Excellent picture quality in good lighting. The colors are bright vivid with good contrast. I was pleased with picture quality on indoor shots as long as there was reasonable lighting. It exceeded my expectations based on the reviewer's comments about low light issues. I don't expect to shoot in the dark anyway. The Optical Image Stabilization worked very well. The camcorder was much easier to handle than I expected with it being so small. You can take a snap shot while shooting video. The snapshot shutter button is right next to the zoom slider so it is convenient to do both at the same time without shaking the video. Controls are well placed and easy to use. It has many excellent features but it takes a little time to learn to use them, especially since the manual is so poor. Panasonic would do their customers, and themselves, a great service by hiring an expert to develop their end user manuals. My product came through OneCall and the service was excellent. I highly recommend this camcorder.

I did my research, and bought this camcorder based on video quality and features.
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br /Most reviews give this camcorder the highest marks on video quality in good light. It often gets comments about the quality in low light, but from my experience in normal indoor lighting at nighttime, the quality was not very grainy, but was bright with very good color reproduction. The focus is very good, and quick as the scene changes.
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br /I wasn't planning to use the still camera, but the quality is acceptable for times when you need a shot and nothing else is available. This has the best quality still shot than any other camcorder I've seen, and my results are better than some of the sample shots I've seen online.
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br /I transfer my video to DVD using Ulead DVD Workshop, and the quality I ultimately get for the end result is extremely good. I shoot in widescreen mode, which does a very good job. It might be nice to have a 16:9 LCD screen, but the 4:3 LDC does well.
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br /Pros:
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br /* Excellent (the best) video quality. Detail is sharp, and the color is accurate. No grain, except in low light and even that is better than most camcorders. My previous camcorder was terribly grainy, the PV-GS250 is far better in comparisson.
br /* I like the controls, features and ease of use. It is light, and fits my hand well with all the buttons in easy reach.
br /* Excellent video quality.
br /* The Optical Image Stabilization works well, and helps to produce better quality video (sharper) than EIS systems.
br /* Excellent video quality.
br /* It's nice having the still camera for times when I don't want to lug my digital still camera around.
br /* Did I mention, excellent video quality.
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br /Cons:
br /* Outdoor nighttime shooting doesn't give you many options. Using standard mode produces dark video, the magid-pix is too few frames per second so you have ghosts floating across the scene instead of people. It would be nice to be able to manually set the shutter speed below 60 to produce more fps than the magic-pix but still have light video. Also, it would be nice to be able to add more gain for the nighttime video (yes this would add graininess, but it would be nice to have this option available).
br /* It would be nice to have the option to produce progressive scan 30fps video.
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br /I think this will be a camcorder that I will be using for years to come. I don't see a need to buy and HD camcorder yet, as I will only downconvert it to NTSC for DVD playback. Low end HD camcorders are now still about 3 times the cost of this one. The detail I get from the pv-gs250 on my 55 inch hi-def set is incredible (much better than standard def broadcast, satellite) and about the quality of some of the best DVDs. It doesn't compare to hi-def broadcasts, but I suspect the low end HD camcorders are no comparisson either.

After reading numerous camcorder reviews I decided that this one was the best value despite the fact that it costs somewhat more than I was planning to spend. However, I had some trepidation after reading the "Mac Users beware" review below, but as some other Mac users with 10.4 seemed to be using this camcorder with no complaints, I decided to go ahead and buy it.
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br /The camcorder seems to work fine with my computer running OS X 10.4.2. To download movies a firewire cable (4 pin to 6 pin), which is not included with the camera, must be used. I can also get still photos just fine, but the special USB cable included with the camera must be used for that purpose.
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br /To summarize: for video editing with iMovie, use a Firewire cable and set the camera to video playback mode. For downloading still photos from the SD card, use the USB cable and set the camera to "PC" mode.
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br /As far as the camera goes, the video function is excellent. As for the still photos, I was hoping for 3 megapixel performance but when recording at 2048x1512 size, when viewing at 100% there is extreme mottling/graininess. The 1600x1200 looks good in the bright portions, still with perceptible mottling in the shadows. The 1280x960 size looks pretty sharp. This was based on some indoor photos using flash; I haven't repeated this yet in bright sunlight. Even so, I just want to point out that a real 3 megapixel camera would have better performance in a typical indoor/flash situation, so the "3.1 MEGA PIXEL Still Picture Recording" blurb printed on the body is somewhat misleading. However, I'm still giving five stars because I can't see dinging a camcorder for still picture performance, if you really need it you will use a digital camera. The fact is, I can count on pretty sharp 1280x960 photos and in some cases that will be enough to allow me to leave the still camera at home (and keep in mind you get 10x zoom with optical image stabilization with those photos).
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br /Controls are designed for mostly one-handed operation, which is great! (...at least if you are right handed.) If you want to use the manual features, they are easy and fast to access.

