Hitachi DZ-GX3300A Camcorder Review

Still Features (7.0)
The DZ-GX3300 captures 2016 x 1512 (3MP) stills in the JPEG format to SD card or any of the accepted DVD formats. There are three quality settings for stills: Fine, Normal, and Economy. Stills can be saved to either the DVD disc or an SD card (not included).

Strangely, the GX3300 cannot capture stills at any size but 2016 x 1512. Typically, a camcorder has a maximum still size and with two or more smaller options; it nearly always has a 640 x 480 size. While most people are likely to opt for the largest still size, our society holds a high regard for choices, which Hitachi denies you.

The DZ-GX3300 offers a flash and SD card slot. No card comes included.

Also, unlike the case with many camcorders, not all of the manual controls available in video mode are also available in still mode. Manual focus, white balance, and exposure are offered, as is backlight compensation, but the Program AE modes are no longer an option. Sony, Canon, and Panasonic all carry over the Program AE modes as a quick and dirty alternative to manual adjustments.

The GX3300 offers a flash, which no other Hitachi in the DVD line has. The flash can be turned on and off, but has no brightness. The Hitachi also has a self-timer, fixed at 10 seconds.

The GX3300's maximum still size compares favorably with that of the competition. The DVD405 has the same 2016 x 1512. and the Panasonic D300 is only marginally larger. However, the Canon DC40 has a much larger still option: 2304 x 1736. Nearly all of these camcorders have more manual and automatic controls in still mode.

Still Resolution (21.0)
We tested the Hitachi DZ-GX3300's still resolution by shooting a standard ISO 12233 resolution chart and sending those stills through Imatest imaging software. In total, the GX3300’s stills yielded an approximate resolution of 2099196.8. As we said in the video resolution section, an Imatest resolution score does not tell the whole story of still performance. It only tells the story of the resolution. Yes, the pictures are sharp, but as you'll read below, the colors are terrible.

Still Performance (5.5)
The DZ-GX3300 is the top of the Hitachi DVD line, with the largest imager and largest still size – 2016 x 1512. This also happens to be the only still size it can capture. All these facts might lead you to believe that the stills are of some quality.

In fact, they are not. Most of the colors that were over saturated in the video are completely under-saturated here. There is a good deal of greyish noise undercutting the overall image quality.

More detrimental to image quality are the strange patterns in areas of dense information. Likely due to compression, the patterns create information where it should not exist – solid blocks of black and white running perpendicular to correct information. Neither we nor the camera experts at DigitalCameraInfo.com have seen this particular image defect before. This is a poor image all around.

Crops (100%) of the color chart and resolution chart show the strange patterns that appear in areas of dense information.

The Canon DC40 produced an image the nearly polar opposite of that from the Hitachi, with strong saturation--too strong in the blues and yellows. The max resolution, 2304 x 1736, yielded a naturally sharper image. Even so, we saw nothing close to the Hitachi’s artifacts, and less intense in-camera sharpening as well.

The Panasonic VDR-D300’s stills were more saturated, but with poor color balance. Whites tended to be very bright and blacks very dark, creating a contrasty image overall. While the Hitachi had gray noise to deal with, the D300 had a fair amount of blackish noise.

Like the GX3300, the Sony DCR-DVD405 had an under-saturated image, also in contrast to its over-saturated video. The Sony perhaps had a slightly better color balance than the Hitachi, as the Sony was under-saturated all around, while the Hitachi had some intense looking magentas. The DVD405 had a sharp, clean image with relatively little noise.

The JVC GZ-MG37 is hardly a competitor in this arena, with a maximum still resolution of 640 x 480 (0.3MP). Noise, color balance, and sharpness were all inferior to every other model in its class.

Overall, this was another area of poor performance for the Hitachi GX3300.