Panasonic PV-GS2 Camcorder Review

Overall Manual Control (4.5)
Manual control settings for the Panasonic PV-GS2 are almost entirely engaged by switching the Automatic/Manual slider to the Manual mode. Options available to the user when in this setting are White Balance, Shutter Speed, and Manual Iris Adjustment. When a Program AE setting has been put in place, only the White Balance and Focus settings are adjustable, along with Zoom, which is adjustable whether or not the camera is in Automatic or Manual Mode. Manual settings are controlled by using the Rewind, Fast Forward, and Enter buttons on the four-way controller. Their small size makes fast and simple adjustments impossible.

Zoom (7.0)
The zoom lever located on the top of the camera body allows the user to access wide angle settings if pressed left, and telephoto settings if pressed right. The optical zoom setting for this camera is 22x, with digital zoom up to 800x – an entirely pointless extreme, since the image quality will be so degraded that your image will be rendered unrecognizable.

Focus (3.0)
Manual focus for the Panasonic PV-GS2 is engaged by sliding the Automatic/Manual slider to the Manual setting and then pressing the Rewind and Fast Forward buttons to sharpen and soften the overall focal quality of the image. To reset, slide the Automatic/Manual slider to the Automatic setting. Budget camcorders usually have such button-based focus, which doesn’t really offer too much control; however, for the point-and-shoot crowd, manual focus isn’t high on the priority list.

Exposure (Aperture) (5.0)
Manual Exposure/Aperture settings can be accessed by sliding the Automatic/Manual slider to the Manual position and pressing the enter button until the F Number option is highlighted. The manual will refer to these settings as the Manual Iris Adjustment, something that first time users should note. Once entered, the User can choose between f/16 - f/2 for closed, and OP +18dB for open. The positive decibel value that is attached represents the degree of gain; if the setting is too high, the image quality will be degraded.

Shutter Speed (4.0)
For the Panasonic PV-GS2, shutter speed can be adjusted by switching the Automatic/Manual slider to the Manual setting, and then pressing the Enter button until the Shutter settings symbol appears on the LCD screen. The range for shutter speeds in Tape Recording mode is 1/60-1/8000 sec. In Card Recording mode, the speed range is 1/60-1/500s, with the standard shutter speed being 1/60 sec..