This has turned out to be a pretty good unit. I have filmed a wedding with it and taken many stills at night and in daylight. The stills come out well if you have plenty of light. They don't work as well in low light. The flash works well for the stills. The SD card seems to need a reader to download the photos all at once, unless I missed something (very possible) in the manual.
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br /The camcorder has excellent quality, as long as you have minimal lighting. When it gets to real low light, it is not such a great performer. I was not expecting it to work well in real low light. It works excellent in outdoors and in moderate light.
br /It is essential that you have a tripod when using for any important projects.
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br /I bought Adobe Essentials (cheaper at Costco than at other stores -$79) and it works well with this camcorder. You can exceed your imagination with this software. I recommend it too.

Recently read that people were haveing problems with their camcorder and their MAC. I don't know if they have just updated something or I just tried something that no one else tried, but I was able to get mine to work. What I had to do is to put the camera in video play mode, then using FireWire and the DV connector hooked it up and and it communicated. Great camcorder.

An overall great camera for those that are serious about movie making. The colors are amazing and the easy-to-use specs with this camera are great, especially the joystick controls. The only setback with this camera are its capabilities in low-light or no-light settings, even when it is put in its low-light menu selection. Other than the that, this camera is a fun, easy to use with amazing picture quality.

I got this camcorder because i needed something to upload these minidv tapes that my sister recorded in china into my computer and edit them. Now i've grown to love it. it produces really nice colors and life-like depth in the videos, it worked well indoors too with just my regular living room light. the image stabilizer works great, and the audio sounds pretty clean, especially with the remote mic. i'm overall quite happy with my purchase.
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br /sidenote: it's really better to buy this here at amazon because there are so many scammers out there claiming to sell it for less than $700. they really are all just bait and switch con-men.

I love my new camera!!! This is my first video camera and there is definitely no buyers remorse here. It is soooo user friendly!I researched many cameras and found this one to be most suitable for my needs. My company was subcontracted to work with another production company and my camera (PV-GS250) was used as a secondary camera for b-roll and it was fabulous. The footage was almost seamless between the two cameras when it was being edited. I'm very happy with my purchase and look forward to using it more and more.

This is a great camcorder. The picture is excellent. It has well thought out features. I like the fact that you can also take high resolution still pictures. It is very small and compact. The only thing that could be better is the flash for the still pictures. I often get the glare from the flash in the picture.

Great product. Easy to use. Downloads a breeze with my iMac G5. Low light conditions need a supplementary light source. Great family unit.

This is a gem of a camera. The low light isn't as bad as many say or there must be other cameras out there that do a super job of low light recording. I've recorded a few videos at dusk and overcast days at F11 or above and I did not have any problems. The only problem that I've had is with the zoom (if you call it a problem), it's hard to record and slowly zoom in/out. The zoom usually takes off on you.
br /Get one while you can- they are dissapearing fast. The new non HD cameras will have less features than this one to lower the MSRP because the HD cameras will list for $1000.
br /Jeff

This camcorder has many features to desire and can be used for everyday use in many conditions. This is the second camcorder I've had in this range and am really pleased with it. The only negative thing about it is the low resolution still camera functionality it has at 3.1 MP. Otherwise a great buy with good clarity, saturation, optical zoom and features.

I did a lot of research before buying the PV-GS250. Now that I have the camera in my hands I know I made a great choice. Great image quality. Great build quality. The low light problems you read about are not really a big deal. In a noramlly lit room everything is fine.

Bought this camcorder(my 1st) after reading most of the reviews on the net. Quality is great with video other than at low light rating but most of the the consumer camcorder had the same problem anyway), didn't expect to take still with camcorder so didn't care about the 3.1mp. Very easy to use and feels good in my hand. I gave a 4 because I know soon there will be better camcorder in the market at this price range.

Perhaps the biggest failure of this product is the lack of documentation on how well this camcorder operates with Macintosh. Using a 4pin to 6pin Firewire cable (not included), this camera easily connects to Macs making an easy tranfer into iMovie for editing. In fact, I couldn't find any mention of how to use Firewire with this camcorder.
br /This camcorder is extremely small and I was concerned about how well I would like the small controls. I was very surprised at how easy the controls were to use.
br /Picture quality is very good, even in low light conditions. In-door shooting will usually require the whitebalance to be manually set because in auto mode lighting is yellow, but it is as easy as clicking a menu item.
br /It also makes transfering from VHS to miniDV easy with the enclosed cables.
br /I'm giving 4 stars due to the documentation.

I was looking forward to using this highly rated camera for taking video of our new son. Unfortunately, the camera tape mechanism went out after the first 4 months and I had to send the camera to Illinois to be repaired, and also to get the tape out of the camera. The camera was out for 6 weeks. The refurbished camera lasted approx. 6 more months, sent it back again and this time it cost me $168 to have it refurbished. Now after a couple of months the camera is showing a white LCD screen and will not function at all.
br / Time to give up on Panasonic. Their customer service is non-existant and getting the camera repaired again seems like a waste of time.

