Panasonic AG-DVC30 Mini DV Digital Camcorder - Review Gist

The bottom line:
A compact model with a wealth of features for its price, the Panasonic AG-DVC30 offers one of the best values in a three-chip MiniDV camera.

Full color low light sensitivity is very good with relatively low noise gain settings up to +18db. This may be due in part to it being multi-functional, working as either a zoom, focus or iris control. The 3.5-inch LCD display is very bright and provides user selectable feedback with a variety of key camera data including a responsive two-color audio level indicator. *

The AG-DVC30's viewfinder is quite similar to the AG-DVX100A's, though its lens and rubber eyecup are significantly smaller. Autofocus is very quick and accurate, providing you want to focus on whatever is in the middle of the screen. *

The video performance on the Panasonic AG-DVC30 is quite good. The Viewfinder is very nice and features a selectable black and white/ color .44 inch, 180,000 pixel screen. Auto focus is very precise and quick. The auto exposure is accurate. The auto exposure is very accurate and the manual control is available when desired. It's too bad that all the cameras in this range use servo motors to drive lens focus and zoom. The 16x optical zoom on the AG-DVC30 is very impressive and allows the user... *