Panasonic PV-GS150 Camcorder Review

Still Features (7.5)
The Panasonic SDR-S150 captures still at a maximum resolution of 3.1 MP, making it a relatively capable hybrid device. Stills, like video, are captured to SD card at four resolutions: 2048 x 1512, 1280 x 960, 640 x 480, and 1920 x 1080 (Widescreen). This widescreen still option is uncommon, and could serve as a useful tool for taking snapshots of locations or setups in advance of a widescreen shoot. The Sony DCR-SR100 offers a widescreen still option with the identical resolution of 1920 x 1080, and also offers a burst mode for capturing stills in quick succession. The SDR-S150 does not offer any such “continuous shooting” modes such as burst or bracketing (capturing 3 stills at varying exposures) found on the Everio GZ-MG505. On the plus side, it does allow you to implement all of the manual control options found in video mode.

The flash is pops up from the top. The SD cards load from below.

Panasonic’s SDR-S150 achieves some of its still performance using its proprietary Quad-Density Pixel Distribution technology. Pixel shifting offsets or “shifts” the 2.5 micron intervals between pixels, which results in “four times the density of previous systems.” This approach does seem to yield fine results, and as you’ll see below, the pictures look terrific despite a measured resolution score that came in lower than camcorders in the same price range. This indicates to us that pixel shifting works, and appears to produce visual results that are better than what resolution alone would indicate.

Still Resolution (6.5)
The Panasonic SDR-S150 was tested for its still resolution by shooting a standard ISO 12233 resolution chart and running those stills through Imatest imaging software. We tested a few different resolutions in order to determine how the pixel shifting of the three CCDs operates.

At 1280 x 960, the camcorder produced stills at a resolution of about 614268.75. When maximum size on the SDR-S150 was increased to 2048 x 1512, a 152% increase, the resolution that Imatest measures (which is actually the information within the resolution) did not increase correspondingly – that’s not how pixel shifting works. Quad Density Pixel Shifting, Panasonic’s proprietary method, is a process by which the green CCD is offset by a half a pixel both vertically and horizontally in order to increase resolution, but not necessarily the amount of information captured. It makes a good looking picture larger, while retaining the quality. And in that capacity, it works quite well.

As far as Imatest scores go, the difference is negligible. In the 2048 x 1512 image, Imatest measured a resolution of 653846.77, an increase of only 6.5%. Theoretically there should actually be no increase is the information. This 6.5% might possibly be explained by an increase in the number of effective pixels, the method by which the information compiled in the processor, or in the methods Imatest uses to derive the number. At any rate, the stills look great, and you can read why in the next section.

The 16:9 stills, available only in 1920 x 1080, showed a significant loss of information, producing an Imatest resolution of only 251001.0.

Still Performance (8.5)
As a proviso for this section, we sometimes like to reiterate the fact that camcorders are not designed to take stills that could, in any way, hope to compare to dedicated still cameras. So when we compare camcorder stills in these reviews, they are judged relative to one another. Just something to keep in mind as I report that the SDR-S150 had absolutely wonderful looking stills. The color balance was not quite as good as its video (lacking somewhat in the greens), but was strongly favorable to most consumer camcorders, which can heavily skew colors in the wrong direction.

The SDR-S150 shoots in a variety of resolutions, up to 2048 x 1512, but it didn’t seem to capture any additional information after 1280 x 960. The apparent sharpness was very good, but the image had a definite grain to it. The whites are exceptionally white, but they do not blow out.

Last year’s Panasonic SDR-S150 produced essentially the same picture,  and this was also the case in both video performance sections. The story was the same with the VDR-D300, the DVD camcorder which retails for the same price.

The JVC GZ-MG77 produced dull looking stills, but certainly not the worst color balance we’ve ever seen. It suffered from blotchy noise, the same that we saw in its video performance.

Finally, the Sony DCR-SR100 had superior apparent sharpness, drawing out extremely fine detail for a camcorder still. The colors were weak compared to the SDR-S150, and really fell short of producing a decent green. It was, however, virtually noise free.

All in all, this is among the best hybrid camcorders on the market.