JVC GZ-HM200

Color (18.13)

The JVC GZ-HM200 put up spectacular numbers in our bright light color test. The camcorder measured a color error of 1.93 and a saturation level of 102%. JVC has shown us very accurate colors on most of its models this year, but the GZ-HM200 takes home first prize in this test. These color scores are excellent, and they are better than the numbers we’ve gotten from every other camcorder we’ve tested this year. More on how we test color.

Color Accuracy Performance
	Color Error Map
	The map on the left is a diagram of the color error. The length and direction of each line indicates how the camera processed each particular color while capturing video. The JVC GZ-HM200 produced a color error of 1.93 and a saturation level of 102.0% in our bright light color testing.

In the Error Map shown above, you can see the GZ-HM200 produced nearly all the colors in our test chart with sublime accuracy. It was most accurate with greens and yellows, but it did very well across the board. The HM200 has no color modes, so what you see in auto mode is what you get as far as color is concerned. Below is a sample image taken from our color testing.

Auto 100% Crop

In the comparison images below you can see the GZ-HM200 captured a similar image to the JVC GZ-HM400. The HM200, however, produced more vivid colors and had better color accuracy in our testing. Both the Canon HF20 and Panasonic HDC-SD20 were farther behind in this test, but neither fared poorly.

JVC GZ-HM200 Color Comparisons
JVC GZ-HM200
Panasonic HDC-SD20 Canon Vixia HF20 JVC GZ-HM400 More...

Close-Up Color Comparisons				Expand
	Ideal	JVC GZ-HM200	Panasonic HDC-SD20	Canon Vixia HF20	JVC GZ-HM400
Red
Green
Blue
Light Skin
Dark Skin

Determining how well a camcorder captures colors has a lot to do with personal preference. Some people like lots of saturation, some people like bright colors, and some people like more faded tones. What we can tell you is the JVC GZ-HM200 captures very accurate colors with strong and even saturation levels. The only downside is the fact that the camcorder doesn’t offer any color adjustment controls—something that the Canon HF20 and Panasonic HDC-SD20 both offer in at least a limited capacity.

Low Light Color (7.09)

The GZ-HM200 showed a significant drop in color accuracy when we lowered the lights for our low light color test. This is normal, however, and the camcorder’s 5.17 color error is actually better than average for a mid-range model. In low light, the HM200 showed us faded colors and it registered a saturation level of just 55.39%. This is a little below average for a camcorder of its class. More on how we test low light color.

Low Light Color Accuracy Performance
	Color Error Map
	The map on the left is a diagram of the color error. The length and direction of each line indicates how the camera processed each particular color while capturing video. The JVC GZ-HM200 produced a color error of and a saturation level of in our bright light color testing.

Looking at the comparison images below, you’ll see the HM200 isn’t alone in producing a washed-out and faded low light image. The rest of the camcorders in this set had even worse color accuracies than the GZ-HM200, with the closest competitor being the Canon HF20, which retained a fair amount of saturation and color depth.

Though the low light performance wasn’t as strong as the color in bright light, we were far from disappointed. We should note, however, that the GZ-HM200 had a slight off-color tone in its low light image—something we noticed on the JVC GZ-HM400 and GZ-X900 as well. The HM400 was a worse offender; you can actually see agreenish-yellow tone in the gray parts of the HM400’s crop above.

Noise (9.65)

The GZ-HM200 averaged 0.6175% noise in our bright light testing. This is a good showing for the camcorder and it is roughly the same amount of noise we measured on the GZ-HM400. More on how we test noise.

JVC GZ-HM200 Noise Comparisons
JVC GZ-HM200 100% Crop	Panasonic HDC-SD20 100% Crop Canon Vixia HF20 100% Crop JVC GZ-HM400 100% Crop More...

Being a mid-range camcorder, it shouldn’t be surprising to see the GZ-HM200 capture a less sharp image than the JVC GZ-HM400. The crops above really tell this story better than we can describe. The most impressive thing to note about the images above is the amount of detail captured by the Canon HF20. The HF20 is one of Canon’s mid-range HD camcorders, yet it captures a much sharper image than both the Panasonic HDC-SD20 and the JVC GZ-HM200. Of course, it’s also quite a bit more expensive than these two models.