JVC GZ-HD7 Camcorder Reviewby John NeelyPublished on Apr 26, 2007 10:00 AM
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Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (5.0)
The HD7 performs adequately in auto mode, with focus and exposure on par with competing consumer HD camcorders in the $1000-plus range. In a side-by-side comparison with the Canon HV20 and Panasonic HDR-SD1, we favored the auto exposure calibration on the HD7 in-particular for capturing detail in the darker areas of high-contrast scenes. The Canon tended to select a darker overall exposure for the same high-contrast scenes, leaving the blacks with nearly zero legibility, while the Panasonic ended up somewhere in the middle. Neither the Canon’s higher auto exposure nor the JVC’s lower auto exposure settings are perfectly calibrated. In fact, there’s arguably no ideal auto exposure setting, because camcorders have a relatively narrow exposure latitude compared to the human eye or even film. As a result, auto exposure tends to split the difference between the whites and blacks in any framing - but the JVC’s auto exposure seemed closer to the mark most of the time. Adjustments come very slowly however, in stark contrast to the jumpy Canon and smooth, quick Sony responses.
The JVC’s more grievous weakness was achieving accurate automatic white balance, in both mixed and single-source lighting. Compared to all of its HD competitors, the JVC produced a consistently warm image with pronounced yellows and reds. The result was a pleasingly soft image for skin tones – but one that was far off the mark in terms of accuracy. The Canon HV20, Panasonic HDC-SD1, and Sony HDR-HC7 all yielded a more balanced and accurate color palette in auto mode.
Overall Manual Control (8.5)
When we first took a gander at the JVC GZ-HD7 way back in January at CES 2007, we could see right away that this was going to boast some unusually good manual controls, though exactly how they would perform in the field remained unknown. As it turns out, much about the HD7’s manual feature set is reminiscent more of larger prosumer camcorders than compact HD models like the Sony HDR-HC7. This means that many manual controls are easier to use and more accessible than we’re accustomed to seeing on such a compact camcorder, relatively speaking of course. The focus ring is a huge boon, as are smartly clustered controls. Surprisingly for the biggest camcorder in consumer HD land, the range of controls and options is fairly limited – but what there is is quite good.
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Left, the Aperture, Shutter, Bright controls, with jog dial at the bottom. |
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The camcorder has a bit more surface area than most, and that has enabled JVC to keep many buttons external, and dedicated to one or a few tasks. Multifunction controls are the norm on consumer camcorders because manufacturers are force to squeeze lots of functionality into a small device. It’s a pleasure to work with the JVC GZ-HD7 because the amount of time spent in the menu is minimized by the presence of external controls and buttons. Less time navigating a menu translates into faster, easier manual adjustments, and that’s a huge benefit when the clock is ticking.
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The joystick on the LCD panel |
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A number of other important controls are accessed via the Function Button and joystick on the outside edge of the LCD frame. These include white balance and zebras (70 and 100 IRE), which can be set while the camcorder is actively recording. AE Modes, Effects, and Custom Controls (Sharpness and Color Bars) are also accessed via the Function button-joystick interface. The external microphone jack expands your audio options but JVC does not include a headphone jack or any onboard control over audio levels. The lack of control over audio is the camcorder’s biggest liability for higher-end production, but could be remedied with the addition of a Beachtek or similar adaptor.
An adaptor is an additional expense that only pros or aficionados would invest in, but the quality of the other manual controls and the convenience of HDD recording make this attractive enough model that the investment may be worth it for people who like the HD7 package. The manual focus controls are best of class, and the dedicated buttons for aperture, shutter speed and exposure compensation are a great inclusion. Other manual controls remain more accessible than on most consumer camcorders, and in this respect the HD7’s only rivals are the Canon HV20 and the Panasonic HDC-SD1 and DX1. Sony’s HDR-HC7 offers the most robust feature set of all, but making use of those features can be a cumbersome process making the stripped down model that excels in efficiency and handling, if not versatility.
