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MillimeterJVC GY-HM100U Review
Aug 6, 2009 12:00 PM, By D.W. Leitner
JVC reimagines the small handheld HD camcorder.
Upon connecting via USB, QuickTime files are instantly available on a Mac.
Photo by D.W. Leitner
The color viewfinder offers a comfortably wide diameter—yes!—with a generous exit optic and large floppy eyecup. Furthermore, it can extend an additional 3/4in. from the HM100’s body and tilt up to a more natural viewing position. (Additional points for ergonomics here.) The viewfinder’s internal display is LCD and rather flat in contrast, but it’s bright and easily up to the job of fine focusing. The 2.8in. LCD is bright and sharp too. (Be careful of viewing angle.) Peaking is present in both but not adjustable.
There is no 2X magnification function, but JVC includes its Focus Assist feature, which momentarily converts the color viewfinder or LCD to black and white and adds red contouring to in-focus details. (You can choose blue or green, but red works best.) Focus Assist works OK but disappears in low-contrast or low-key scenes, where you’re on your own.
A bone to pick at this point. Like zebras, you have to assign Focus Assist to one of three user-assignable buttons. There are two on the lens barrel and one hidden under the folded LCD. But the natural position for Focus Assist is the button on the user side of the zoom rocker switch. This is very nearly a convention, like the gas pedal on the right and brake pedal on the left (regardless of right- or left-hand traffic).
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On the HM100, that button instead is dedicated to still photos—one of the most useless and decidedly nonpro features on small camcorders. (I mean, no one uses a camcorder to take stills. Ever tried taking a vertical with a camcorder?) Sony’s HVR-Z5U at least allows this pointless stills button to be reassigned. I would suggest JVC do the same in the next iteration of the HM100. (Likewise, AE exposure functions don’t belong in a professional camcorder.)
While we’re on the subject of user interface: Despite terrific use of graphics—the Index button not only displays a fuel-gauge for the battery, but also an impressive pie chart indicating usage of each SDHC card—the menu tree is poorly organized. As one example out of several, individual audio settings exist at the same root level as CAMERA PROCESS and FILE FORMAT, cluttering navigation.
The five-way mini-joystick on the LCD is mechanically perfect but inconsistently assigned. Sometimes you press to exit; sometimes you press instead the MENU button, which is ordinarily hidden by the closed LCD panel. And that’s a problem. You can’t access menu settings with the LCD closed. (I suggest adding secondary menu control to the existing rotary headphone volume adjustment to the left of the battery. Perhaps a double-click to enable it.) And why can’t the menu be accessed in the first place by pressing the mini-joystick, instead of each time having to reach into the side of the camera to locate the small MENU button (no pimple or special texture), which is impossible to see in dark circumstances? Hint: the mini-joystick’s AE and zoom functions (redundant to the rocker switch) are less than essential.
Audio, last but emphatically not least, is handled well. A side benefit of Sony’s XDCAM EX format is that both 35Mbps and 25Mbps record uncompressed 16-bit, 48kHz PCM audio. Built into the HM100’s XLR adapter on the handle are standard Channel 1/Channel 2 input switches including phantom +48V and auto/manual level controls. When the handle with its XLR adapter is removed, the HM100 automatically reverts to its internal stereo mic. You’re never without uncompressed audio of some sort.
Transfer of MOV files to Final Cut Pro (FCP) is an absolute joy. The HM100 knows when it’s attached to a Mac via USB; you don’t have to switch it to a media mode. A volume called “Untitled” will appear on the OS X desktop. You do have to drill down through five folder levels (Untitled > PRIVATE > JVC > CQAV > CLIP), but there they are: icons of your QuickTime files. You can drag them directly into FCP’s Browser window—or even more remarkably, prior to dragging them into FCP, first play them from the camera by double-clicking them. They play immediately in the QuickTime Player. Or—get this!—you can click the picon (picture icon) in either column view or Cover Flow view, and it will play too.
I repeat: This is directly from the camera, folks. How convenient is that?
People certainly judge how satisfying a camera is by how accomplished its images are technically, but they also judge a camera by how it makes them feel when they’re using it. Do they feel freer, more creative, more inspired? In this last regard, there’s no question that JVC’s HM100 is a lot of fun to carry around and use, and to transfer from later on.
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that all HD is not the same, and that it needn’t be.
bottomline
Company: JVC
pro.jvc.com
Product: GY-HM100U
Assets: File-based recording using Sony XDCAM EX formats, either 25Mbps (1440x1080) or 35Mbps (1920x1080); choice of file type, either MPEG-4 or Apple QuickTime for direct drag-and-drop into Final Cut Pro; recording to cheap SDHC cards; removable full-size handle with two XLR inputs; comfortable, full-size color viewfinder; sensitive zoom rocker switch; ergonomic balance; weighs less than 3lbs.
Caveats: No SD recording available, but offers downconversion; smaller 1/4in. CCDs; no 2X magnification; Focus Assist poor in low-contrast or low-key situations.
Price: $3,995
Continue the discussion on Crosstalk the Millimeter Forum.