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Panasonic Palmcorder PV-DV102 Mini DV CamcorderNow the same camcorder that saves your memories can help you make some memories too! That's because the Panasonic PV-DV102 Digital...
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Now the same camcorder that saves your memories can help you make some memories too! That's because the Panasonic PV-DV102 Digital Palmcorder® MultiCam Camcorder is equipped with a built-in Web Camera. And that gives you the ability to send impactful, live video to family and friends over the Internet. Or, if your loved ones are similarly equipped, you can even videoconference with them. Imagine how great it would be to actually see the special people in your life, just by connecting to the Web. It's that easy with a Panasonic Palmcorder® MultiCam Camcorder.
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11 Reviews from Shopping.com
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Great Camera Overall in my Opinion
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Pros: High quality video, good "on camera" effects, USB and Fire Wire (i link) capabilities.
Cons: Short battery life, low quality photos, no mic. input
The Bottom Line:
I think this camera is a really good value for how much I paid for it. I hope this review was helpful to you!
I just bought the Panasonic PV-DV 102 about a week ago at Circuit City, and I mostly like it. I still have not figured out all the many functions it has to offer, but I can tell you about most of them.
This camera has very good video quality. The zoom is not that great; only 10x and there is not really much point in using digital zoom because the video becomes grainy when this feature is in use. One feature it does have that is not a common feature in many low cost cameras is a zoom microphone (optional) When the zoom mic. is turned on, the microphone focases the sound on the object that you are zooming in on, attempting to block out all other sound elsewere. I found this feature to work really well except in a room filled with a lot of noisy people.
The Panasonic PV-DV 102 also has some "on camera" special effects, and options to adapt to different recording sittuations. Some of the useful special effects are fade, wipe, strobe (makes it look like scary movie),trail (makes everything trail when camera is moved, and mix ( mixes previous scene with new scene when transitioning). This camera also has a program AE menu, where you can select effects that make your video look better when recording unusual things that the camera is not used to recording normaly like a fast motion sport or a sunset.
It also has a few manual features like manual focus, and shutter speed. The manual focus is a little difficult to use because you ajust it using the small jog dial, but it works, and thats all that matters to me.
This camera also has a photo mode which alows you to take photos that are put on the SD card ( SD card does not come with camera). I have not purchased a card yet($30) but I have heard that the picture quality is not have very high resolution, therefore not producing high quality photos. There is one other option for picture taking though. You can take a picture and record it on your dv tape with 7 seconds of sound. Taking photos on the tape produce higher picture quality then using the SD card, but the SD card is easier to get pictures onto your computer.
The PV-DV 102 is USB and Fire Wire (i link) compatible. Using the USB cord (comes with camera) you can transfer all your photos from the SD card to your computer, fast and easily. But don't try to transfer video through the USB....it takes about 2 min. per second of video and you can only transfer 30 seconds max. If you want to transfer video fast, use the firewire card. If your computer does not have one, get it installed. A firewire card is about $80.00 and a fire wire cable is about $25.00. You will also want to buy some high quality video editing software because the software that comes with the camera is only good for photo downloads. If you are planning on doing a lot of editing on your computer, firewire is a must.
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