PV-GS500 - Just picked it up

[VanMac]

Hey.

So, after much deliberation between all kinds of models, I decided to go with the PV-GS500. Thanks for all the help here and good advice.

I was tempted with the HC3, but thought I would let HD mature for a couple of years and get a solid SD cam to hold me over till then.

Anywho, it is just unpacked, battery is charging, and I'm reading up on things. Build quality looks great. Impressive piece of hardware.

I'm sure I will have lots of questions. First one being, are you able to get video from camera into iMovie (or something), that has not been put to tape. ie: just live dump from camera through firewire to disk. Doesnt have to be full quality video....just something to play around with, make some quick clips or personal interviews, etc.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Let us know your real-world experiences with it -- I'm on the cusp of a purchase -- same dilemma HC3 or GS300/500

 

[Mydriasis]

Nice, the GS500 is a really nice camera.

 

[electric]

I too bought

I love my PV-GS500. It has very good video quality and is easy to use. I read that one of the drawbacks to this mini DV is the joystick operations in manual mode, I read that in order to change aperture or shutter speed, one would need to tap the joystick repeatedly up and down the increments but i have not found it to be a huge issue.

I debated about this one and the HC1 or HC3 before the purchase too, I chose this one because of the advanced manual operations and I did not feel like I needed HD quite yet.

As far as using it with iMovie, just make sure you use a 6 pin to 4 pin firewire cable and just plug it in and review and capture the video .... easy!

T

 

[VanMac]

Let us know your real-world experiences with it -- I'm on the cusp of a purchase -- same dilemma HC3 or GS300/500

Will Do - Taking it out tomorrow for some filming, so I'll let you know how it goes.

I was flip flopping quite a bit between HC3/GS500. I'm a gadget freak , and would really like the HD, but in the end, I would be not that happy with my purchase 1-2 years from now, as there will be alot better HD cameras released in that time frame. I figured get a good SD for now, easier to edit footage, and then get an HD in a couple of years. I can use my GS500 as second cam, backup, second shot, whatever.

 

[VanMac]

As far as using it with iMovie, just make sure you use a 6 pin to 4 pin firewire cable and just plug it in and review and capture the video .... easy!

T

Ya, I'm OK with transferring video already on tape.

My question was more around plugging in the cam with no tape, and just grab video feed directly from camera. Kinda like you can use iChat AV and use external firewire cam, how can I record that feed???

 

[EricFletcher]

yeeeeeah GS200-500's are really awesome. My friend out in Los Angeles got his a few weeks back.

I'm old school, so I have a VX1000. Small 3 chip cams arent really my thing (except the TRV, that comes in handy for a second angle cam).