As tech reviewers, we're always looking for the best products to recommend. And like a casting agent holding an audition or an HR rep poring over resumes, we tend to prefer a candidate with some unusual feature that makes it stand out from the pack. So when we glanced over the Panasonic PV-GS35 camcorder's specs and saw that the zoom is a whopping 30X optical zoom, we were intrigued. But one feature can't carry an entire camcorder, and the PV-GS35 doesn't have much else to going for it.

With a $450 (street) price tag, the Panasonic PV-GS35 at the expensive end of our sub-$500 category. But it's the quality of the video footage that prevents this camcorder from getting a higher rating.

We were especially concerned by the lack of optical image stabilization. Why Panasonic—renowned for its Mega OIS (optical image stabilization)—didn't include it in this camera, especially given the long zoom, we don't know. We do know it would have dramatically helped the quality of our hand-held video clips, especially at maximum zoom. In real-world testing, when we zoomed in past 10X, the camcorder picked up even the slightest hand movements and magnified them, which made for some very shaky close-ups.

We'd also like to see more manual controls, as on the Canon ZR200. With the PV-GS35, you're dependent on menus to control image capture.

On the positive side, the camera's articulating LCD is bright and clear, (although it's not a touch screen, which might be a drawback for some). We also liked that you can pop the miniDV tape out from the top of the camera, which spares you the trouble of detaching the camcorder from a tripod. The well-organized menu structure is also a plus, as is the four-way joystick, positioned so you can hold the camcorder and navigate with one hand. Overall, the PV-GS35 is light, easy to hold, and fairly compact.

Unfortunately video quality is average at best. Resolution is 400 lines, according to our EIA Resolution Chart test. We saw moderately good dynamic range and good contrast and color accuracy. Audio was adequate, not great. We were also disappointed by the video clarity and autofocus performance in our action clip. Overall, the footage we got looked soft and displayed a bit of shimmering, even in bright light.

The camcorder can capture stills at 640-by-480 resolution, but our test images looked terrible. There's no flash, and the PV-GS35 captured only 375 lines of resolution, on average, which is below the lowest acceptable score for a 1MP camera. We don't expect to get good photos from any camcorder, let alone one in this price range, but camcorders like the Canon ZR200 do a much better job.

For a moderately priced, one-CCD miniDV digital camcorder, we prefer the Canon ZR200's video quality and shape—and it's also about $100 cheaper. We also prefer the JVC GR-D33US in our under-$500 category, because of its superior video quality and even lower price.

Compare these camcorders side by side in our comparison table.