Panasonic NV-GS250 review

They say you can suss a person's character and personality within the first 10 seconds of meeting them, and the same can also be applied to DV cameras from the point at which they're removed from their shiny new packaging.

And we liked the Panasonic NV-GS250 from the second we set eyes on it.

Since the beginning of the year, we've seen the introduction of bulkier, shiny metallic camcorder bodies that contrast with the slimline and lightweight models of previous years, and that has to be good. What's even more impressive is the way manufacturers have woken up to consumers' displeasure at awkward features such as bottom-loading tape drives and myriad useless features that clog up the menu systems. If 2005 has brought us one thing, it's a good choice of top-loading DV cameras.

Panasonic has evidently been listening to our moans and groans, as it has come up with a model that looks and feels good from the moment it leaves the box. The NV-GS250 has a lovely weight distribution - not too heavy, but with sufficient mass to give you a good grip and aid shot stability - and is endowed with switches and buttons positioned where they need to be for hassle-free operation. Not only are you blessed with full input and output capabilities for both digital and analogue connections, but you've got three 1/6in 630,000 pixel (effective) CCDs for movies, each producing an increased resolution of 800,000 pixels when shooting stills to an SD card. The resulting images are clear, crisp and well resolved, thanks to a Leica Dicomar f1.6 10:1 optical zoom lens, which also provides digital zooming at very reasonable 20:1 and utterly useless 500:1 ratios.

In keeping with this year's trend, Panasonic has provided us with true 16:9 widescreen, in which the wide image is compressed into the 4:3 image space and uncompressed in playback. This process takes advantage of additional pixels on the array to provide a slightly wider angle of view. This is also the case when shooting 4:3 stills to an SD card.

The NV-GS250 also offers optical image stabilisation (OIS), and this comes in handy when you're hand-holding a shot while at the bottom end of a 20:1 zoom. Although optical and electronic stabilisation systems have been somewhat questionable in the past, the implementation in this model is actually quite useful and effective.

All the main focus, exposure and white balance controls can be accessed in both Auto and Manual modes, except for the audio-recording level. Particularly welcome is the easy-access Manual Focus switch, which sits inside the 2.5in colour LCD screen recess, with good manual focus control made possible by a large, knurled focus ring at the front end. What's rather odd, however, is the tiny joystick designed to assist menu navigation, tape playback and still-image management. Situated in the centre of the main function dial at the rear of the camera, this stubby little control takes some getting used to, especially when fast-forwarding, stopping and rewinding a DV cassette. It's easy to get confused, even if it's a slight improvement on the tiny thumbwheels so common on other models.

Interestingly, there's a microphone in the remote-control stick, which can be used to record simple on-the-spot commentaries or interviews. Kids will love using it to record their video diaries, no doubt. The built-in mic, on the other hand, has a zoom facility, which means it will mimic the action of the zoom lens. In practice, it isn't that effective and only works well with close subjects.