Memories are made of this

By CHRIS BARTON

If you're a newcomer to camcorders and want something small and compact and not too expensive then Panasonic's NV-DS65 at $1500 is a good place to start.

Equipped with a single 800,000 pixel CCD, or chip, it delivers reasonable quality video that's great for family occasions and holiday footage.

But while its features make it a great practice handicam for budding Peter Jacksons, don't expect near-broadcast quality video. For that you'll need to pay about $3500 for something like Panasonic's three chip NV-MX500A.

The 10X optical zoom lens in the NV-DS65 is adequate for amateur use but a little disappointing when compared with the 20X optical on Canon's MV6301 or the 20X on Sony's Digital 8 DCRTRV147E. As with most handicams of this ilk, the digital zoom (500X) is useless for pinpointing distant objects because the image degrades so much - although it does let you create weird effects.

The DS65 also has a zoom microphone that attempts to follow the zoom of the camera, to capture sounds - including dialogue - near the subject, rather than sounds around the camera.

Like all good handicams the camera fits snugly in the palm of your hand and the ample 2.5in LCD colour monitor is great for framing shots, plus it has an image stabiliser for dealing with camera shake. The basic controls are mostly intuitive, but some of the more advanced settings are fiddly.

It also features a video light and colour night-view mode - making it possible to shoot in minimal light. You'll want to use the light sparingly, however, as it drains the battery quickly. The black and white viewfinder is a drawback and does hamper shooting. I also found the autofocus slow to kick in at times.

In keeping with the tradition of poorly organised consumer electronics manuals, the DS65's isn't user friendly but with enough page flipping you can find out how to create some basic special effects such as fades and wipes.

Panasonic includes two remote controls with the DS65 - a wireless remote, and a wired remote best suited for taking still pictures or close-ups of yourself talking to camera. The latter is helped by being able to rotate the LCD viewer to face away from the camera.

Panasonic includes an 8MB Secure Digital card for still images. But it takes shots only at a low 640x480 resolution, which is not really good enough for a digital still camera and makes me wonder whether I'd ever bother to use it. Panasonic's DS60 is the same as the DS65 barring the still-shot option, bringing the price down to $1300.

The software includes Windows-only USB drivers, plus ArcSoft's PhotoSuite for stills, not video. And if you want to do video editing on your PC you'll need to fork out extra for video editing software.

Panasonic's DV Studio3 software, for example, will cost $149.

Make sure you get the salesperson to throw in a free DV tape or two (there are none in the box - an annoying omission).

The package includes a DV head-cleaning tape in the box and cables to connect to your PC. TV playback is via a composite connection, which worked fine on my TV. But an S-Video cable isn't included, so if you need to connect to your TV with that it will cost another $20 to $30.

Overall, the DS65 has a nice combination of features and accessories to provide novice users with great video memories, plus (judging by my 12-year-old daughter's efforts) avant garde movie-making.

Panasonic NV-DS65

$1500.

Pros: Good value, with good range of features for an entry-level camcorder.

Cons: Monochrome viewfinder, tardy auto-focus, video editing software not included.

Rating: 7/10