black and white view finder is a waste of time as you have to use the colour monitor all the time which is a pain. The Canon, 3 years older, has a colour viewfinder and is in the same price bracket. My main reason for replacing the Canon was for an improvement filming in low light unfortunately the Panasonic was worse with a very noticeable multi coloured mushy grain ruining the picture. The colour night scope feature is totally unusable as any slight movement results in severe smearing of the picture, this only useable if both you and your subject remain absolutely still. Increasing the gain results in very jerky pictures. My older Canon has grain on the picture under low light conditions but not as bad and not multi coloured. Increasing the gain does cause jerkiness of the picture but no where near as bad as the Panasonic. The play back buttons are located behind the pop out monitor which is inconvenient as I like to push the monitor back into the body to watch playback. The Canon has these buttons conveniently above the screen. I did not get as far as trying this camcorder in daylight as the major snags resulted in it being boxed back up and returned to the supplier straight away. I paid £288 but even at this price I was very dissapointed and gladly sacrificed the postal charges to be rid of it.
Come on Panasonic I can't believe you have put your name on this inferior product.