HWM Gold Award - NV-GS250 Digital Video Recorder

April 2005 (HWM) by CHRIS YONG - Panasonic broke new ground in early 2004 when they released the GS200, which became the world's smallest 3CCD digital video camera. Since then, they have released the smaller GS150 (see HWM Feb 2005) that has replaced the GS200 as the smallest 3CCD digital video camera. Not one to rest on its laurels, Panasonic has upped the ante once again with the GS250, another 3 CCD model with a Leica Dicomar lens, but with optical image stabilizing and a 3.1 megapixel still image resolution. The GS250 looks like a larger version of GS150, with similar locations for buttons and functions.

The GS250 felt very comfortable in our hand, with the buttons within easy reach. Your index finger would naturally rest between the zoom switch and photo-shot button. Your thumb would also easily find the joystick toggle and the large recording button. The camera had one of the most ergonomically correct button placements we have had the pleasure of reviewing. We particularly liked the joystick toggle. It not only allowed playback control, but is also for quick access to menu functions and on the fly manual recording customerization. With this, users need not move their focus off the subject to look at the LCD to configure options. The camcorder is still a two-handed affair though, as the selector for manual and auto modes is located in the LCD interface. The Menu button also needs a user's left hand to activate as it was purposely designed so that it won't be accidentally pressed by your thumb.

Tape access is via a top panel, which allows users to keep the camera mounted on a tripod when they make tape switches. However, SD card access requires opening the LCD panel first.

Having a optical image stabilizer is important to image quality as digital image stabilizing works by reducing the size of the image and then moving it around with the overall image to provide a steady shot, resulting in less image data. Optical Image Stabilizing works by moving the lens instead, which produces better images and also helps when zooming. Having 3 CCDs (Charge Coupled Device) means that there is a individual chip processing each primary color of light (Red, Green, Blue), which results in better color accuracy when compared to a single CCD camera. This was evident in the GS250, which took pictures with rich, vibrant colors, without the purplish tint normally seem on some single CCD models.

An added feature of the camera was night shoots. Setting the camera to manual mode and selecting 0 lux, you are able to record night shots with lighting coming from the LCD. Though like most cameras in this class, the night image was choppy and the camera had difficulty focusing, especially without a tripod.

Battery life was average at 120 minutes for recording and 160 minutes for playback. At S$1999, this camera stands head and shoulders above its peers, offering exceptional performance, image quality and usability.

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