Panasonic PV-GS250 Camcorder Review

Still Features (8.5)
Like the PV-GS65, the PV-GS250 captures stills to its SD card in both digital camera mode and during video recording in camcorder mode, though stills taken during video capture are only available at a resolution of 640 x 480. In still camera mode, the PV-GS250 adds a host of possible capture resolutions, including 2048 x 1512, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, and 640 x 480. The PV-GS150 only features options for 640 x 480, 1280 x 960, and 1720 x 1320. The PV-GS250 does offer the RapidFire Consecutive Photoshot option, which allows users to take up to ten photos at a 0.5 second interval (if 1/30 shutter is selected, only 0.7 second-intervals are available). This burst mode is only available in 640 x 480 mode. The PV-GS65 supports PictBridge technology, which allows for stills to be easily printed directly from the camcorder. The camcorder’s built-in flash can only be used in digital camera mode when recording to card, and includes three settings: off, on, or auto. In on and auto modes, the camcorder will tell you if the flash is set too high (minus sign) or too low (plus sign), which lets the user adjust the flash level in the menu system.

Still Resolution (5.9)
We tested the still resolution of the PV-GS250 in the same manner in which we tested its video resolution using Imatest Imaging Software. The PV-GS250 captures still images to SD card at 2048 x 960, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, and 640 x 480. Of all the stills recorded the best resolution we could get out of any of them was 592,607 pixels (0.59 MP). While this seems bad, considering the manufacturer’s reported 3.1 MP, it is the best of any camcorder so far this year - I guess our testing software is a bit harsh, but when we use this software on dedicated digital cameras those perform at 80% or 90% of what manufacturers report. It illustrates how bad stills are on camcorders and that we probably shouldn't believe in Panasonic's pixel shifting technology.

Still Performance (6.5)
The PV-GS250 produces stills at a multitude of still resolutions and performs well. As far as color performance, we have to say that the PV-GS250, even with more effective pixels for still images than any other consumer Panasonic (save the PV-GS400) does not perform drastically superior to the PV-GS65 or PV-GS150. In fact, the PV-GS65 and PV-GS150, while not offering comparable photo sizes, produce slightly more vibrant colors. This is consistent with the low light results during the video tests as well. All three of the camcorders produce relatively crisp nice stills (for camcorders that is).