I just purchased a pimpy new Panasonic PV-GS250 camcorder -- one of those new fangled 3CCD jobs to replace my old reliable Sony TRV120 that finally quit working after 3+ years of track abuse. This weekend I used the Panasonic for the first time at Road Atlanta and the jitter is HORRIBLE! I never really thought in car jitter was much of an issue since my Sony didn't have this problem -- you'd maybe get a second of flicker if you hit the rumble strips in 10b hard, but that's expected because those rumble strips are evil.

While reading up on the reviews of the PV-GS250, I read that the PV-GS200, PV-GS150, etc used electronic jitter control that didn't work well - they said stay away from them. The new GS250 and GS400 have optical jitter control (instead of electronic) that was supposed to correct the problem... well it hasn't!

On Saturday, I ran it on wide-screen (16:9) mode, with Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) turned on and saw that the jitter has really, really bad. So then I tried turning off the EIS to see if it would fix the problem, with no effect. Today, Sunday, I tried normal mode (4:3) with and without EIS and it's just as bad. I'm calling the online store I bought this piece of junk from tomorrow and will return it. The PV-GS400 is basically the PV-GS250 with some extra features, so I would not consider buying it.

Has anyone else had and experience with this model camera? ..anyone with good/bad experiences with it? Maybe I just got a lemon, but at this point I'm not happy and I am planning on returning it in exchange for what was my original choice, the Sony DCR-HC90, before I got swayed by the 3CCD on the Panasonic.

Maybe I should sell some blood and buy the Sony HDV camera. Yum!





Modified by SpiceyRice at 6:51 AM 8/15/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SpiceyRice &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I just purchased a pimpy new Panasonic PV-250 camcorder -- one of those new fangled 3CCD jobs to replace my old reliable Sony TRV120 that finally quite working after 3+ years of track abuse. This weekend I used the Panasonic for the first time at Road Atlanta and the jitter is HORRIBLE! I never really thought in car jitter was much of an issue since my Sony didn't have this problem -- you'd maybe get a second of flicker if you hit the rumble strips in 10b hard, but that's expected because those rumble strips are evil.

While reading up on the reviews of the PV-GS250, I read that the PV-GS200, PV-GS150, etc used electronic jitter control that didn't work well - they said stay away from them. The new G250 and GS400 have optical jitter control (instead of electronic) that was supposed to correct the problem... well it hasn't!

On Saturday, I ran it on wide-screen (16:9) mode, with Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) turned on and saw that the jitter has really, really bad. So then I tried turning off the EIS to see if it would fix the problem, with no effect. Today, Sunday, I tried normal mode (4:3) with and without EIS and it's just as bad. I'm calling the online store I bought this piece of junk from tomorrow and will return it. The PV-GS400 is basically the PV-GS250 with some extra features, so I would not consider buying it.

Has anyone else had and experience with this model camera? ..anyone with good/bad experiences with it? Maybe I just got a lemon, but at this point I'm not happy and I am planning on returning it in exchange for what was my original choice, the Sony DCR-HC90, before I got swayed by the 3CCD on the Panasonic.

Maybe I should sell some blood and buy the Sony HDV camera. Yum! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for the heads up and sorry about your bad experience.

 

Dont buy a canon either had the same problem gonna take it back and get another SONY. Optura 50 it really sucks.
My sony trv-140 works great.

 

It is not the camera!! it is most likely your mount. I have the Panasonic GS-250 also and it has worked great in the car!! I used to shoot and edit video for over ten years and I can tell you the GS-250 is a real nice unit. What kind of mount are you using and are you using an extra strap to stabalize the cam?

John

 

Can you post up any footage as an example?

John

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1fastVX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It is not the camera!! it is most likely your mount. I have the Panasonic GS-250 also and it has worked great in the car!! I used to shoot and edit video for over ten years and I can tell you the GS-250 is a real nice unit. What kind of mount are you using and are you using an extra strap to stabalize the cam?

John</TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't think it was the camera mount because we used the camera in two cars this weekend and the video exhibited the same problems in both cars. Both cars had their own IO PORT camera mounts that haven't been adjusted in 4+ track weekends and video from the old camera was not jittery using the same mounts.

I would agree that the GS250 is a nice unit, the color in the video is awesome, much nicer then my old Sony.

I'll post video from this weekend as soon as I can. I'll try and post examples of:
- 16:9 with and without EIS
- 4:3 with and without EIS

It's worth mentioning that the jitter looks like electronic jitter, not the standard 'shaking hand jitter' that normally indicates a physical restraint problem.


Modified by SpiceyRice at 1:00 PM 8/15/2005

 

Now when you say jitter does it look the the cam is moving up and down...like a vibration or are you talking about like a glitch in the tape? What brand tapes were you using and where they new?

John

 

Also where you using the support strap? I noticed that my cam physically shook a lot if I did not use the strap.

John