Camcorder Review:
Panasonic PV-GS35 Mini DV

Mark Montgomery
October 2005

The Panasonic PV-GS35 is a light and comfortable camera for the casual point and shoot user. Featuring a whopping 30x optical zoom, it can get extremely tight on your subjects. But don't forget your tripod!

This is a compact size camcorder that is big enough to handle easily, but small enough to accommodate an on-the-go lifestyle. It has enough features to keep shooters busy, too. One of the niftiest features on this camera is the joystick.

The most notable advantage of the joystick is that it gives you near instant access to some features. Activating the Fade, Backlight, Skin Soft mode, MagicPix mode and Recording Check features is quick and easy with a little bit of practice. At first, the icons for these features are difficult to read and the joystick can be a little confusing to operate. After a couple of minutes you should pick it right up and blaze through the features.

The joystick also controls the manual features. Although the camera looks like it has a focus ring on the lens barrel, don't be fooled. A joystick control operates the manual focus, as well as the white balance, shutter speed, gain, and iris. Adjusting the manual controls on the fly is a hassle, as the automatic gain resets itself every time you return to manual control menu to make another adjustment. You'll have to set it once and make adjustments in between shots.

The menu is very well organized and thus easy to navigate. Within the menu there are five program modes: Sports, Portrait, Low Light, Spotlight and Surf and Snow.

The PV-GS35 also has an onboard light and a super gain mode turns on when triggering the Light button. The boost in gain is the most noticeable enhancement in dark scenes. Hitting the Light button a second time will shut off the super gain and leave the on-board light on. The light doesn't do much to brighten up a scene. A subject will have to be fairly close to the camera to get decent results from the light alone.

Without an accessory shoe, adding accessories to the camcorder (i.e. lights, shotgun mics) will come as a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, there's an 1/8" mini mic input for shooters hoping to get a little more control with their audio. Another beneficial feature is the S-Video connector (out only). This camcorder comes equipped, but you should note that it is inaccessible if you're also using the battery. Panasonic had to squeeze it in somewhere, we guess.

Getting a close-up shot from a distance is easy with the 30x optical zoom. Shooters looking to capture wildlife images or capture a staged performance from afar will definitely want a camera with this feature.

Don't assume, however, the Electronic Image Stabilizer (EIS) will take the bounce out of all your shots at this long telephoto range. At full zoom, the EIS has a difficult time consistently smoothing out a carefully balanced handheld shot. It stabilizes the image for a couple seconds, then in a split second it spastically re-frames itself. It repeats this process as long as you don't keep the camcorder perfectly still. Overall, it's a little distracting, but with a decent tripod you will have better results.

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