News | Panasonic PV GS80

Panasonic PV GS80 camcorder might not seem flashy, but it delivers the punch. Cheap camcorders play an important part of every camcorder line and Panasonic PV GS80 is just one of them. It’s an affordable camcorder that anyone can pick up for a few hundred dollars. Since the main selling point of this camcorder is price it lacks features found standard on higher-end models, which is natural. Among Panasonic camcorders, the PV-GS80 sits as the runt of the litter.

It’s simple design makes it look almost indistinguishable from the rest of the MiniDV camcorders. Thanks to the camcorder’s simple controls, you can record and play videos without touching menu system. If you want to handle the menus, you can navigate the Panasonic PV GS80 settings with a joystick set into the mode dial. There aren’t plenty video settings but it is also unlikely anyone would need to delve into the menus often.

Most affordable MiniDV camcorders offer few features but PV GS80 packs a punch. His 680,000-pixel sensor effectively records 340,000 pixels at 4:3 and 460,000 pixels at 16:9 wide-screen which is awesome. The camcorder is not really something at recording higher-resolution wide-screen video and not simply cropping its 4:3 video since both aspect ratios use small, low-resolution sensor. The GS80 has a 32X zoom lens with optical image stabilization, but he doesn’t use a Leica-branded lens. Panasonic usually prides itself in its use of Leica lenses in most of its digital imaging products. So it is not strange that GS80’s unbranded lens secures its place at the bottom of Panasonic’s camcorder offer.

As a budget camcorder, GS80 actually produces nice videos. Colors look neutral and accurate while footage is clean and free of grain. But dont watch the movies on HD TV, it will not look too good. The Panasonic PV GS80 failed at recording low-light videos. If you know you’ll always have plenty of light, it’s ok, but consider spending about $40 more for another model to get a better night videos.

Panasonic PV GS80 is a cool budget camcorder but you could get a better camera for the same price. Try Canon ZR850 if PV GS80 camcorder doesn’t suit you well.