Zoom (6.5)
The JVC GZ-HD7 has a rocking lever-style zoom control, positioned well for hand-held operation. The rocking lever design is the one we favor, because they are well suited to fingertip adjustments. This particular rocking lever is a good one: it extends slightly above the surface of the body for added leverage, and it’s large enough to allow for larger movements than the sliver of a zoom lever on the HV20. As good as the JVC’s zoom control is, the camcorder lacks a secondary zoom control which is surprising in a camcorder with a $1700 MSRP. Sony and Canon have included onscreen zoom controls, and for shots that make access to the lever awkward, they are a great fallback. The only secondary zoom control option offered by the JVC GZ-HD7 are the fixed-speed zoom buttons on the remote control – a feature that all similarly equipped camcorders offer.
Zoom Power Ratio (10.0)
The JVC GZ-HD7’s optical zoom power is 10x, on par with other higher-end consumer camcorders that make use of three-CCD imager sets, or larger imagers, or both. Many low-end consumer models with a single 1/6” sensor are now oufitted with optical zooms as powerful as 40x. Larger sensors or 3-CCD sensor arrangements do no allow for such high optical zooms because they typically occupy bodies that are no less compact than their entry-level counterparts. For a camcorder with a larger imager or imager set to achieve the same zoom, the whole camcorder would need to scale up as much as the sensor. Hence the priciest consumer camcorders with the biggest imagers have the weakest optical zooms – but they also produce a far better picture. In other words, the powerful optical zooms on low-end camcorders are nice, but they are made possible only because they have low-end 1/6” sensors. We’ll take a 3-CCD or 1/2.9” camcorder with a 10x optical zoom over a 1/6” cam with a 40x optical zoom any day.
In addition to the optical zoom, the HD7 offers digital zoom that can be disabled, capped at 40x, or set to a maximum of 200x. At 40x, the image retains enough detail to be legible, but beyond that the quality quickly degrades into a muddle of vibrating colors. We recommend using digital zooms sparingly because they enlarge the pixels available at the peak optical zoom (in this case 10x) rather than magnifying the image optically. When the HD7’s digital zoom is capped at 40x, what you’re actually seeing is a 4x blow up of the pixels in a 10x image.
Focus (7.0)
The Canon HV20 wowed us by offering a Focus Assist function that overcame the limitations of its tiny manual focus dial. The JVC GZ-HD7 does the HV20 one better by combining an excellent Focus Assist with a large focus ring. In the world of consumer HD, it doesn’t get any better than this, folks. The ring control is big, smooth, and responsive, and has a feel that is similar to the ring-operated servo zooms on larger (and more expensive) camcorders. We think a focus ring is practically a requirement for manually focusing HD video because they offer much finer control than dials, joysticks, and touchscreens (all common focus controls on consumer camcorders). But even a great focus ring is not enough to close the gap between the image you see on a 2.8” LCD and the actual 1440 x 1080 or 1920 x 1080 size of the image.
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The double wammy of a focus ring and well-placed, effective peaking tool |
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That’s where Focus Assist comes in. JVC’s version of Focus Assist highlights objects in the frame that are at the current focal plane of the lens in your choice of red, green, or blue while simultaneously displaying the image in black and white to make the highlighted parts of the frame stand out. To engage Focus Assist, you must be working in manual recording mode and have manual focus enabled. Pressing the Focus Assist button once engages the Focus Assist feature and turns the LCD or viewfinder display to monotone. As you move rotate the focus ring, different parts of the image will appear tinged with the Focus Assist color you’ve selected. As soon as you have your subject in the focal plane, and move on to another adjustment, the screen returns to its normal color display.
We also like Canon’s Focus Assist function on the HV20, which uses a combination of magnification and that works well enough to elevate its dial-centered focus interface from mediocre to the best we had seen this year. The HD7’s manual focus control is better still, combining a very good focus assist with a very good focus ring. The result is prosumer-caliber manual focus control.
