JVC GZ-HM400

Handling (7.00)

The GZ-HM400’s right side is so oddly shaped it makes us wonder what the manufacturers were thinking. Its right side features a large indentation in its middle, which makes the camcorder feel very uncomfortable in your palm. No matter how we held the camcorder, it was impossible for us to fit the thing smoothly into our hand—there was always some level of discomfort. The entire time we spent using the HM400 we were yearning for the smooth, curved design featured on the Panasonic HDC-TM300, Canon HF S11, and JVC’s mid-range models (in particular, the GZ-HM200 has a very good right-side grip).

Adding to the body design problems on the HM400 is the fact that your pinky comes right up to the edge of the built-in mic when you hold the camcorder. If you have thick fingers, your pinky may rub up against (or even cover!) the built-in mic while the camcorder is in use.

The hand strap on the right side of the HM400 is also not up to snuff. It doesn’t have the padding or the comfortable lining we’ve come accustomed to from high-end camcorders. Canon, Sony, and Panasonic’s hand straps are all much more comfortable. Despite these flaws, the HM400 is rather easy to keep steady due to its even weight distribution. We also like the matte finish on the body of the camcorder, as it keeps the surface of the GZ-HM400 free of greasy fingerprints.

The flashy new zoom rocker on the GZ-HM400 is also a very good component. The rocker is one of the best zoom controllers we’ve used for making precise zoom adjustments, and it is quite comfortable as well. We also love the addition of the adjustment control dial near the front of the camcorder. This dial is light years ahead of the Laser Touch system when it comes to adjusting manual controls. The dial and zoom rocker are such good additions that they almost overshadow the camcorder’s terrible right-side grip.

An additional benefit of the adjustment dial is the fact that you don’t have to go into the camcorder’s menu to setup manual control of focus, exposure, shutter speed, or aperture. A little switch behind the dial allows you to control focus or exposure, while dedicated buttons near the back of the camcorder (labeled ‘A’ and ‘S’) turn on aperture and shutter speed control. This means you can easily and quickly switch between controls as you manipulate them with the dial. Another button, also located in the back of the camcorder, can be customized to turn on any feature you desire (this button is labeled with a ‘U’ for user defined).

Portability (6.47)

The biggest difference between the GZ-HM400 and GZ-X900 is definitely size. The GZ-HM400 is one of the bulkiest internal memory camcorders on the market, but its size definitely has its benefits. As we discussed in our Stabilization section above, the GZ-HM400 is very evenly weighted, which makes the camcorder easy to balance and keep steady. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to slip the camcorder into your pocket as its large size requires it to be transported in a small bag or holder.

The GZ-HM400 weighs almost the same as the Canon HF S11 (500g), while the Panasonic HDC-TM300 weighs quite a bit less (386g). All of these camcorders are too large to carry around in your pocket, but none of them are heavy enough to put a lot of stress on your wrist during a long day of shooting. The JVC GZ-X900 is definitely more portable than the GZ-HM400 due to its smooth, rectangular design and lighter body, but it doesn’t have nearly as many features and includes no internal memory.

Battery Life (8.15)

The GZ-HM400 had one of the best battery performances we’ve tested. The camcorder lasted for 163 minutes in our battery test (2 hours, 43 minutes), which is more than double how long the battery on the GZ-X900 lasted. The GZ-HM400’s battery life was significantly longer than any other high-end consumer HD camcorder we’ve tested this year. It beat out both the Panasonic HDC-TM300 and Canon HF S11 by roughly an hour. More on how we test battery life.

If a 163-minute battery life isn’t enough for you, JVC does sell larger batteries that will give you a longer performance. The camcorder has an open battery compartment, so you can easily fit larger packs back there while you shoot. You could also just get an extra battery from JVC, which will allow you to shoot for roughly 5 hours with two fully-charged packs.

LCD & Viewfinder (8.07)

The GZ-HM400 has a 2.8-inch LCD screen with a 207,000 pixel resolution. As with most LCD panels, the screen can rotate up to 270 degrees so you can do some self-shooting if you want to. The 2.8-inches is a decent size, although there are a couple of consumer camcorders out there with screens as large as 3.2 inches. The resolution of the HM400’s screen isn’t as high as we’d like, but overall the LCD does a decent job. The LCD has 11 brightness settings and the backlight can be set to Brighter, Standard, or Auto.

As with all new JVC models, the LCD panel features a Laser Touch strip on its left side. The strip has a bit of a different design than the GZ-X900, however. The HM400’s strip is embedded slightly (like a shallow trench), while the X900 featured a perfectly flat strip that was even with the surface of the panel. The same thing goes with the small buttons on the bottom of the LCD panel. We didn’t notice much of a difference between the response and functionality of the Laser Touch on the two camcorders, but we like the embedded buttons on the HM400 more. It makes the buttons easier to find with your fingertips—especially since they are touch-sensitive.

Feature	JVC GZ-HM400	JVC Everio GZ-X900	Panasonic HDC-TM300	Canon Vixia HF S11
Display Size	2.8 in.	2.8 in.	2.7 in.	2.7 in.
Display Resolution	207000 pixels	207000 pixels	230400 pixels	211000 pixels
Touch Screen	✗	✗	✓	✗
Viewfinder	✗	✗	✓	✗
Viewfinder Resolution	n/a	n/a	183000 pixels	n/a

Many traditional videographers will lament the fact that the HM400 does not include an electronic viewfinder. The camcorder is definitely large enough to accommodate one, but it seems JVC (along with Canon) doesn’t think a viewfinder is a necessity for high-end consumer camcorders. Sony and Panasonic both include electronic viewfinders on their high-end models.

Stabilization (7.53)

The JVC GZ-HM400 did well in our stabilization test for a number of reasons. First, the camcorder is quite large and is weighted evenly so keeps relatively steady even without its optical image stabilization (OIS) system engaged. Secondly, the camcorder’s OIS does a decent job reducing the shakiness of the image. The graph below shows what we’re talking about. In our low shake test (top graph) the camcorder’s OIS reduced 48% of the shake. In our high shake test, the GZ-HM400 did even better, reducing 57% of the shake. More on how we test stabilization.

You should also take a look at how little the camcorder shook with its OIS system turned off. The blue lines represent the camcorder’s motion without any image stabilization, while the red shows the motion with OIS engaged. The GZ-HM400 is weighted so well that the camcorder was extremely stable even without OIS. Most consumer camcorders shake a whole lot more when we test them (particularly in our high shake test). The video below is an example of the GZ-HM400’s stabilization system in action:

The GZ-HM400 and the GZ-X900 are JVCs only camcorders from 2009 that include optical image stabilization. JVCs mid-range models all offer digital stabilization, which can result in degraded image quality when engaged. The HM400 did a much better job with stabilization than the smaller GZ-X900. This probably has to do with the fatter, more even-weighted design of the GZ-HM400.