Panasonic NV-GS10

Although the Panasonic NV-GS10 is by no means the smallest camcorder in the world, its pleasing, rounded design fits snugly in the hand and will almost certainly make it a popular choice. The GS10 is the most basic model in Panasonic's GS range, but it offers a surprising amount for only £500.

The most important aspect of any camcorder is, of course, picture quality and the GS10 records video with fantastic colour reproduction and detail. There's no megapixel still photo capability, but an 800,000 pixel CCD image sensor and a progressive photo feature can help to augment the quality and resolution of your snaps.

The GS10 suffers from many shortfalls that are common to camcorders at the low end of the budgetary scale - there's no DV-in, for example, the optical zoom is only an average 10x and there's no memory card slot for separate storage of still and moving pictures.

It's obvious, however, that the GS10 has been put together with a great amount of care and thought. Despite its size and shape, for example, the GS10 still manages to incorporate a top-loading cassette mechanism rather than the awkward bottom-loaders, like the Canon MV500 and the JVC GR-D70.

It also has an interesting colour night-shoot feature, which cleverly converts the large (3.5in) fold-out LCD screen into a lamp. Also included in the box is a handy wired remote control, which also doubles up as an external microphone.

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www.panasonic.co.uk