JVC GZ-HM400

Color (9.89)

The JVC GZ-HM400 captured deep, vibrant colors in our bright light testing. The camcorder measured a color error of 3.54 and a saturation level of 92.26%. These are very good scores, but they are no different from what we’ve come to expect from a high-end camcorder. Nearly all camcorders over $1000 will get you similar results in bright light. 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-HM400 produced a color error of 3.54 and a saturation level of 92.26% in our bright light color testing.

Looking at the error map above, you can see the GZ-HM400 handled blues and reds with spot-on accuracy. The camcorder really only had trouble with certain yellow and green tones. This is similar to what we saw on the JVC GZ-X900. None of JVC’s camcorders offer any alternate color modes, so we only have one sample image shown below. New on the GZ-HM400, however, is an image sharpness control option. We have examples of this sharpness feature in our manual controls section.

Auto 100% Crop

In bright light, the JVC GZ-HM400’s image is very good—there is no doubt about that. Its colors appear a bit more vibrant than those of the GZ-X900, which is accentuated by the HM400’s higher saturation level. Its color palette is also slightly different than that of the Panasonic HDC-TM300 and Canon HF S11, which you can see in the comparison images below. The Panasonic produced lighter greens and blues, while the Canon rendered a different tone to its brown and red colors.

JVC GZ-HM400 Color Comparisons
JVC GZ-HM400
JVC Everio GZ-X900 Panasonic HDC-TM300 Canon Vixia HF S11 More...

Close-Up Color Comparisons				Expand
	Ideal	JVC GZ-HM400	JVC Everio GZ-X900	Panasonic HDC-TM300	Canon Vixia HF S11
Red
Green
Blue
Light Skin
Dark Skin

As we said before, most high-end camcorders produce very good colors in bright light. The Canon HF S11 was a bit worse than the rest of the camcorders in this set, but Canon makes up for this by including a wide range of color adjustment options. The fact that JVC doesn’t include any color controls may dishearten some, but the colors captured by the camcorder in auto mode are very strong.

Low Light Color (5.67)

The JVC GZ-HM400 didn’t do very well in our low light color testing. It measured a color error of 6.27 and a saturation level of 60.11%, both of which are large drops from the camcorder’s bright light color numbers. In addition to its poor color accuracy, the camcorder had an off-color hue in its low light image that gave the picture a slight greenish-blue tint. This discoloration was present even when we used the camcorder’s manual white balance function. The camcorder did perform better than the GZ-X900, however, which is a pleasant surprise. 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-HM400 produced a color error of and a saturation level of in our bright light color testing.

The color error map above shows the HM400 had trouble with all colors in low light. A few of the browns were captured with decent accuracy, but everything else was very off. As you can see in the comparisons below, the GZ-HM400 did manage a brighter image than the GZ-X900 and Canon HF-S11.

Noise (9.59)

The GZ-HM400 averaged low noise levels in bright light with 0.6225% noise. This is basically the same amount of noise we measured on the JVC GZ-X900, and it is a bit less noise than what was present on the Canon HF S11. The Panasonic HDC-TM300 had the lowest noise levels of the bunch. Most high-end camcorders don’t have a problem with noise in bright light, although the same definitely cannot be said about low light. More on how we test noise.

JVC GZ-HM400 Noise Comparisons
JVC GZ-HM400 100% Crop	JVC Everio GZ-X900 100% Crop Panasonic HDC-TM300 100% Crop Canon Vixia HF S11 100% Crop More...

The crops above do an excellent job showing off the sharpness each camcorder is capable of. Since all these models are top-of-the-line camcorders, they each capture incredibly sharp HD video. The two JVC models produced the sharpest video images we’ve ever seen—thanks in large part to their gigantic CMOS sensors. The Panasonic HDC-TM300 and Canon HF S11 aren’t far behind, however. Notice that the JVC models show some finer detail at the bottom of the vertical trumpets when compared to the Panasonic and Canon camcorders, but the difference is barely noticeable.