Panasonic NV-GS400

What makes the Panasonic NV-GS400 such an advanced consumer camera are its three-chip capture system, 12X optical zoom with optical stabiliser, 3.5-inch LCD screen, and manual control over almost every function. But all these assets don't quite add up to a professional camera. The 1/4.7-inch chips may be large for a consumer camcorder, but they're tiny by pro standards, and there's a fairly strict correlation between chip size and low-light performance. And while you can control all the functions of the NV-GS400 manually, you do it using a multipurpose ring rather than the discrete mechanical controls to which pros are accustomed.

With a street price near AU$3,000, the Panasonic NV-GS400 is one of the best consumer-camcorder deals available. Just don't mistake it for a pro camera.

Design
The Panasonic NV-GS400 has a classic Handycam-style layout and a high-quality metallic-silver finish. Measuring 80mm high, 81mm wide, and 178mm deep and weighing 700 grams, this is a solid package that lends itself to two-handed operation.

The right of the camera consists primarily of a top-loading, rubber-coated MiniDV cassette door, which serves as a comfortable handgrip. A wrist strap is connected to the bottom of the door, and a zoom slider sits at the door's top, under the operator's forefinger. A large 3.5-inch, 200,000-pixel flip-out LCD dominates the left side of the camera. The more frequently used manual-control buttons reside in front of the LCD, and the less-used effects and VTR buttons sit under it along with a pop-up SD-card (not included) slot for stills.


Protected by a conventional lens cap, a 12X Leica Dicomar zoom makes up the front of the camera. The lens has a 43mm filter ring and is surrounded by a generously sized (by consumer-control standards) Multi Manual Ring. On the camera's back are a viewfinder eyepiece at top, a battery below, and a mode dial and power controls to the right. Finally, from front to back, the top of the camera is covered by a pop-up flash, a built-in stereo mic, and a hotshoe to accommodate optional accessory lights and microphones.


The Panasonic NV-GS400 offers the usual assortment of ports: composite A/V and S-Video, USB, and FireWire. The external-mic jack is essential for recording high-quality audio, and it doubles as a jack for the included MagicWire wired remote, a clever handheld mic that includes buttons to stop and start recording and control the zoom. The A/V port also doubles as a headphone jack.


For a consumer camera, the NV-GS400 offers very well-laid-out controls. They're ergonomically positioned and large enough for real human fingers. They also display a startling lack of gimmickry. A couple of buttons select whether the Multi Manual Ring will control focus, zoom, shutter, or iris -- and that's all there is to it!

Features
The heart of the Panasonic NV-GS400 is its three-chip imaging system. Each chip is 1/4.7 inch in size -- relatively large for a consumer camera -- and has a whopping megapixel of resolution, which accounts for the camera's excellent wide-screen performance and decent still-picture capabilities.

The Leica Dicomar lens offers a 12X zoom range and optical image stabilisation, which is superior to the electronic stabilisation typical in consumer cameras. (Note that the NV-GS400's optical stabilisation is misidentified in the menus as EIS.)

It's safe to say that no camera at the NV-GS400's price point offers more or better manual controls. Focus, iris, shutter, zoom, gain, white balance, and even audio levels can all be controlled quickly and directly. True, the Multi Manual Ring isn't quite as efficient as the separate controls pro cameras have for each function, but this hybrid arrangement is a world beyond that of the typical consumer camera.

Besides the manual controls, the Panasonic NV-GS400 offers several other pro features: zebra stripes (an exposure-setting aid that highlights blown-out areas); colour bars for setting up monitors; and a full complement of custom image adjustments that enable the shooter to fine-tune the sharpness, the colour, the exposure, and the contrast of the image.

For those who want a cinematic look, the NV-GS400 offers both letterboxed and anamorphic (squeezed) wide-screen modes, as well as Pro Cinema mode, a pseudo-24P look that gives the image a filmlike motion quality. Unfortunately, Pro Cinema is available only when shooting in anamorphic wide-screen format.

For the less ambitious user, the NV-GS400 also features the usual variety of automatic options, including a fully automatic mode and a number of autoexposure modes, such as Sports, Portrait, Low Light, Surf and Snow, and Spotlight.

The NV-GS400 offers a full range of consumer-oriented digital effects, which are mostly tucked out of the way in the easily navigable menus. The effects include 700X and 30X digital zoom, TeleMacro (for extreme close-ups), SoftSkin (which reduces wrinkles), Fader, MultiMode (which takes nine small pictures in a row and saves them to tape), Picture-in-Picture, Strobe, Mix, Mosaic, Mirror, Stretch, Slim, Trailing Effect, Wipe, Negative, Sepia, Black and White, and Solarization. A couple of low-light modes are also offered: MagicPix, in which the shutter speed is slowed down, and Advanced MagicPix, in which the LCD is turned forward to serve as an illuminator.

The Quick Start mode falls into the miscellaneous-features category. It reduces the camera's start-up time from almost five seconds to less than two but exacts a penalty in battery life. Another battery-draining feature is the Power LCD button, which doubles the brightness of the flip-out LCD for viewing in bright conditions.

At least on paper, the NV-GS400 has impressive photo capabilities. Through pixel-shift technology, the three megapixel chips can output stills with up to 4-megapixel resolution. While the camera is recording video to tape, it can simultaneously record stills of up to 1 megapixel to SD card. The NV-GS400 also has several flash modes, a self-timer, red-eye reduction, and burst modes. Finally, it is PictBridge enabled, so you can directly connect it to compatible printers.

The Panasonic NV-GS400 comes with MotionDV Studio LE editing software for Windows and ArcSoft PhotoSuite (both Windows and Mac) for editing stills.

Performance
In general, the Panasonic NV-GS400's automatic systems are adequate but not spectacular. Autofocus performance can be sluggish. Autoexposure and white balance, while accurate, are also a bit slow to respond. On a lower-end camcorder intended for point-and-shoot operation, this mediocre automation would be a serious problem, but the NV-GS400 has clearly been optimised for the more advanced user who wants to take manual control over the camera.

Fortunately, the manual controls exhibit a much greater responsiveness. While the Multi Manual Ring may seem a bit awkward to someone used to pro gear, it's about the best control system I've ever seen on a consumer camera. Similarly, the zoom slider may be small by pro standards, but it's gargantuan compared to some consumer controls. All essential manual adjustments can be made quickly and instinctively, without the need to navigate menus.

The flip-out LCD is big, bright, and sharp. The viewfinder is adequate but will probably be neglected in favour of the LCD.

Sound performance with the built-in mic is typical: good when near the subject in a quiet environment but less acceptable in more challenging conditions. On the plus side, the mic doesn't pick up much camera noise, and the GS400 can accommodate an external mic and headphones -- which are the keys to recording high-quality sound.