Summary: If you want good picture quality for a reasonable price

Comment: Choose this camera if you want quite good picture quality but don't care about extra features.

(I've owned this camera for six months and use it fairly regularly.)

The Leica lens and the 3 CCD's are normally in much more expensive cameras (often called "prosumer")

The picture quality really does look great -- the video picture is sharp and the colors wonderful (not so much on the still pictures, though). I am totally happy with the quality and, for me, that's the main thing.

It DOES have a few "extras" that I use:

1) The still camera. While not a good quality as my dedicated digital camera, it is adequate. It solves the problem of having to carry two cameras.

You can also take "web quality" frame grabs from footage as you review the tape. This is pretty useful if you are posting trip photos to a blog.

The photos conveniently go onto a card which can easily be removed and put in a card reader.

2) A/V out
You can hook this up to your TV and it works nicely. This is one of the few feature for which you don't have to remove the battery.

3) "Quick Movie Magic" software
This is very basic software to get the footage onto your hard drive. It works nicely and allows you to fairly easily divide the scenes up and the like. I then use the clips in the editor of my choice.

4) Manual focus
5) Back light
6) Find end of tape, search

(All these items are easy to find and turn off/on)

Honestly, that's about all the extra features that I use.

FEATURES MISSING:

I don't care about bells and whistles and I like basic "do the job" equipment.

However, I miss:

1) Plug for an external mic.
2) Plug for headphones
3) A proper shoulder strap
4) White balance

Summary: Awesome camera; but no AV Input

Comment: I bought this camera for two purposes: 1) to replace an older VHS camera and 2) to use for converting my VHS tapes to DVD's. I give it 4-1/2 stars for #1 and 0 stars for #2. (In my research before buying the camera, I managed to miss the fact that the GS320 does not have AV input, so can't be used to convert analog to digital. Rats!)

However, for everything else I wanted, I was very satisfied. Other reviewers have pretty well expounded on the pros and cons. I'll just say that the quality of pictures (both video and still) that we get with this camera is really great. When I first got the camera, I handed it our son who is studying Film Production and works with professional camcorders. After fiddling with the controls and looking over its features, he expressed great delight with my purchase. (Yesss!)

It took me a while to figure out the menus and I haven't enough experience to handle the manual control options well, but overall, I would highly recommend this camera.

Summary: great camera

Comment: Great camcorder, watch for the color settings, It would help to point it at something neutral, like a hand befoe using it in extreme sunlight. Excellent product for the price!

Summary: Great Camcorder

Comment: This is a great camera. I bought it a few months ago for an rv trip and the moment the battery was fully charged i hooked it up to the camera, put in a tape, and walked around the house experimenting. On the trip, it performed excellently. When properly exposed, the camera's three CCD chips reproduced colors surprisingly well. The microphone has a neat wind-cut function that works very well.

Pros
-great image and sound quality
-10x zoom
-color electronic view finder (which is becoming very rare in consumer camcorders now)
-very simple menu navigation
-photoshot feature
-nice joystick navigation for menus

Cons
-Poor low-light shooting
-no hot shoe
-no manual focus ring
-manual/auto switch inconviniently located
-no firewire input
-you have to remove the battery and go through a messy process to hook the camera up to a computer




I highly recommend this camera for beginners or even enthusiasts with a low budget.

Summary: Panasonic PV-GS320

Comment: I have the Panasonic PV-GS320 for about 3 weeks. Took it on a trip to get some practice with it. Easy to use and set up. Make sure you have an extra battery. The one that come with it is good for about 25-30 minutes.

Best results are outdoors and in bright light. It has a camera feature to allow still pictures to a 1 GB storage card, which is kind of neat. Cassette tape goes in and out easily.

Single worst feature is the lack of good quality sound. It has no audio jack, so the sound is a bit garbled if you don't speak loudly and into the mike. Otherwise, for the money, it is a good camcorder which is fun to use.