2004 CamInfo Select: Best Camcorder Under $1000by Camcorderinfo.com Editorial StaffPublished on Nov 8, 2004 12:00 PM 
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The sub-$1000 is a sparsely populated price category. As the end of the year approaches, retailers have dropped their prices significantly due to the popularity, or lack thereof, of particular models. Many higher priced camcorders, such as Canon’s Opturas, Sony’s upper-tier HC models, have sunk in price so much that they no longer are over $800. While a couple camcorders remain, that great roamer of the barren wilderness between low-end and high-end consumer video, Panasonic’s PV-GS200 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1299) remains, too versatile to even be challenged by the DCR-HC85.
At this price level, similarities between camcorders, both physical and performative, become more pronounced and obvious, and while this leads to more idiosyncratic assessments and conclusion, judgments can and have been made.
Read the Full Review of the Panasonic PV-GS200 Equipped with three 1/6-inch CCDs, approximately 800K pixels per CCD and a 10x optical zoom lens, the Panasonic PV-GS200 also has a host of manual control options which allow users to tweak to their hearts content. This, along with the price tag, makes the Panasonic PV-GS200 a great buy for consumers of all types. The age old adage is applicable as the Panasonic PV-GS200 is only as valuable as the sum of its parts.
There are enough manual controls on board to keep any manual control freak happy. White balance, shutter speed, exposure, focus (ring) and gain can all be controlled manually. Other camcorders in the running have some of these options, but not all combined in one package. The Sony DCR-HC85 and DVD201 (Review, Specs, $549) have comparable manual controls, with the exception of gain. Additionally, on the HC85, users are required to fumble through the touch screen LCD, which is worse than Panasonics poorly designed navigation keypad. The DCR-HC85 doesn’t have the true manual shutter speed found on the PV-GS200. The focus ring found on the PV-GS200 is great and necessary to compete with the Sony DCR-HC85. The PV-GS200 captures stills at 1760 x 1320 which is better than most consumer camcorders, though not really printable at all; if you want to take useable digital stills, buy a digital camera. The PV-GS200’s image stabilization isn’t the greatest either; which is to say that, when on, it doesn’t really change the image. However, the PV-GS200 includes Panasonic’s MagicWire Mic, which allows for the adjustment of zoom and other functions without having to touch the camcorder. Also, the camcorder’s 16:9 mode is also merely a letter-boxed image.
One of the glaring down sides to handling the PV-GS200, and all of Panasonic’s 2004 models, is the side panel circular navigation keypad. It is nigh impossible to navigate the menu without staring intently at the keypad to insure proper digit placement. The glossy keypad is barely raised from the rest of the panel, and there is scant definition between the five available buttons. Users who like to fiddle, or tweak with their images while in manual control mode will find this method of making adjustments a headache; but this method is decidedly better than the touch screen found on the DCR-HC85, a necessary evil. Bottom line for handling, the Panasonic PV-GS200 is a very comfortable camcorder to hold. This, in concert with other “to be mentioned” elements, help make the Panasonic PV-GS200 the Best Overall Camcorder sub US$1,000.
Scoring high marks for video performance at all light levels, the PV-GS200 performed well. Even at levels as low as 15 lux, there was amazing color reproduction and information available, with a little noise/grain. Bottom line for video/low light performance is that the colors on the chart were appropriately saturated, the image was in sharp focus with no distortion within the resolution bars, and the white tiles and grayscales were not browned or otherwise color affected. Red, green and blue tiles were (obviously) very accurately saturated.
Overall, the Panasonic PV-GS200 performed well where it counts, and did so with distinction over the other camcorders in the price point. In the end, the Panasonic PV-GS200 is a solid camcorder with an excellent imager package and a host of manual controls. Overall the PV-GS200 handles very well, both internally and externally. The downsides are the solarizing LCD, and the poorly designed navigation keypad. The price point makes it an excellent value, and Panasonic should be lauded for raising the bar for all camcorder manufacturers.
Read the Full Review of the Sony DCR-HC85
Sony's DCR-HC85 has a 1/3.6-inch CCD with 1,080K effective pixels for video. The DCR-HC85 is also equipped with a 10x optical zoom and 120x digital zoom. In the controlled environment, at 3000 lux, the DCR-HC85 performed very well, however we found a major error with noise which makes it impossible to recomend this camcorder. The color chart is crisp, properly saturated and well focused. At 60 lux and below, the DCR-HC85 performed well, maintaining the color spectrum, although somewhat over saturated, and eliminating noise. At 15 lux, the image is considerably less noisy than other camcorders in this range. The DCR-HC85 also has a lovely focus ring, though it lacks the shutter speed and gain options found on the PV-GS200. The 3.5 inch LCD screen found on the DCR-HC85 certainly does help visibility. The camcorder captures stills at 1600 x 1200, and includes a 16:9 mode which digital enhances the image to fit a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Read the Full Review of the Canon Optura 500
The Canon Optura 500 is Canon’s top-of-the-line matchbook camcorder this year. It includes a 1/3.4” CCD with 2.2 gross Megapixels. It features a similar 10x optical zoom, to the one found on the PV-GS200. The Optura 500 features many of the manual controls found on the PV-GS200, except gain control. It also allows the user to manually adjust the audio levels on the camcorder. Where it falls short of the PV-GS200 is in the low light department. The Optura 500 goes the way of so many Canon’s this year, with excellent video performance and middling to poor low light performance. On the bright side, the Optura 500 comes with a video/ring light attachment, which spreads the camcorders video light long a mirrored ring that fits around the lens, giving off a cool-looking crespuscular haze in dark places.
Considering the price, performance and control the PV-GS200 comes out on top. In the face of the superior low light performance offered by a 3 CCD camcorder, other offerings in this price range cannot hold up to the PV-GS200, even considering its mediocre zoom and button placement. It's an amazing camcorder at an amazing value.