Exposure & Aperture (8.06)
The JVC HD7 includes an Aperture Priority mode that enables you to modify the iris settings. As with shutter speed and exposure compensation, Aperture Priority mode is engaged via a dedicated button (marked “A”) at the left side of the camcorder’s back. The settings available are f/1.8, f/2.0, f/2.8, f/4.0, f/5.6, and f/8.0. A setting dial that’s reminiscent of those on prosumer camcorders like the Canon XH A1 is used to cycle through and select aperture settings, and is also used to operate the shutter speed and brightness (exposure compensation) adjustments. Manual control over aperture and shutter speed control is fully independent on the HD7, a rarity on consumer camcorders other than Panasonics. Many camcorders including the Canon HV20 offer priority modes that give you control over either aperture or shutter speed, but not both.
The way JVC has implemented aperture control sets HD7 apart from its rivals because it adopts aspects of prosumer camcorder design, notably by including dedicated buttons for several manual controls. Most consumer camcorder manufacturers opt to miniaturize and consolidate controls in order to cram lots of functionality into a compact body. That approach always results in compromises (smudging touch screens, confusing menus, terrible focus controls…), though at times manufacturers have devised ingenious ways to keep manual controls fast and accurate as with the Canon HV20’s Focus Assist/dial. For shooters who do make frequent use of manual controls, however, dedicated buttons provide the fastest and best interface because they can be accessed at the touch of a button. JVC’s decision to use dedicated buttons for several manual controls is a good one, and there’s no reason other manufacturers can’t follow suit. We hope they will follow JVC’s example.
Shutter Speed (7.95)
The manual shutter speed adjustments on the JVC HD7 also benefit from the simple and accessible interface on the back of the body. The shutter speed adjustment is engaged by pressing the “S” button, and adjusted using the setting dial below. The shutter speed settings available are 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/80, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, and 1/4000. While the interface is terrific, we found the JVC’s shutter speed settings above 1/100 to be limited, with the largest gap between 1/100 and 1/250. The wider range of shutter speed options on HD cams from Sony, Canon, and Panasonic are spaced to avoid The arrangement makes toggling between these two adjustments faster than on the other three HD cams – though we wish JVC hadn’t stopped there. White balance in particular would have benefited from a dedicated button.
White Balance (5.75)
JVC breaks no new ground in terms of its white balance settings with presets for Auto, Fine, Cloud, Halogen, and Manual. The manual white balance set interface is unorthodox if you’re accustomed to the usual blinking white balance icon. On the HD7, you don’t have the benefit of a flashing icon that stops flashing when manual white balance has locked in, which is confusing at first, but overall the setting seems to run as quickly as those on comparable camcorders. To set white balance manually, press the Function button on the LCD frame, select the WB menu option, select MWB, and then press the center of the joystick to set your white balance. When the WB submenu reappears, you have successfully set white balance.
Gain (1.0)
JVC GZ-HD7 offers no independent manual control over gain, but it is possible to disable auto gain, an option that is common on JVCs. The gain option on the HD7 is called Gain Up in the Video sub-menu of the main Administrative menu.
Other Manual Controls (4.5)
Focus Assist - Focus Assist on the GZ-HD7 is very good, and combined with the focus ring, its a killer app. When the assist is engaged via the dedicated button, the display turns to monotone, and anything on the focal plane is highlighted in your choice of red, green, or blue. Our only complaint is that the highlighting can be a little subtle, but green and red are easier to read than blue.
Zebras (multiple) - Zebras are found in the Function Menu, and the HD7 offers three settings: Off, 70 IRE, and 100 IRE. Access is quick and easy, and zebras can be turned on and off while the camcorder is recording video.
Sharpness - Picture sharpness can be adjusted on a -6 to +6 scale in the Function Menu under the Custom Controls option.
Tele Macro - Tele Macro is a common feature on consumer camcorders, but is really just a shorthand route to achieving a shallow depth of field and throwing the background out of focus.
Color Bars - Color bars can be engaged in the Custom Controls option of the Function Menu.
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