Panasonic NV-GS500

The basics

The Panasonic NV-GS500 features a 6.8cm LCD screen, 91 x 73 x 153mm and weighs 570 grams, has a Leica Decomar lens that offers up to 12x optical zoom, a 16: 9 flip LCD screen which can be brightened for outdoor viewing and a Quickstart button. A variety of automatic options are available from the fully auto mode to Sports, Portrait, and other scene programme modes.

The good

If you’re a Leica virgin, touching the Panasonic’s 12x Leica lens for the very first time is quite a buzz. It’s optically stabilised for rock-solid zooming, with a manual focus ring and wide maximum aperture to keep movies pin-sharp indoors and out. Triple megapixel CCD sensors give blinding colours to enjoy on the 2.7-inch widescreen LCD or generous electronic viewfinder.

The bad

It’s easy to see why MiniDV is dying off - the GS500 is heavy and bulky, its battery lasts little more than an hour and standard definition doesn’t really cut it in today’s high-def world. Tinkering with the Panasonic’s dozens of manual features is fun but locating them in the dense menus with a wobbly joystick isn’t. And its smeary still photos (up to 4MP) can’t match even the latest camera phones, let alone a real camera.

The bottom line

In camcorder years, this two-year-old Panasonic is due to collect its pension. MiniDV footage looks great for what it is and the lovely Leica optics will never go out of style, but this price can get you HD these days.