JVC GZ-GX1 Camcorder Review

Color

The color error on the JVC GZ-GX1 measured at 3.72, which is a solid score that is on par with the competition. Impressively, the saturation level in bright light topped out at 96%, which is also a very good showing for the camcorder. The colors are bright, vibrant, and strong in bright light, but we urge you to look at the sample images below to get an idea of what the colors look like to your own eyes. More on how we test color.

The GX1 has no color modes, so if you were hoping to give your image a saturation boost or reduction, you won't be able to do that in-camera. You can, of course, manipulate colors after recording using a basic editing program (like iMovie), but that requires an extra step of work.

The GZ-GX1's color rendering compares favorably with the competition, as you can see by looking at the crops below. The GX1 produced an image that is slightly dimmer than the JVC PX10 in our bright light test, but that has more to do with the camcorder's auto exposure system than its color reproduction.

Low Light Color

The GX1 maintained accurate, vibrant color reproduction even in low light situations. It's numbers in our color test for low light weren't much different than that of our bright light test—and its color accuracy score was actually better in low light. Here's the results: a 3.31 color error and a 94% saturation level. That saturation in particular is very impressive for the GX1, as we often see a huge drop-off in vividness in our low light test. Not so with the GZ-GX1. More on how we test low light color.

Noise

Noise levels were very low in our bright light testing with the GX1. We measured the noise percentage at just 0.44% in this test, and anything lower than 0.5% is considered excellent. Before you get all giddy with this noise performance, however, we should warn you that the GZ-GX1 didn't do nearly as well with noise in low light. So, if you're concerned about noise in darker shooting situations, you may want to skip over to that section right now. More on how we test noise.

We urge you to take a close look at the crops shown above, as they give you an excellent view of the GX1's sharpness capabilities in bright light. The camcorder did quite well in this realm, and its sharpness numbers were strong for a model in the sub-$1000 price range. In the comparison images, it's difficult to see a difference in sharpness and detail between the GX1 and the camcorders we compared it to. In our actual sharpness test we saw more of a discrepancy, as that test takes a closer look at the overall sharpness capabilities of a camcorder.