I will be buying one of these camcorders. The Panasonic DV953 looks a lot better on paper and reviews have been mostly glowing. There are many people that believe that the DV953 gets very grainy in low light. There are many complaints from users at cnet regarding this camcorder and low/dim light. In the camcorderinfo forums there are also complaints while some people say it is not too bad.

PC Mag says "It produced very good digital video and still-image quality under optimal lighting conditions, but quality suffered in dim light. This makes the PV-DV953 an affordable option for experienced videographers with a knowledge of lighting techniques and exposure adjustments but a poor choice for point-and-shooters."

The review on camcorderinfo says:
"In color representation the PV-DV953 blows away the DCR-TRV70 and DCR-TRV80 - the colors look much better. In low light situations, the PV-DV953 and the DCR-TRV70 and DCR-TRV80 are much closer, with the DCR-TRV70 and DCR-TRV80 taking a slight edge. The DCR-TRV70 and the DCR-TRV80 are solid camcorders however when you bring all the factors together, there is no question in my mind about picking the Panasonic PV-DV953 over the Sony's."

Is there only a slight difference between the TRV80 and DV953 in regards to low/dim light? It seems odd that there are so many complaints but yet the review says there is only a slight difference. I'm probaby shooting 2/3 of my video indoors. We have incandescent lights. My old camcorder (TRV10) worked fine indoors.

I don't want to have to worry about using additional light. I also don't want to worry about adjusting gain. The TRV950 is out of my budget. I want to be able to shoot video that will look great and not have to worry about shooting most the time but also being able to tweak it when I want to.

Please help! Is there anyone out there that has used both? Any comments?

Thanks!
Flip

In my opinion, the PV-DV953 is certainly a much better cam than the TRV80. Plus its price is a steal at the moment. The TRV950's lux requirement is only slightly better than that of the 953. These are all good cams, however. If you can, go have a look and try them before deciding. In the end, it is you who has to decide.

There are pictures over at http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/urltrurl?lp=ja_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww4.big.or.jp%2F%257Ea_haru%2Fexknow2003%2FNo8%2Findex.html.

I'm too lazy to look, but low light comparisons are there.