Panasonic PV-GS150 Camcorder Review

Widescreen/16:9 Mode (4.0)
The SDR-S150’s widescreen LCD makes your 16:9 video look terrific – so good that you probably won’t notice that this camcorder does not support true 16:9 video. Our wide angle tests show that 4:3 and 16:9 recording modes produce an identical width of 44 degrees. Considerable picture is cropped from the top and bottom in widescreen mode to achieve a 16:9 aspect ratio. It’s disappointing, but typical of most consumer camcorders to use this crop and zoom approach, indicating native support only for 4:3 video.

Scan Rates/24p (0.0)
There are no scan rates available on the SDR-S150 other than 60i, the norm for NTSC standard definition video.

Other Features (4.0)
Closed Battery System – The SDR-S150 uses a closed-battery system, a move that precludes you from stepping up to a longer life battery. Thankfully, even though the included battery is tiny, it provides a respectable 90 minutes-plus of recording time. If you do need to power this camcorder beyond that, you can purchase additional CGA-S303 battery packs from Panasonic.

Quick Start – The SDR-S150 shifts into sleep mode when the LCD is closed. From sleep mode, the Quick Start feature makes the camcorder record-ready within 1.5 seconds of opening the LCD.

Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) – The image stabilization system is excellent. The OIS method for stabilizing an image is superior to EIS (electronic image stabilization) found on most consumer camcorders because it retains image quality when engaged. We found the OIS system on this camcorder to be very good, and is unique to the DR-S150 among ultra-compact camcorders.

Wind Cut – The Wind Cut feature is a filter that reduces the buffeting sounds of wind on the microphone screen. It is an effective audio fix for breezy environments, but should be turned off when its not needed because in addition to filtering out wind noise, it will filter out any desired audio which is in the same frequency range.

MagicPix – MagicPix is Panasonic’s proprietary slow shutter mode. In dark environments, MagicPix automatically slows the shutter to increase light sensitivity. Like other slow shutter modes, this feature can cause blurring of the video image.

Tele-Macro – This is a short-hand setting for shooting close-ups of subjects within 50 cm. It is marked by the flower icon in the manual control menu.

Soft Skin Mode – Soft Skin mode is a feature that softens the video image to reduce the appearance of skin blemishes, wrinkles, etc.

Backlight Compensation (BLC)–BLC brightens the overall exposure of the video image to compensate for a very bright environment. This is a feature that is most useful in environments like the beach, where the camcorder will have a tendency to underexpose a subject due to the abundance of light.

Zoom Mic – Zoom Mic digitally links the audio recording level of the onboard mic to the zoom. This feature has the effect of boosting audio when you are zoomed in, and dropping it when you are wide. It’s an effect you should use with caution, as it may record audio at too high a level.

Web Cam – The SDR-S150 can be used as a webcam when the proper driver is installed from the CD-ROM.