GS150, worth it? at DVinfo.net

Jack Matthews · September 6th, 2005, 12:01 AM

Hi,

I'm a student, currently living in England, and have a budget of around £500, to get a new camera. After having looked around a lot, and read lots of stuff from this forum, i've decided to buy the GS150. Is it worth it? It's being sold for about £480-£490, which seems to be a good price for the camera. I'm just wondering if there are other camera's (for a similiar price) that can match up to the GS150. My previous camera is a JVC slim-line compact camera and is about 4 years old (with quite bad picture quality), so i'm hoping the GS150 would be a lot better. Any feedback would be usefull, thanks.

Glen Pinn · September 6th, 2005, 06:13 AM

hi there.
im glen from australia, and i have just registered here in this site and am an avid panasonic fan, so i might sound a bit biased towards the panny cams, but i do it with good reason because i believe thier products are great.

u wont find better than the GS150 for your money, all panasonic 3ccd dv cams are great quality and by far the best value for your money.
IMHO, sony is overpriced for the quality they put out and is no longer the top dog in everything electronic, and def not as good as these panny cams, so in a word (my opinion that is) u will make a great choice.
the GS150, GS250 and the GS400 are all brilliant (not perfect) but brilliant.
my first 2 cams were the NV-GS70 and the MX-500, i sold the MX-500 and got the new GS400 (the MX500 replacement with firewire capture)
i still have the GS70 and the GS400 and recently bought a 9mth old panny DVX100AE from a guy on ebay for $2500au ($5200 brand new) so i got a great camera for my money, but also shows how much these cams, like all other electronics goods just how much they depreciate in value in just a few months.
anyway, good luck with your purchase and happy filming.

regards.....GLEN

Jack Matthews · September 10th, 2005, 12:05 PM

Thanks mate. Have ordered the 150, should arrive sometime next week. Can't wait.

Gints Klimanis · September 13th, 2005, 07:16 PM

I would have gone for the GS150 were it not for the optical stabilizer.
I don't actually know if the optical image stabilizer (OIS) implementation for these models is significantly better than the Electronic (EIS) version.

I wonder, though. With the CCD sensor area of the low-end GS65 and its bigger brother the GS250 being the same size and the former having fewer pixels, is the low light sensitivity of the GS65 actually better ? The GS65 seems to be a bit brighter, but slightly noisier at 15 lux in these reviews :

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...der-Review.htm

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...der-Review.htm

Gints Klimanis · September 13th, 2005, 07:20 PM

Oh, the GS65 has 420k pixels/sensor while the GS150 and GS250 have 800k/sensor. Each sensor is a 1/6" CCD.

Would it really kill Pansonic to put in something closer to 1/3" CCDs in a sub$1000 model, even if there is only one with an RGB filter?

Jack Matthews · September 14th, 2005, 12:09 AM

It was my understanding that the OIS is a lot better than the EIS,

http://www.pana3ccduser.com/article....0-and-PV-GS250

They've got a pretty good review there, with some sample clips I believe (obviously compressed).
Still, for my budget it doesn't look like there were any other better alternatives.

Camera (150) arrived this morning. Will have a look at it later (resisting the temptation). Thanks for the feedback.

Glen Pinn · September 14th, 2005, 06:14 AM

hi there jack, forget all the real techo jargin, for what u paid your getting a great quality cam and something way above anything sony, canon and jvc have out there for the same price.
IMHO, sony is way overpriced and now days i believe your still paying for thier past good quality electronics, but nowdays i believe, as do many other believe that panasonic are pushing sony out of the top spot in all areas of electronics, here in aust panasonic now outsells sony and thier prices are way better than sony, several people i know have recently been very dissapointed in thier sony purchases and now wish they got the panny brand, but this is only my opinion, someone else in this forum will no doubt post a reply bagging panasonic as well, i dont worry about that stuff, i can only tell u that as a 3 time panny dv camera owner u should be very happy with your purchase.
i still have my GS70, GS400 and now i have the panny DVX100AE and luv them all.

cheers and good luck.....GLEN

Jack Matthews · September 16th, 2005, 11:52 PM

Thx Glen,

Yes - I do believe you're right. The Panasonic is BRILLIANT. Works great in bright light (outdoors) and although its not fantastic in low light conditions, still outshines most camera's i've seen, and definatly one of the best for bellow £1000.
I'm extremely pleased with it. Going to have a proper run with it this weekend.

Gints Klimanis · October 24th, 2005, 03:58 PM

I'm quite impressed with the GS250 OIS. I took the unit to a wedding reception in a dark club for casual, fun interviews. Shorter people would hold the unit over their heads to get the camera to face level for taller fellows, such as myself. Upon reviewing the video, there are no real shakes. I used to use a small Canon camera for videos, for which the lower frame rate helped with stabilitization. The GS250 did a MUCh better job.

Leigh Wanstead · October 24th, 2005, 04:08 PM

Hi Jack,

I will suggest gs400. You can buy it directly from www.pricejapan.com. It cost me around US$1,000 including shipping from Japan to New Zealand one years ago.