Make sure you use the sun filter when shooting outside. I killed my wonderful camera one sunny day when I forgot the sun filter and accidently took a picture of the sky. Now my awesome wonderful camera is dead. And we are so sad.

I purchased this camera in December 2005 to replace my 7 year old Sony Digital 8 camcorder. Unfortunately, everything except size is inferior in the Panasonic compared to the "ancient" Sony. The color is not nearly as sharp, the low light capabilities are laughable and the battery lasts half as long. The sound quality was adequate if not watching playback on the camera itself. The camera's highest volume setting is too low to use if you want to listen while loading video into your computer's editing program.
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br /The Panasonic does have a relatively convenient manual exposure feature many other miniDV camcorders lack. This allows better light control when shooting in auditoriums with spotlights. It uses a toggle to control the exposure and, while it is not as easy as the external thumb wheel on the Sony, it is adequate. Unfortunately, it functions so poorly in low light it wouldn't provide adequate color in an auditorium.
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br /I thought the image stabilization would be a great feature but my video is much shakier with the Panasonic than my old Sony. Maybe it's because the camera is so small it's hard to keep as stable as the larger Sony.
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br /Video editing on a PC is equally easy on the Sony and Panasonic but the Panasonic's poor user manual would make it very difficult for a novice to figure out and your picture quality will be much better with Sony's Digital 8.
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br /If you don't HAVE to record in miniDV format or have a built in 3 megapixel still camera, I'd recommend buying an inexpensive Sony Digital8 for about a third of the price of the GS250.
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br /If you do have to have a miniDV camera and you won't be shooting in bright sunlight, try another brand.
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br /This upper end 3CCD camcorder will now have a home on a closet shelf where it will stay unless I need a very small camera to chase action in a cross country race or similar event on a sunny day. Otherwise, I'll use the old Sony so I can share the video I shoot without being embarrassed about the picture quality.

Try to call Panasonic customer service @1-800-973-4264 and tell them you have question about your camcorder first. Panasonic service is the worst one in this world.

WHILE THIS CAMERA LIVES UP TO QUALITY EXPECTATIONS A BUYER SHOULD KNOW THAT CUSTOMER SUPPORT IS TRULY LAUGHABLE.AFTER FILLING OUT AN EXTENSIVE EMAIL FORM THE "SEND" BUTTON DOESNT WORK.MORE WASTE OF TIME:ON HOLD FOR 50 MINUTES BUT THE SERVICE GUY JUST READS FROM THE SAME POOR MANUAL THAT COMES WITH THE CAMERA AND WHO FLATLY STATES THAT ONLY STILL PICTURES CAN BE UPLOADED TO A MAC.WELL AFTER MUCH HAIR PULLING I WAS AFTER ALL ABLE TO TRANSFER TAPE TO HARDDRIVE.IN MAC:1.OPEN IMOVIE-2.attach firewire to camcorder -3.turn on camcorder,rewind tape-4.MOVE JOYSTICK TO PLAYMODE.5.IMOVIE SCREEN WILL SHOW THAT CAMERA IS PLAYING,PRESS IMPORT.6.CLIPS WILL APPEAR .7MAKE SURE TO SAVE CLIPS BEFORE CLOSING IMOVIE.THE ONE THING STILL NOT CLEAR IF ONE HAS TO REWIND TO BEGINNING OF TAPE TO PLAYBACK,BUT OF COURSE THERE IS NO ONE TO ASK.WHILE I KNOW THAT THE WHOLE WORLD IS MOVING TOWARDS LESS AND LESS SERVICE IT SEEMS STILL NOT A FAIR BUSINESS PRACTICE.WHILE IAM HAPPY TO HAVE THE GS250,MY PLEASURE IS TAINTED BY PANASONICS DISREGARD OF DECENT SUPPORT.(FOR THE REAL MASSOCHISTS CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE AND SEE WHERE IT GETS YOU)

I recently bought this camera through this website. After extensive research, I was won over by the other review here that tells of the ease of use with Macs iMovies because we were planning to purchase a new iMac. Well, the new computer is here and after several days of frustration I have learned that this camera will only import video to macs with OS X 10.1-10.3. Lo and Behold all new iMacs are loaded with OS X 10.4 and this Camera is totally unable to communicate. The folks at panasonic are alternatingly clueless and unhelpful after waiting on the phone around 20 min. and they don't plan on releasing and drivers to make this brand new model of camera compatible with the brand new model of operating system!!! I am at my wits end and out 800 bucks!!!!!

Excellent camcorder with a lot of feartures. Bravo to Panasonic hardware engineers. However, I spent entire weekend in trying to connect camcorder to Motion DV. Instructions in English are made from direct computer translation from Japanese, so it is very hard. French version a little better. No a clear expalnation between USB and IEEE connection options. As the result, you will do a false step in installation, then you will be not able to desinstall Motion DV, you will need to manipulate your registry files and so on. Finally I gave up and installed Premiere LE from my last camcorder which was working immediately with all features.
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