PV-DV910 met my expectations and it's fun to use.
Written: Mar 23 '00 (Updated Apr 04 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: 3" LCD and the price
Cons: Not great at low-light indoor shots
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| cherrypop's Full Review: Panasonic PV-DV910 Mini DV Camcorder |
Lots of fun and a standout among Mini DV's
I read a lot of customer reviews* before choosing the Panasonic PV-DV910, arriving upon the decision to buy the DV910 for the following reasons:
Price
FireWire port
Apple iMac DV iMovie compatibility*
3" LCD color monitor
PhotoShot™ (a built-in digital still camera)
My main considerations for a Mini DV were iMac DV/iMovie compatibility and the quality of the still camera shots. The PV-DV910 works splendidly with iMovie (you can control the camera through the software), but the stills are not as good as I would like them to be. Admittedly, this is not a megapixel digital camera, but I was hoping for a little more. (I hear that the next generation of Mini DV's will offer higher still shot resolutions, but I'm sure they'll be spendy.)
Some of the other Mini DV's in the range of about $800-1,000 I looked at were the Sony DCR-TRV310, the Canon Optura, and the Canon Ultura. I like the design of the Canons, but the design of the Sony was essentially what kept me away from it. All are very nice cameras with great reviews and seem to offer the same feature list. In the end, however, it was the price of the PV-DV910 that sealed the deal: I found it for around $700.
Using the PV-DV910
I use the DV910 mostly for business reasons, but I have shot a few personal movies. I use the StillShot feature for web-quality stills, which is about all one should expect from the DV910. After working with it about two weeks, I would say this is a very intuitive, out-of-the-box productive camcorder.
My only real complaint so far is that I'm not able to get a good indoor quality movies our stills in low light. The result in this low light situation is a dark and grainy picture. My guess is that I can improve upon this by changing some of the settings, but I can't imagine I'll be able to eliminate it altogether. Your mileage may vary.
A few things I've grown to like:
Ease of use (the controls are very well explained in the documentation)
3" LCD display (a little larger than competing Mini DV's)
Compact size
Apple's iMovie connectivity (this is a recommended Mini DV by Apple.)
You can see an iMovie I made starring Madison here, it does a good job of showing the DV910's color range its ability to grab detail:
http://homepage.mac.com/cherrypop/imovie2.html
Bottom line: I'm very pleased with this purchase. Like all technology, over time the price of Mini DV camcorders will drop. As it stands now, you can get a standard camcorder for around $300. But if you want to connect it to your iMac DV for editing, or you want digital quality picture and the option to take stills among a few other features, the entry point for Mini DV doubles or triples. If you require these features, check into the PV-DV910.
* Links:
Amazon reviews > http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000JHZQ/qid%3D953846405/102-5362865-2319205
Apple iMovie > http://apple.com/imovie/
My iMac DV epinion > http://www.epinions.com/cmd-review-1F60-68A4EAD-38D95FC6-prod3
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
cherrypop
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Location: Boulder
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 7 members
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