Panasonic PVDV52 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/ 2.5" Color LCD Electronics

Average Rating:

For example:
* If you want digital video editing, buy a good PC/Mac kit like Pinnacle Studio 7(includes 1394 card and user friendly software) and get real movie making capability like background music, sounds, transitions, titles and more.
* If you want a digital still camera, take the money you save here and go buy a real 2-3-mega-pixel camera, don't settle for the .5 -.7 mega pixel you might get with a... camcorder that will only produce a small (3x5) quality digital still.
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Note: Generally speaking a digital camera produces quality stills in correlation with it's mega-pixel rating.
1 mega-pixel = 3x5
2 mega-pixel = 5x7
3 mega-pixel = 8x10
and so on...

*If you still want digital still capability on your camcorder look at the CCD rating and compare it to this correlation chart, to see the quality/size you can expect. This camera is considered a (.7MP) which will only produce quality digital stills from 1x3 up to 3x5.
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For most folks, It is probably more important that a camcorder takes great video - in all conditions and is easy to use.
At these very basic functions the PVDV52 is quite strong.

PROS:
- Might not sound impressive but 680,000 pixel (.7 MP) resolution makes for great video (significantly higher resolution than many similarly price camcorders).
- Solid features: 12/16 bit sound, (EIS)image stabilization, 1394 firewire transfer, external headphone jack & good microphone pickup.
- Good in lowlight recording(one of the best feature sets you will find in a low-end camcorder) - They include: Auto digital lowlight enhancement, dark subject backlight & a external lamp for limited nightime recording (good up to 10 feet).
- Top feed tape: allows you to keep the camera on the tripod, while changing the tape (I challenge you to do that with current bottom feed cameras).
- Separate battery charger: allows you to charge the battery independent of the camera.
- Great quality and value: Panasonic holds 7 of the top 10 spots in Consumer Reports Digital Camcorder ratings for quality, value & reliability.

CONS:
- 10x Optical Zoom is a bit wimpy, though it is on par with most cameras in it's price range. It does however pale in comparison to Sony's 20-25x optical zoom.
- A few extra jacks would have been useful. It does not include: an external microphone jack or auxillary video/audo in or an S-video out (all useful otions).
- You cannot using lowlight recording feature AND image stabilization feature at the same time (a bummer for handheld lowlight recording - if this is important to you, it could be a significant deficiency).

# This a Great Camera for: Folks who want to pay for strong video capability and not all the extras - who want to record at length on a tripod without taking the camera off the tripod to change tapes - Who want significant lowlight recording capability - Who want a very small and light affordable video solution.

# Not such a Great Camera for: Folks who want hot shoe capability (for add on accessories like better microphones and lights)- Don't care about taking the camera off the tripod to change tapes - Want a digital still/memory stick capability (no matter how poor the image quality). Want extended optical zoom capability (beyond 10x)- Want image stabilization AND lowlight recording capability simultaneously.
**For folks in this category you might checkout the Sony TRV340(though it is only .5MP)**

* Note: The PVDV52 will take a digital still but:
1. It is recorded to the tape and not easy to locate for retrieval.
2. The image quality is nowhere near what a standard digital still camera can produce.