Panasonic NV-GS100 still picture quality

[Leo Ho]

Hi Frank,

It is Leo , I bought a Panasonic NV-GS100 from Tokyo last two month ago, It is very great for Video compare with my last Canon IXYDV and Sony PC300. But I fill very disappoint with It's 3 Mega pixel Still picture, Very serious color dispersion. I don't know it is design problem or a defective .How do you think if I return to Panasonic for repair? I just send two picture to you by mail. Could you give me some commen? Thanks!

[Frank Granovski]

Hi Leo!

I see nothing wrong with what you refer to as colour dispersion. Your pics are characteristic of 3-CCD video-cam still capture of an elevated resolution from DV's rather low resolution, which has to use interpolation for reaching these optimum results. If you want improved quality, I suggest buying a still camera; but do keep your great little camcorder for shooting great video. Keep in mind that video is the main function of a video camera, hence, the word, "video." It's like expecting your word processing program to serve as a high-end desktop publishing software package, or a boat to serve your needs as an automobile. So there is nothing to repair, as far as I can see.

[Leo Ho]

Thanks! Frank

[Tavis Shaver]

I was also less than impressed with the 3.1 mpix stills from it, however, the 640x480 stills that it takes are phenomenal. I use my little canon A80 for any still stuff, if you're looking for a reasonably priced digital still with full manual controls i'd highly recommend the A80.

[Bogdan Vaglarov]

I'm digital cam fan however I really like the still picture capabilities of my GS100.

Cons - t he quality is not great and there is fair amount of noise.

Pros - 10x zoom, optical image stabilizer, great macro (compared to my Canon S45). Also strong flash and help from the gain in darker places. I can't achieve acceptible results with my dedicated still cam as I can do often with GS100.

If you print the photos to 15x10cm ratio they still look fine (comparing and knowing which cam took the photos you can say they are inferior though). Only if you watch them full screen on PC is when you can't accept video cam taken pics.

[Leo Ho]

Hi Vaglarov!

I found some GS100 still from a Japanese web site have such sphenomenon, Is your GS100K still have?

http://photo.www.infoseek.co.jp/AlbumPage.asp?m=0&key=963518&un=109529

http://image5.photohighway.co.jp/se-bin/MyPhoto.dll?Vi?p1=j005_813&p2=18562351f8&p3=0jpg&p4=5921821&p5=

[Bogdan Vaglarov]

Leo your second link didn't work but what I saw from the album in the first one is normal for GS100.
As Frank told you the combined CCDs to produce the high resolution image doesn't work as well as single CCD still camera.
What you see on the enlarged picture (viewd in native resolution) is what I refer as 'noise'.

Again I'll say - when you print that at photo lab at normal print sizes (L, 2L max) you can't really see that noise.
Also when you look in your PC photo album aplication you usually don't use the native resolution but fit to screen. Thus the photo is resampled for viewing at lower resolution and the noise is not so obvious.

And again if you are really disturbed from this noise you better get high spec dedicated still digital camera. In such case you might have to pay more than what you did for GS100! (If you go for 10x optical zoom, etc.)

Enjoy your cam! Its primary use is for video. Its big bonus is the decent high resolution still pictures.

[Tommy Haupfear]

If you need a 3 Megapixel still cam 10X optical zoom with optical image stabilzation take a look at the Canon Powershot S1 IS ($450 USD). It even has a 640x480 30fps movie mode with audio.


http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/ca...ew/index.shtml

[Leo Ho]

I found some hint of GS100K still picture. I can take a fair nice picture with low contrast and rich color object such as flower and leaf but avoid some high contrast (Blackd white) edge and also never take indoor picture with very close flash light ( less than two meter of distant from object ).