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Panasonic PV-GS19 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Jul 21, 2005 10:00 AM 
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Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (5.0)
The PV-GS19 (Review, Specs, $244.74) offers automatic control over the white balance, focus, exposure, shutter speed, and gain. All of these settings can be set to automatic via a switch on the upper left side. This camcorder offers five automatic exposure settings, called Scene Modes, which automatically calibrate the camcorder for specific shooting environments. They include Sports, Portrait, Low Light, Spotlight, and Surf & Snow. Note that the Scene Modes cannot be selected when the camcorder is in automatic mode. The PV-GS19 is slightly behind other models in it's automatic features because it doesn't offer a dedicated auto switch to put the camcorder into full auto mode. If you're interested in point and shoot, and easy auto modes, the PV-GS19 isn't very strong in this area.
Overall Manual Control (7.0)
Manual control options on the PV-GS19 are fantastic, especially considering the price. They include all the options we like to see: focus, shutter speed, iris, white balance, and gain. They also feature independent control of the iris and shutter speed, an amount of control not often found in camcorders this low priced. All these bonuses sadly come at the cost of a navigational system that, while handy, is tough to decipher at first glance. However, I’d rather have great manual control that has a steeper leaning curve than no manual control at all. Frankly, you can't find this much manual control on any other camcorder under $700 other than other Panasonic models.
Much of the operation is controlled through the joystick at the rear of the body. Pushing in on the joystick brings up a series of menus (2 menus when in Auto mode, 3 menus in Manual). The first menu accesses Fade In/Out, Skin Tone correction, and LCD backlight; the second, MagicPix Mode (low light), and 2-second playback; and the third, white balance, shutter speed, F-stop, and gain.
Zoom (7.0)
The zoom control on the PV-GS19 could stand some redesign. Rather than a raised toggle, it comes with a sliding switch. This sort of switch requires some downward pressure in order to move, which increases the likelihood of jarring the camcorder out of a clean and steady shot. Also, the finger which tends to fall upon the zoom control is the middle, rather than the index. A middle finger will give you far less control, though it may be better at expressing your frustrations.
The PV-GS19 is capable of reaching an impressive 24x optical zoom, with digital zooms of 50x and 800x. For a camcorder with so many other features, this is a just a treat. If 24x doesn’t do it for you, a step up to the PV-GS31 (Specs, $299) will yield 26x optical and 1000x digital. The highest end of the series, the PV-GS35, packs a whopping 30x optical and 1000x digital. The zoom on these lower end Panasonic's is huge.
Focus (5.0)
The manual focus on the PV-GS19 is accessed via a switch on the right side of the camcorder’s body – a switch which doubles as the Auto/Manual selector. Push towards Manual, keep pushing, and now let go. Voilà. A green indicator appears on the LCD screen when manual focus is selected. The joystick is then available for left and right toggling until the desired subject is in focus. It's nice that Panasonic gives you real button control for the focus on the camcorder.
Exposure (Aperture) (6.0)
F-stop settings to control the exposure range from Open, f/2.4, f/2.8, f/3.4, f/4.0, f/4.8, f/5.6, f/6.8, f/8.0, f/9.6, f/11, f/14, and f/16. Each F-stop has one intermediate increment between them. The joystick, small as it is, is not the ideal way to move through a large number of options like this. You cannot, for instance, hold the joystick left or right and scroll through. The likelihood of changing the F-stop during shooting is therefore diminished. This being said, Panasonic is the only camcorder manufacturer to include this level of aperture control on a camcorder this cheap, it's pretty much unheard of from any other manufacturer, and it's great if you want some control of your camcorder.
Shutter Speed (7.0)
Shutter speed settings for video on the PV-GS19 include 1/60, 1/100, 1/120, 1/180, 1/250, 1/350, 1/500, 1/750, 1/1000, 1/1500, 1/2000, 1/3000, 1/4000, and 1/8000 of a second. In still mode, they vary from 1/60, 1/100, 1/120, 1/180, 1/250, 1/350, and 1/500 of a second. These are some impressive options for a low-end camcorder. Even the step-up PV-GS35 only includes one extra shutter speed (1/30 second in still mode). Like the exposure control, the joystick operation is decent, but tedious. Again, no other manufacturer gives you this many shutter speed options on a camcorder this cheap.
White Balance (7.0)
While balance control on the PV-GS19 is accessed by the joystick menu. Options include automatic control (AWB), indoor (a light bulb icon), outdoor (a sun icon), and manual white balance. The indoor and outdoor settings are calibrated to the average color temperatures of fluorescent light and the sun, respectively.
Gain (7.0)
Once the aperture has been lowered to Open, gain control can be raised from 0db, 3db, 6db, 9db, 12db, 15db, and 18db, with one intermediate increment between each. While gain control is an incredible feature to offer on such a low-end camcorder (as stated effusively in this review in regard to several features), users should be advised the gain is a digital manipulation that degrades the image quality. Once more time, it's amazing that Panasonic gives you gain control on their $300 model. You can't get manual gain control on the $2,000 Sony HDR-HC1 (Specs, $2295)!
Other Manual Control (0.0)
The PV-GS19 has no other manual control. Users should be well satisfied with what has already been described above.