Panasonic PV-GS59 Camcorder Review

Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (5.0)
Panasonic camcorders usually feature solid Automatic image adjustments, though there are a few areas in which they struggle. Auto mode is engaged via the Auto/Manual toggle switch in the LCD cavity. Engaging Auto mode locks most controls on the PV-GS59 (Review, Specs, $297) from manual control. This camcorder also features a suite of Scene Mode settings that automatically control the image in various challenging or unusual shooting situations. The Scene Modes include: Sports, Portrait, Low Light, Spotlight, and Surf & Snow Modes. While in Auto Mode, it is also possible to use some of the camcorder’s automatic controls via the Manual Control Menu and these include Backlight Compensation, Fade On/Off, Information, Soft Skin Mode, MagicPix, Perform Blank Search, and Recording Check Start.

The PV-GS59’s performance in Auto Mode is mixed. Auto focus functioned well in most situations, but the camcorder had difficulty focusing in low light, low and high-contrast environments, and with detailed images like foliage shot from a distance. These are all scenarios that would give any camcorder trouble in Auto Mode trouble, and the PV-GS59 was not a standout. Auto exposure works well, and the camcorder makes adjustments very quickly, especially when moving between evenly-lit environments.

The LCD cavity houses the Auto Mode / Manual Mode / Focus

Predictably, the camcorder had difficulty with more complex scenes, such as framings involving mixed lighting or high contrast ranges. The PV-GS59 frequently exposed for the brightest or most centrally framed object rather than the subject of interest, and this is another common problem area for camcorders in Auto Mode. The white balance adjustment performed well. Our offices are lit by a combination of natural light and overhead fluorescents. These lighting sources combine to create a notoriously tough mix of bluish and greenish light, but the PV-GS59’s auto white balance reproduced colors in the office better than most consumer camcorders we’ve tested. Overall, this Panasonic’s Auto Mode performs adequately, but not as consistently as Sony camcorders which excel in the quality of their Auto image adjustments.

Overall Manual Control (7.0)
Panasonic builds camcorders that offer excellent manual and focus controls. Aperture, shutter speed, gain, and white balance can all be adjusted on the PV-GS59. These controls can be djusted using the joystick, which also provides a fast means of navigating through menu options. With the exception of manual focus (accessed by pressing Auto/Manual switch in the LCD cavity downwards), all of the camcorder’s manual controls can be reached with the thumb of the right hand. Becoming a PV-GS59 power user does require some practice, in contrast to Sony’s nearly idiot-proof LCD touch screen interface. If you do learn to race through menus on this camcorder, you’ll be rewarded with a level of image control that no competing camcorder maker offers.

Packing a huge number of features into a small camcorder like the PV-GS59 is a big challenge, and Panasonic’s solution is arguably the best on the consumer market for manual control. An ideal interface is one that provides instant access to manual controls like gain, shutter speed, and focus which is why prosumer and high-end camcorders feature so many external buttons and controls. With small surface areas, consumer camcorders can only accommodate a relatively small number of external controls, forcing manufacturers to miniaturize, innovate, or just discard manual control features.

The PV-GS59 uses a joystick that moves in five directions: up, down, left, right, and in. Pressing in on the joystick displays the Manual Control Menu, which occupies the lower right corner of the LCD screen. This is an icon-driven menu, and getting to know the icons will be the steepest part of the manual control learning curve for new users. The menu is split into five sub-menus in Manual Mode, and four Auto Mode, and each “page” or submenu is a disc with icons arranged up, left and right. Icons are selected by pressing the joystick towards the position they appear on the menu, and pressing down toggles through the pages.

Controls for Fade and Backlight Compensation are on page 1, along with an Info icon which accesses a brief on-screen explanation of how to use the joystick. Page 2 accesses Soft Skin Mode, Page 3 controls MagicPix (night mode), and page 4 includes Record Check and Blank Search features. Controls for Iris/Gain, White Balance, and Shutter Speed – the most important manual controls – are puzzlingly on page 5. We would prefer these controls to be on page 1, where they could be accessed more quickly.

Settings for Gain, Aperture, and Shutter Speed are set by stepping through an incremental scale. This is an effective way to set manual controls, but it takes time to move through the settings. For example, moving through the iris range from closed to open entails pressing the joystick thirty times! Ultimately, this is a minor complaint since no other consumer camcorder line matches the versatility of Panasonics. Manual focus is the one primary manual control that is not automatically accessed via the joystick. This adjustment must be switched to on, independent of other controls in Manual Mode, by pressing down on the Auto/Manual select switch in the LCD cavity. When Manual Focus is on, it appears as the menu’s page 6, and can be adjusted with the joystick.

The PV-GS59 also has a text-based Administrative Menu, accessed by pushing the Menu button near the Mode Dial on the camcorder’s back. This menu controls features that do not typically require adjustment during a shoot, including aspect ratio, Scene Modes, and Image Stabilization on / off.

Zoom (7.0)
The Panasonic PV-GS59 features a powerful 30x optical zoom placing it among a small handful of camcorders with optical zooms of 30x or higher. The zoom toggle on this camcorder is excellent, and it is nicely positioned to allow easy operation while the camcorder is being hand-held. I was able to use the zoom toggle comfortably with either my middle or index finger. The toggle has a rocking lever design which allows fine control over zoom speed, and is better than the slider design found on the more expensive Panasonic PV-GS180 (Review, Specs, $448.25) (Review, Specs, )’s zoom toggle. Zoom speed control within optical territory is excellent, but there is an unavoidable “speed bump” at the optical/digital zoom boundary making it impossible to zoom smoothly through 30x.

