The PV-DV950 is expensive. For $1,700 you can buy 2-3 lower-priced digital camcorders. But consider this: this model has 3 CCDs and is a top-of-the line Panasonic offering.

Remember SONY’s Hi8 3CCD camcorder that cost a bit more than $3,000? Too bad that the picture produced by three CCDs was recorded in analog format, so you couldn’t really use it’s full potential.

PV-DV950 uses three CCDs: one for each primary color – red, green and blue. Usually, consumer camcorders use one CCD, which gets all colors. The 3CCD technology is used in professional-level video equipment, it improves sharpness and detail level. And it works in this model – the image quality is excellent.

The camcorder has 12x optical zoom with maximum zoom speed of 1.3 seconds in pause mode or 2.6 seconds in recording mode. In addition, it features a 120x digital zoom (for some reason, the Epinions’ description says 300x, which is wrong). 120x might be not much, comparing to the lower-end models that offer 200x-300x zooms, but it is more than enough. Besides, the resolution decreases with magnification increase.

DV950 is compact and lightweight (1 lb 12 oz), it has both color viewfinder (160,000 pixels) and a 2.5” LCD screen (180,000 pixels). The LCD screen is more accurate than viewfinder in terms of framing. The camcorder is convenient to hold and control. All frequently used functions are easy to access.

You can shoot still pictures with PhotoShot™ built-in digital still camera, which allows you store about 1000 still images on one 80-minute tape in LP mode. You can use IEEE 1394 PC Interface (FireWire, iLink) connection to a computer for advanced editing and viewing of still pictures and video.

The digital image stabilization can be used in both record and playback modes. There are advanced features like manual focus ring and auto exposure lock to avoid problems with both focusing when something moves across the scene and exposure, when light conditions change suddenly.

The camcorder also has manual white balance adjustment to compensate for lightning conditions, 15 digital special effects (wipe, mix, strobe, monotone, etc.), gain control, high-speed shutter (1/60 to 1/8000 sec.), iris control (16 steps from 1.7 to 16).

DV950 has 5-mode AE (sports, portrait, low light, spot light, surf & snow). Index search helps you find beginning of every recorded piece. Bookmark search finds the end of recordings.

There is an S-Video out and A/V terminals in addition to IEEE 1394 connection.

The DV950 is not cheap, but you get what you pay for. It used to cost $2,500, but now you can get it for less than $1,700 - a good deal for the picture quality it delivers.


Recommended: Yes