Panasonic AGD-VC7

[HankCastello]

This is a one-chip, 1/4 inch CCD over-sized, but lightweight, camera.  

What's great about it?  It's a shoulder mount!  I can't tell you how enjoyable it is to cover a reception with a shoulder mount - nice steady shots and moves, all without a tripod that can tie you down like an anchor.

Unfortunately, Panasonic overstates the Lux rating (no way is it a "1", try "5" or so).  Low light images lack saturation and are quite grainy.   Side by side comparisons to VX2100 put this C7 to shame.

Still, the price is right.  The camera has a sticker that says "Professional use only".  That, and it's big size and shoulder mount, may impress your clients.  Just make sure you have plenty of light and upgrade to a good 1/3 inch 1-Lux camera when you can.

[osbornes5]

The above post pretty much says it all. It will crank it up in low light due to the 18db gain but the pics are a bit grainy at that amplification and they do lack saturation. That is pretty obvious. However a good NLE (non-linear editor) such as Adobe Premiere Pro etc. will allow you to boost the saturation and really improve the color. You can't do anything about the grain though. If you have plenty of light the image is quite nice though not the same as a 1/3" 3 chip cam such as the Sony VX-2100 or this cam's cousin the Panasonic AGDVX100. Initial reviews indicated that the cam was purposely oversized to look impressive to clients. That's the same reason for the hokey "For Professionals Only" badge. But don't knock it as that stuff really matters to clients and can really help. It's good for what it is, but when you get this thing don't buy the 1 lux rating thing. It may give you an image that is fairly bright in 1 lux light, but the quality is not great.