Panasonic PV-DV852 Digital Camcorder With Megapixel CCD And Optical Stabilizer
Written: May 14 '02
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Pros: Excellent picture quality, megapixel CCD and optical stabilizer, features, size
Cons: Price
The Bottom Line: The Panasonic PV-DV852 is an excellent choice for those who seek excellent picture quality and features. If you want low price, look elsewhere.
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| dkozin's Full Review: Panasonic PV-DV852 Mini DV Camcorder |
The Panasonic PV-DV852 digital camcorder is definitely not cheap, taking into account that you can buy an entry-level model for less than $500. However, the entry-level camcorders are definitely inferior to this model in performance and features.
The DV852 features a megapixel CCD, 2.5” LCD, Leica Dicomar lens, color viewfinder and PhotoShot still camera mode.
MiniDV
As the majority of digital camcorders, the DV852 uses MiniDV tape format. The recording uses DV compression and provides more than 500 lines of horizontal resolution. The 60-minute MiniDV tape holds 60 minutes in SP mode or 90 minutes in LP mode (50% more). Unlike Sony’s Digital8, the MiniDV is widely used and has less chance of becoming obsolete.
Performance
Through the use of a Megapixel CCD and Leica Dicomar lens, the DV852 achieves excellent picture quality in video and digital still modes. In both LP and SP modes the quality is virtually the same, due to the digital format used to store the information. However, to be able to perform audio dubbing, the recording should be in SP mode. The DV852 has a 12-bit/16-bit PCM stereo with two sets of stereo audio tracks (4 channels total) in 12-bit mode.
Mega Optical Image Stabilization
The DV852 features optical image stabilization to remove excessive shaking and movement while shooting. The stabilizer is quite effective even at high zoom levels. The use of more expensive optical stabilization (cheaper camcorders use digital stabilization) improves picture quality and resolution.
Zoom
The camcorder has 10x optical / 200x digital zoom with several zoom speeds (that vary according to the finger pressure). Although the 10x optical zoom is at the small part of the range available in digital camcorders, it is usually sufficient for virtually all situations.
And the digital zoom up to 200x is used when you reach optical 10x and doesn’t decrease the picture quality (when not used to extreme), because of the high CCD resolution. By the way, the microphone zooms with the camera.
Focus
The focus, which is otherwise automatic, can be adjusted manually, using the focus ring when you need to.
LCD
The camcorder has a 2.5” LCD and a color viewfinder. The use of a viewfinder instead of LCD allows you conserve the battery power.
Effects
The camcorder allows you apply digital effects... You can also stretch the image horizontally and form multiple impressions of images in motion and gradually fade them out for a "trail" effect. In addition, it also gives you the option of playing back your recording in color, B&W or sepia. There are also several A/V fader modes.
PhotoShot™ Mode
The digital still pictures can be taken with or without use of the popup flash. They can be stored on the MiniDV tape or a Secure Digital memory card (SD Card). The camcorder comes with a 8Mb SD memory card. The use of progressive mode and a megapixel CCD help create excellent still picture quality.
The SD Card is an analog of Sony’s MemoryStick and can be used as a "digital film". You take pictures until the card is full and then either remove it and replace it with a fresh card or erase any or all of the images from the card and reuse these empty areas. The access is much simplified, comparing to the storing pictures on tape.
You can use USB connection to make the task of transferring your pictures to the computer easier. The software and drivers are included. The DV852 also has FireWire (i.Link) interface.
FireWire (i.Link or IEEE 1394)
The FireWire (i.Link, IEEE 1394) can be used to transfer your video to computers, digital camcorders or VCRs that have FireWire connection for editing and making copies.
Other Features
The DV852 can also be used as a SD voice recorder – you can record sound on a SD card, as well as for MPEG4 recording (useful for internet streaming).
Remote Control
The camcorder comes with an infrared remote control, which gives you index search capability and other advanced functions unavailable without it.
Bottom Line
The Panasonic PV-DV852 is an excellent choice for those who seek excellent picture quality and features. If you want low price, look elsewhere.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1200
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dkozin
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