Gs-500

[Jacquot]

Okay, I know this sounds odd. I just sold my barely used HVX-200 last week. Great video camera, but as a S16mm film person I just couldn't get a handle on video for real work. Please, no flames --the footage I did with it was great but it's still not film. Plus there were other issues for me like ergonomics , and versatility, archive, and clipping, etc..

BUT --I still want to play around with video and do spontaneous recording. I need a small footprint, run and gun quick-in-the-moment kind of stuff. So, I'm looking at a Panasonic PV-GS500. Yes, I know it's mini-DV but that's fine as I'll only be outputting to SD DVD. And I have a SD702T recorder so my audio will probably never be coming from the camera.

What's the consensus on the GS500? I do need 16:9 but only need SD. And if I ever decided to do on camera audio, is there a BeachTek for XLR? I do realize that here is no headphone output with the GS500.

Video quality is important (and I hear it's okay with this cam) but for me ergonomics (manual control, ease of use) is equally important.

Any advice or suggestions for something else? Can't edit ACHDV, so in consumer vid SD mini-DV or HD HDV is it for me. (and I'm only going to SD DVD anyway).

[Alan H. Chang]

Hey There,

I also purchased a GS-500 with 2 other friends and we're pretty impressed with the quality of it. The quality is probably going to be higher than you expected, at least for me. Downside, you need the Beachtek with the mini-jack output because the GS-500 only has a mini-jack in. It can be threaed underneath the camera so it'll stay put. You can send your feed to the Beachtek and also record backup audio into your 702. No timecode though, as this is a consumer camera. The focus lens isn't that great, more so useless. When you're trying to focus in/out on a subject, you'll get shakes and lose stability of the image rather quickly. What you can do is set focus correctly for each shot and re-focus for the next, but not simultaneously when shooting. As technology grows, mini-dv is kind of old tech compared to harddrive base cameras.

Pros:
Useable on-camera microphone
Image stabilizer is good
Color is good, but needs additional/artificial lighting for better results

Cons:
Not much setting in menu, in terms of lens control
Only a mini-jack input for external audio
Price is a little high compared to today's DVD/HD cameras

[Jacquot]

Hey There,

I also purchased a GS-500 with 2 other friends and we're pretty impressed with the quality of it. The quality is probably going to be higher than you expected, at least for me. Downside, you need the Beachtek with the mini-jack output because the GS-500 only has a mini-jack in. It can be threaed underneath the camera so it'll stay put. You can send your feed to the Beachtek and also record backup audio into your 702. No timecode though, as this is a consumer camera. The focus lens isn't that great, more so useless. When you're trying to focus in/out on a subject, you'll get shakes and lose stability of the image rather quickly. What you can do is set focus correctly for each shot and re-focus for the next, but not simultaneously when shooting. As technology grows, mini-dv is kind of old tech compared to harddrive base cameras.

Pros:
Useable on-camera microphone
Image stabilizer is good
Color is good, but needs additional/artificial lighting for better results

Cons:
Not much setting in menu, in terms of lens control
Only a mini-jack input for external audio
Price is a little high compared to today's DVD/HD cameras

Thanks for your input. I realize there wouldn't be any time code, of course, but figured I would use on camera for any sync and my recorder for ambient later in post. But the focus thing is unfortunate.

I know mini-dv is on it's way out and I'd also prefer recording to solid state of some sort but I guess I felt a HDD camera would be susceptible to knocks; I want something I don't have to worry about banging around. Although it is convenient to record to hard drive and not have tapes on hand.

In the end, this is more for play and experimentation.

Wish there was a high quality, but very small, all manual, unobtrusive, low-light, P2, DVCPro50 camera out there :) An equivalent to a Leica M6 35mm still camera......

Thanks again!