Zoom Power/Ratio (10.0)
The Panasonic PV-GS59 has 30x optical zoom placing it in the top tier of consumer camcorders in terms of zoom power. The zoom function can be set to optical zoom only in an effort to avoid the image degradation that occurs with digital zoom enabled. It is also possible to cap digital zoom at 50x, providing some additional power without the danger of significant impact on image quality, or it can be permitted to reach the camcorder’s 1000x digital zoom maximum.

Focus (5.0)
Manual Focus on the PV-GS59 is activated via the Auto/Manual switch in the LCD cavity. This switch has two fixed positions, up for Auto Mode and middle for Manual Mode. From the Manual Mode position, pressing downward once enables Manual Focus, and adds a sixth Manual Focus page to the Manual Control Menu. The Manual Focus page is reached by simply pressing in on the joystick and toggling ahead to page six. As with other manual controls, the joystick is used to adjust focus, left brings the focal point closer to the lens and right focuses on more distant objects. The joystick works relatively well in this capacity, allowing for fast and accurate adjustments. As a focal controller, the joystick ranks below a genuine focus ring but ahead of touch pads or touch screens. The focal control on the PV-GS59 has no numerical gauge or even a scale to indicate where in the focal range you are, making it likely you’ll waste some time getting your bearings by searching back and forth.

The camcorder’s Auto Focus snapped quickly into sharp focus in most well-lit situations, but struggled where most camcorders run into trouble. In low contrast and low light, the PV-GS59 breathes as it searches for the most likely subject of the frame. The camcorder had similar problems in high contrast situations, and where the subject of the shot was closer but more dimly lit than the background, the camcorder tended to select the background as its focal point. In more challenging shooting situations like these, manually focusing the camcorder is the only way to achieve a sharp image.

Exposure (Aperture) (6.0)
The PV-GS59 offers highly effective control over exposure according to what Panasonic refers to as “F Numbers” rather than F Stops. When in Manual Control Mode, exposure control is enabled by selecting the left icon on the fifth page of the Manual Control Menu. Once selected, a small Iris Control diagram appears on the LCD indicating that the iris can be adjusted by pressing left (-) and right (+) on the joystick. The iris settings are: Open (F1.8), F2.0, F2.4, F2.8, F3.4, F4.0, F4.8, F5.6, F6.8, F8.0, F9.6, F11, F14, F16 and Closed, and each stop is separated by an intermediary partial (half?) stop.

Panasonic’s Gain function is effectively a continuation of the Iris scale. After the camcorder has reached Open, continuing to press the joystick right adds brightness to the image by enabling the camcorder’s Gain function with settings at 0dB, 3dB, 6dB, 9dB, 12dB, 15dB, and 18dB. As with Iris, there is one un-numbered partial step in-between each Gain setting on the PV-GS59.

Shutter Speed (7.0)
The PV-GS59’s Manual Shutter Speed adjustment is accessed from page five of the Manual Control Menu, and when enabled a simple diagram replaces the menu page. As with the Iris diagram, one indicates that shutter speed is controlled be pressing the joystick left (–) and right (+). The camcorder provides a wide range of shutter speed settings at 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. This is an excellent range of fast shutter speed settings, but the PV-GS59 does not enable manual control over shutter speeds below 1/60. MagicPix is an automatic control feature that adjusts the shutter speed below 1/60, but it can only be turned on or off.

Shutter speed is another manual control that requires the user to step through the range, and as a result does not allow fluid scrolling which would increase the speed at which users can make shutter speed adjustments. In a consumer camcorder market where most manufacturers leave full manual shutter speed control out, this is a minor criticism. Panasonic deserves credit for not only including excellent shutter speed control, but making it relatively easy to use.

White Balance (7.0)
White Balance control for the Panasonic PV-GS59 is also reached from page 5 of the Manual Control menu. Once selected, the joystick is used to scroll between several white balance presets and Manual White Balance. The Auto presets for white balance are: Auto, artificial light, and sunlight. While these preset options are quite limited, Panasonic has provided an excellent Manual White Balance control. When the Manual White Balance option has been selected, setting it is accomplished by pressing the joystick up until the white balance indicator icon stops blinking. Setting white balance manually on the PV-GS59 is fast, and yields excellent results.

Gain (7.0)
As noted in the description of this camcorder’s Exposure/Aperture controls, Iris and Gain are both accessed by selecting the Iris option on page 5 of the Manual Control menu. Panasonic has placed Iris and Gain adjustments on a seamless continuum that ranges from Closed shutter all the way to Open shutter with 18dB Gain, so there isn’t a separate gain control or menu. As the user presses right on the joystick and steps up past the Open shutter setting, the image continues to brighten as Gain augments the image. You know you’ve entered gain territory when the Iris indicator reads Open on the LCD’s left side, and the dB indicator begins to climb. There is one step between each numerical gain level. The gain settings available on the PV-GS59 are 0dB, 3dB, 6dB, 9dB, 12dB, 15dB, and 18dB.

Other Manual Control (0.0)
There are no additional manual controls on the Panasonic PV-GS59, but the quality of the manual control feature set is better overall than manual controls on other comparably priced camcorders.