JVC Everio GZ-MG670 Camcorder Review

Manual Controls Summary
• Automatic adjustments are sufficient for focus and exposure, but poor for white balance • Features 35x optical zoom, 40x advanced zoom, and 800x digital zoom • Manual focus is tedious and imprecise with the Laser Touch controls • Excellent range of shutter speed options, as low as 1/2 • Manual white balance is cumbersome and unintuitive
	Compression & Media	(Page 7 of 17)	Still Features

Auto Mode (6.40)

With the increasing popularity of high definition video, the user base for standard definition camcorders is becoming increasingly populated by less experienced videographers. That makes automatic controls all the more important. We found the JVC GZ-MG670 to be moderately proficient in this arena. The most troublesome setting is, unfortunately, the automatic white balance, which really struggled in most indoor lighting conditions. Tungsten and fluorescent lights cast a hue over the entire image that was never quite corrected why the white balance. Even more unfortunately, performing a manual white balance on the MG670 is cumbersome and unintuitive.

All the other controls fare better, especially the autofocus. In very low light, the camcorder might struggle to find focus and keeping object in focus at the full 35x zoom can be tricky, but almost everything else works well. This is a blessing, since the manual focus tool is one of the worst we've seen.

As for exposure, most users will find the automatic adjustments more than adequate. JVC even throws in some extra control over how the camcorder chooses its automatic exposure: you can choose either Whole Screen or Spot metering. As the name implies, the Whole Screen option looks at the entire shot and automatically corrects for exposure as best it can. Spot metering creates a small red target in the center of the screen; whatever appears in the center of the target becomes the point of metering. You can move that target horizontally left or right, but this is a little tedious and makes the tool feel more like a manual control. (If you're going to go to the trouble of tweaking your metering point, why not just set the brightness manually?)

There's also backlight compensation, which works quite well when you're trying to shoot a shadowy subject that's backlit by bright light. The control is a bit hidden; you'll find it as a button attached to the slider during shooting and not any of the menus.

Low Light Modes
There are no dedicated low light modes on the JVC GZ-MG670. The scene modes (also known as Program AE modes) include a couple options to enhance low light performance: Night and Twilight. There's also the auto gain control (AGC), which will lower shutter speed, especially when set to auto.

Scene Modes
In addition to the normal automatic settings, you can choose from a list of Program AE modes—usually called "Scene Modes" on most camcorders. These will serve as a slight guide to how the camcorder is making its automatic adjustments. Options include Night, Twilight, Portrait, Sports, Snow, and Spotlight.
 

Zoom (6.50)

The JVC GZ-MG670 has a small, flimsy toggle in the traditional location up top. It rests just below most index fingers and, despite feeling a little cheap, it gets the job done. The toggle reacts to variable finger pressure, so you can get a quick zoom or a nice slow crawl. A big change from last year's model is the removal of numerical increments to mark your position within the zoom range. This makes it tough to replicate a shot and difficult to tell your position within the overall zoom range. There is a small scale on the LCD to indicate your general zoom position, but this is a disappointing downgrade from last year's models.

The JVC GZ-MG670's zoom toggle is good enough to get the job done.

Zoom Ratio (11.45)

The MG670 comes equipped with a 35x optical zoom and a 40x dynamic zoom. Dynamic zoom is a new technology being utilized by several manufacturers this year as a way of boosting zoom without compromising image quality. To the naked eye, the dynamic zoom is just as clear as the optical zoom, but this might not be the case on high definition models.

For those with special zoom needs, there is also a digital zoom that can be capped off at 80x or 800x. We always recommend you stick to optical, as digital zoom definitely has a negative effect on image quality.

Zoom Comparisons
Wide Angle	Middle Zoom	35x Zoom

Focus (3.00)

The JVC Laser Touch system is not the same as a touch screen, but it's about as awkward. With a touch screen, you often have to use an onscreen slider that is imprecise and requires you to block the LCD with your finger. The controls on the MG670 are to the left of the display, so you're not forced to block the screen, but getting a precise focus level with the Laser Touch slider is nigh impossible. Focus is represented by a tiny, ambiguous scale (that ranges from "man" to "mountain"). Rather than allowing a smooth focus, the tool is broken down into 33 discrete increments. You're much better off letting auto focus steer the ship.

Manual Control Menu

Exposure (6.50)

The MG670's exposure tool is called Brightness and can be found in the Manual Settings submenu. There are thirteen increments, which you should have no problem choosing via the Laser Touch slider.
 

Aperture (0.00)

The GZ-MG670 does not offer direct control over aperture, which might limit its appeal to advanced users. Canon offers Aperture Priority modes on most of its camcorders, while Panasonic offers fully independent aperture and shutter speed.
 

Shutter Speed (9.40)

The MG670 offers one of the widest ranges of shutter speeds available on a consumer camcorder. There are thirteen total increments: the fastest is 1/4000, while the slowest goes all the way down to 1/2. The Laser Touch slider is an adequate control for selecting among the shutter speeds.
 

White Balance (7.25)

Setting a manual white balance is unnecessarily awkward. Once you find the option in the menus, you have to hold down on the Laser Touch OK button. This is the only time you ever use the Laser Touch controls in this way and— unlike with other uses of the controls—there is no operation sound to offer feedback when the manual white balance has been activated. This is an unfortunate glitch, since the automatic white balance is quite poor. We highly recommend that you do a manual white balance in any indoor shooting environments.
 

Gain (2.00)

JVC consumer camcorders do not have discrete gain controls—so far only Panasonic has implemented this in its consumer line. Like most JVC camcorders, however, the MG670 does offer users some control over whether to use the unit's built-in auto gain control (AGC). On the MG670, you can choose between AGC off, AGC on, and AGC auto. In low light, turning the AGC off resulted in an impossibly dark image. Turning the AGC on allowed for a significantly brighter image. Setting the AGC to auto was slightly brighter still—perhaps as a result of the seemingly lower shutter speed.
 

Color & Image Controls (0.00)

There are no special color and image controls on the JVC GZ-MG670.
 

Other Manual Controls (1.00)