JVC GY-HM100 First Impressions Camcorder Review

Product Tour Summary
	Introduction	(Page 2 of 12)	Audio

Lens & Imaging System

The 10x Fujinon lens is not removeable.

The JVC GY-HM100 is equipped with a non-removable, 10x optical zoom Fujinon lens. The lens has a large ring that can control either focus or zoom, and it includes a detachable lens hood. The lens is made up of three aspheric elements in order to reduce weight and size, while still capturing a strong image. The lens is also coated with an Electronic Beam Coating that is meant to reduce lens flare, ghosting, and degradation caused by reflecting light.

Front

The JVC GY-HM100 from the front

From the front, you get a great view of the camcorder's lens surrounded by the large hood. Above the lens, the front of the camcorder's handlebar juts out with the JVC logo and a record lamp prominently displayed. The detachable shotgun microphone also extends out towards the front of the camcorder.

Right

The shotgun microphone is included with the camcorder.

The right side doesn't have too many controls, but it has a few ports. Below the shotgun microphone holder are two XLR inputs. The mic holder itself plugs into a port near the hand strap on the right side in order to power the XLR inputs. Below that connector is the headphone and 3.5mm mic jack. Towards the back of the camcorder is a mode dial that also acts as an on/off switch.

Back

The tiny control dial to the left of the battery isn't easy to use.

The back houses the camcorder's electronic viewfinder, which can pivot upward to a roughly 45-degree angle. Below the viewfinder is the battery compartment that fits a horizontally-loaded battery pack. To the left of the battery pack are three buttons: iris, shutter, and AE +/-. Beneath these buttons is a tiny dial that is used to make adjustments to the controls whose buttons are listed above (iris, shutter, and AE). The dial is incredibly small and doesn't offer very precise adjustment. To the right of the battery is the record button and three LED lights access lights.

Left

Many controls are located on the left side.

From the left side you can get a good look at the lens ring, as well as many of the camcorder's controls. To the right of the lens ring is an ND filter, a zoom/focus ring control switch, two user assignable buttons, an AF/MF button, a full auto button, a gain control switch and a white balance control switch. Above all this is the audio control box, which is attached to the front of the handlebar. The control box has two-channel audio level adjustment, two auto/manual switches, and three audio input selectors.

Inside the LCD cavity are more controls. Near the bottom are the two SDHC card slots.

The LCD screen is also located on this side. Opening it reveals the LCD cavity, which has a few buttons, the most important being the menu button. Below this is a component-out and AV-out port. Further down, near the base of the camcorder are the two SDHC card slots.

Top

The handlebar on the GY-HM100 is detachable.

The only important part of the top is the accessory shoe located near the front of the handlebar.

Bottom

The camcorder has a traditional tripod mount.

The bottom has is a standard tripod mount, but that's about it.