Regards
Leigh

September 6th, 2005, 12:01 AM	#1
Jack Matthews New Boot Join Date: May 2005 Location: Cambridge, England Posts: 15	GS150, worth it? Hi, I'm a student, currently living in England, and have a budget of around £500, to get a new camera. After having looked around a lot, and read lots of stuff from this forum, i've decided to buy the GS150. Is it worth it? It's being sold for about £480-£490, which seems to be a good price for the camera. I'm just wondering if there are other camera's (for a similiar price) that can match up to the GS150. My previous camera is a JVC slim-line compact camera and is about 4 years old (with quite bad picture quality), so i'm hoping the GS150 would be a lot better. Any feedback would be usefull, thanks.

September 6th, 2005, 06:13 AM	#2
Glen Pinn New Boot Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 12	great buying hi there. im glen from australia, and i have just registered here in this site and am an avid panasonic fan, so i might sound a bit biased towards the panny cams, but i do it with good reason because i believe thier products are great. u wont find better than the GS150 for your money, all panasonic 3ccd dv cams are great quality and by far the best value for your money. IMHO, sony is overpriced for the quality they put out and is no longer the top dog in everything electronic, and def not as good as these panny cams, so in a word (my opinion that is) u will make a great choice. the GS150, GS250 and the GS400 are all brilliant (not perfect) but brilliant. my first 2 cams were the NV-GS70 and the MX-500, i sold the MX-500 and got the new GS400 (the MX500 replacement with firewire capture) i still have the GS70 and the GS400 and recently bought a 9mth old panny DVX100AE from a guy on ebay for $2500au ($5200 brand new) so i got a great camera for my money, but also shows how much these cams, like all other electronics goods just how much they depreciate in value in just a few months. anyway, good luck with your purchase and happy filming. regards.....GLEN

September 10th, 2005, 12:05 PM	#3
Jack Matthews New Boot Join Date: May 2005 Location: Cambridge, England Posts: 15	Thanks Thanks mate. Have ordered the 150, should arrive sometime next week. Can't wait.

September 16th, 2005, 11:52 PM	#8
Jack Matthews New Boot Join Date: May 2005 Location: Cambridge, England Posts: 15	Cheers Mate Thx Glen, Yes - I do believe you're right. The Panasonic is BRILLIANT. Works great in bright light (outdoors) and although its not fantastic in low light conditions, still outshines most camera's i've seen, and definatly one of the best for bellow £1000. I'm extremely pleased with it. Going to have a proper run with it this weekend.

October 24th, 2005, 03:58 PM	#9
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	GS250 OIS good I'm quite impressed with the GS250 OIS. I took the unit to a wedding reception in a dark club for casual, fun interviews. Shorter people would hold the unit over their heads to get the camera to face level for taller fellows, such as myself. Upon reviewing the video, there are no real shakes. I used to use a small Canon camera for videos, for which the lower frame rate helped with stabilitization. The GS250 did a MUCh better job.

September 13th, 2005, 07:16 PM	#4
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	I would have gone for the GS150 were it not for the optical stabilizer. I don't actually know if the optical image stabilizer (OIS) implementation for these models is significantly better than the Electronic (EIS) version. I wonder, though. With the CCD sensor area of the low-end GS65 and its bigger brother the GS250 being the same size and the former having fewer pixels, is the low light sensitivity of the GS65 actually better ? The GS65 seems to be a bit brighter, but slightly noisier at 15 lux in these reviews : http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...der-Review.htm http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...der-Review.htm

September 13th, 2005, 07:20 PM	#5
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Oh, the GS65 has 420k pixels/sensor while the GS150 and GS250 have 800k/sensor. Each sensor is a 1/6" CCD. Would it really kill Pansonic to put in something closer to 1/3" CCDs in a sub$1000 model, even if there is only one with an RGB filter?

September 14th, 2005, 12:09 AM	#6
Jack Matthews New Boot Join Date: May 2005 Location: Cambridge, England Posts: 15	It was my understanding that the OIS is a lot better than the EIS, http://www.pana3ccduser.com/article....0-and-PV-GS250 They've got a pretty good review there, with some sample clips I believe (obviously compressed). Still, for my budget it doesn't look like there were any other better alternatives. Camera (150) arrived this morning. Will have a look at it later (resisting the temptation). Thanks for the feedback.

September 14th, 2005, 06:14 AM	#7
Glen Pinn New Boot Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 12	hi there jack, forget all the real techo jargin, for what u paid your getting a great quality cam and something way above anything sony, canon and jvc have out there for the same price. IMHO, sony is way overpriced and now days i believe your still paying for thier past good quality electronics, but nowdays i believe, as do many other believe that panasonic are pushing sony out of the top spot in all areas of electronics, here in aust panasonic now outsells sony and thier prices are way better than sony, several people i know have recently been very dissapointed in thier sony purchases and now wish they got the panny brand, but this is only my opinion, someone else in this forum will no doubt post a reply bagging panasonic as well, i dont worry about that stuff, i can only tell u that as a 3 time panny dv camera owner u should be very happy with your purchase. i still have my GS70, GS400 and now i have the panny DVX100AE and luv them all. cheers and good luck.....GLEN

October 24th, 2005, 04:08 PM	#10
Leigh Wanstead Trustee Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: NZ Posts: 1,276	Hi Jack, I will suggest gs400. You can buy it directly from www.pricejapan.com. It cost me around US$1,000 including shipping from Japan to New Zealand one years ago. Regards Leigh