GS70 vs. GS120: Anyone know the difference? at DVinfo.net

Dave Largent · February 3rd, 2005, 03:16 AM

I notice the 120 gets mentioned quite a bit,
but you don't hear much about the cheaper
70, even though they appear to have the
same specs.
What's up?

Frank Granovski · February 3rd, 2005, 04:00 AM

The older GS70 is more like the newer GS200. The GS120 is stripped down. For spec differences go to Vincent's site found on my links page.

Dave Largent · February 3rd, 2005, 05:24 AM

Thanks for the link, Frank.
As far as the specs at Vincent's, it said the GS70
and the GS120 were the same at 290,000 effective
video and 1280X960 stills. The GS200 was listed
at 440,000 effective video and 1760X1320 stills.
Need to make a purchase soon to replace the
Panny 53s I wrote about earlier that went out on me
and I'm needing to choose between the GS70
and the GS120. Anyone know what the
difference is between these two?

Frank Granovski · February 3rd, 2005, 05:57 AM

The GS120 is more stripped down than the GS70, as far as I can recall. So I think the GS70 is better. I didn't know you can still buy the GS70. Why not go with a GS200? That's a beautiful little cam.

Dave Largent · February 3rd, 2005, 06:37 AM

Because the 120, having fewer pixels, is better
in low light -- and I've seen the online
shots that demonstrate this fact.

Frank Granovski · February 3rd, 2005, 07:42 AM

You may want to read this thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...ght=GS70+GS120

Regarding "low light," perhaps try and find a used PV-DV852?

Dave Largent · February 4th, 2005, 10:51 AM

I came across a Russian site that had comparison
frame grabs of the 70, 120, and 200. Interestingly,
the 70 is the most light sensitive of the three,
followed by the 120, and then followed by
the 200. The 70 at +12 dB was as bright as
the 120 at +18 dB! (So would that equal
one f-stop?)
Thing I noticed is that the 120 at +18 didn't
look any worse than the 70 at +12 as far as
grain is concerned. And one thing I did
notice in the frame grabs of these cams at
the mentioned settings is that the 120
is noticeably sharper. So, overall, I liked
the 120 better.

Dave Largent · February 6th, 2005, 04:26 AM

Here's that site. It's in Russian but I used babelfish
and was able to understand it okay.

http://www.videomax.ru/tests/index9.html

Really thorough tests: resolution, colors,
low light, even have video showing
image stabilization. I was surprised to see that
the image stabilization worked so well.

The one cam in the comparison, NV-GX7,
is a 1CCD (1/4") cam.

February 3rd, 2005, 03:16 AM	#1
Dave Largent Trustee Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,483	GS70 vs. GS120: Anyone know the difference? I notice the 120 gets mentioned quite a bit, but you don't hear much about the cheaper 70, even though they appear to have the same specs. What's up?

February 3rd, 2005, 04:00 AM	#2
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	The older GS70 is more like the newer GS200. The GS120 is stripped down. For spec differences go to Vincent's site found on my links page.

February 3rd, 2005, 05:24 AM	#3
Dave Largent Trustee Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,483	Thanks for the link, Frank. As far as the specs at Vincent's, it said the GS70 and the GS120 were the same at 290,000 effective video and 1280X960 stills. The GS200 was listed at 440,000 effective video and 1760X1320 stills. Need to make a purchase soon to replace the Panny 53s I wrote about earlier that went out on me and I'm needing to choose between the GS70 and the GS120. Anyone know what the difference is between these two?

February 3rd, 2005, 05:57 AM	#4
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	The GS120 is more stripped down than the GS70, as far as I can recall. So I think the GS70 is better. I didn't know you can still buy the GS70. Why not go with a GS200? That's a beautiful little cam.

February 3rd, 2005, 06:37 AM	#5
Dave Largent Trustee Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,483	Because the 120, having fewer pixels, is better in low light -- and I've seen the online shots that demonstrate this fact.

February 3rd, 2005, 07:42 AM	#6
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	You may want to read this thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...ght=GS70+GS120 Regarding "low light," perhaps try and find a used PV-DV852?

February 4th, 2005, 10:51 AM	#7
Dave Largent Trustee Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,483	I came across a Russian site that had comparison frame grabs of the 70, 120, and 200. Interestingly, the 70 is the most light sensitive of the three, followed by the 120, and then followed by the 200. The 70 at +12 dB was as bright as the 120 at +18 dB! (So would that equal one f-stop?) Thing I noticed is that the 120 at +18 didn't look any worse than the 70 at +12 as far as grain is concerned. And one thing I did notice in the frame grabs of these cams at the mentioned settings is that the 120 is noticeably sharper. So, overall, I liked the 120 better.

February 6th, 2005, 04:26 AM	#8
Dave Largent Trustee Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,483	Here's that site. It's in Russian but I used babelfish and was able to understand it okay. http://www.videomax.ru/tests/index9.html Really thorough tests: resolution, colors, low light, even have video showing image stabilization. I was surprised to see that the image stabilization worked so well. The one cam in the comparison, NV-GX7, is a 1CCD (1/4") cam.