I was just going through the camcorder section in MS .....I thought I will read the reviews about my camcorder...but to my surprise, there were none. Believe me, this camcorder was in very high demand in the US about 1 year back....and even https://camcorderinfo.com voted it as the best camcorder in its categor and I fully agree with them.
Lets go onto the features of this cacorder in al little detail STYLE/BUILD: This is just superb.. It looks very solid , very uer-friendly, all buttons located in the ritght place, top-loading miniDv cassette (not like the stupid down-loading ones from Sony). Anyone will fall in luv with this at first sight.
PICTURE QUALITY: The picture quality under normal lighting is very good...though the picture is a bit reddish when under lights during night (faced this problem in Las Vegas) ...Sony is a better I think in this regard.
SOUND QUALITY: This is often the most overlooked part of a camcorder, but believe me its very important. The sound quality is best-in-class, and it has got a Zoom Mic , which means the sound gets louder as you zoom into your picture.
ZOOM: it has got a 10x optical and 700x digital zoom. The zoom button is very convenient and offers sufficient resistance. I would have preffered a 20X optical zoom though. The digital zoom is not useful (as with all other camcorders). Canon gives a 22X optical zoom but the picture quality in indoors is so horrible !!
STILL CAMERA: This one can function as a digital still camera too !!! It can take pictures with resolution upto 1620*1024 and store it into the SD card. The pics are very gud as compared to other camcorders in its class, though mothing like a gud digital camera.
Besides, this camcorder has additional features like it can be used a webcam too !! And it can be connected to your PC via USB or Firewire cable. I got this camera for just $400 in a deal on ebay....which is alf the price of Sony camcorders with similar features.
This is ultra-compact, feature-packed and offers great value for money...go 4 it!! I dont know if its available now in India....check for any upgrades on this model which Panasonic might have made...Or else, u can always ask ur frnd to get one for you from abroad. Ll be interested to know your commets on this review..
Bye -Aditya