Panasonic Palmcorder PV-L550D / PV-L650D: Test Footage

NOTE: This camcorder records in the VHS HQ format, however, this was played back on a regular VHS VCR, your results may vary.

Panasonic's Palmcorder line was one of the most common VHS-C camcorders. They were manufactured between 1990 (citation needed) and 2004. This Palmcorder is the PV-L550D, which was released in the year 2000 alongside the higher end PV-L650D. The PV-D300, PV-L750, and PV-L850 were also released in 2000, but they are not mentioned in the manual for the aforementioned two, so I don't know whether or not they have the same specifications.

The video quality is nothing to write home about, really. When compared to 2000 Hi8, it's slightly better, in my opinion.

The camcorder came equipped with a couple of interesting features like a video light, a digital image stabilizer, backlight compensation, and digital zoom.

Some differences between the 550D and the 650D include:
550D: 2.5" color LCD screen
650D: 4" color LCD screen
650D: comes with remote, 550D doesn't


SPECS:
Video Signal: 525 lines, 60 fields (deinterlaced for the test footage)
Video Recording System: 2 rotary heads plus one flying erase head
Audio: Monaural
Focal Length: 3.9mm - 70.2mm
Zoom: 18x optical | 150x Digital (4 speed)
Lens Thread: 49mm
Minimum Illumination: 0.8 lux


Camcorders on Reddit:   / camcorders