Panasonic AG-DVC60

I wanted to make the best purchase for my money, and did alot of research on pro cameras before I bought, and it was aparent from the start that this camera is too good to be true for its price range. As a first time professional camera user with prior photographic and camcorder experience and knowledge it took me one evening to master the controls, and about 6 to 8 hours of use overall to master its menu interface and manual features. The camera is light enough to use in rough terrain, as in the mountain range reserve where I do my shoots. It carries easily enough, and the view finder slides in against the camcorder body making it more compact. The body is strong and you get the feel you are working with a rugged piece of quality equipment. It inspires confidence and it turns heads. The tape mechanism is a bit slow, and loading times when dubbing tapes feels a bit sluggish. You can hear the response of the motorisation of the camera during remote control is delayed somehow. I have a small cheapo camcorder which is zippy and responds as you click the capture button, so I know that it is possible to get faster reponse times. I would say this is a good piece of equipment for training purposes , but one which can also be applied in the working field. The processing chips and lense is the same as the more expensive dvx100, but the smaller ccd causes bad lowlight shooting quality and some colour bleeding. Although the pictures it produces is clear and deeply colourful, it could be more crisp, but still good enough to broadcast. I use a r0de camera microphone, and has made some studio work with the mic to test it and it is really great. The onboard mic of the camera is not the best, but it is not bad. I have done most of my shooting in windy mountain conditions, and with wind cut set to on in the menu, it captures acceptably. I bought a pro tripod with the camera and will never regret it. The tripod really brings out the best of the camera, and without it smooth shots is hard, even at a 3rd zoon distance. I use the manfrotto 503 head which was desinged for cameras of 2.5kg. The camera is just the right weight for it. I purchased a 10 hour battery and get about 6 hours out of it at a go. I am producing a dvd for the tourism market and the camera is perfect for my project. I could not have made a better choice given my budget, as the performace of the product is quite astounding.

Lightweight, rugged, solid, impressive, great manual versatility, carry handle on top it perfect for low level shooting and the shouldermount is rubberised so it sits snug. headphone socket and monitor level adjust works well, and the xlr sockets allows for really pro sound capture at outdoor events.

You can only assign one feature at a time to the single focal ring which is a digital reastat linked to electronic control of the lense carriage motors, and iris motors. When in manual focus mode, iris adjustment is only accessible in the menu, which is a bit tricky to navigate with your eye glued to the view finder. The roller focus at the bottom of the view finder is easily moved, and needs to be adjusted quite often. Dubbing is slow, and some makes of dv tapes doesn't work very well with the camcorder. I stick to sony mini dv tapes and the picture is always there. It is so big as to be conspicuous, and in public places I quickly get my shot and move on. I don't want to attract the wrong kind of attention in the city streets, which is rather impossible with this camera.

nope, not recently...

The place where I bought my camera is a single distributor of different makes, and even they were very much impressed with the camera when it arrived in store.