JVC GZ-MG37 Camcorder Review

Still Features (5.0)
The still features on the GZ-MG37 (Review, Specs, $384.95) are extremely limited, and this camcorder should not be considered by anyone interested in the hybrid camcorder / camera market. The MG37 shoots stills in two qualities, Fine and Standard, but only one size, 640 x 480, which has an approximate resolution of 0.3 megapixels. Needless to say, the very cheapest dedicated still camera can shoot several times that quality.

Stills can be captured to either the hard disk or an SD card. The 30GB hard drive can hold 9999 stills in either quality, so also needless to say, JVC does not include an SD card in the box. There is an option for continuous shooting, sometimes called burst mode by other manufacturers. The interval between shots is about 0.3 seconds. The LED light can also be turned on if more light is needed, but there is no flash. All the same manual controls – exposure, shutter speed, gain on / off – as well as the automatic controls like NightAlive, are available in still mode. The camcorder is PictBridge compatible, so it can be connected to certain printers without an intermediary computer.

Still Resolution (1.8)
The JVC GZ-MG37’s still photos were tested for resolution by shooting a standard ISO 12233 resolution chart and importing the stills into Imatest imaging software. The camcorder produces only one still size, 640 x 480. We found the approximate resolution to be 117612.0. This is a very low resolution in relation to $800 camcorders, but completely on par with camcorders that max out at 640 x 480.

Still Performance (2.75)
The sole still resolution option of the GZ-MG37 is 640 x 480, which typically does not make a good-looking still in the first place. But couple this with bad video performance, and you won’t be likely to use the still features on this camcorder at all. This is not too much of a dig at the MG37. Camcorders in general are not suitable substitutes for dedicated still cameras. This is the rule, and the MG37 is definitely no exception.

At 3000 lux, the stills of the GZ-MG37 were pale and noisy. The bad fringing issues that occurred in the video are not as apparent, but there are still some dark fringes appearing along lines, giving them a “wobbly” look. Thankfully, the stills also avoided the Moiré patterns in the trumpets. There were however significant issues with blue noise.

Comparatively, last year’s MG30 (Review, Specs, $399.95) had a more saturated look. The blue noise was still apparent, but the yellows and greens reported better. Line fringing was about the same. Last year’s top G-series model, the GZ-MG70 (Review, Specs, $499.95), had a larger imager and more still options. At 640 x 480, the image was much sharper, with better color balance and far less noise.

The Panasonic SDR-S100 (Specs, $1199) also had a much sharper still, though it came at the cost of some fine grain black noise.

The Sony DCR-HC96 (Review, Specs, $516), which has a much larger imager, had only slightly better still results at 640 x 480. Overall sharpness looked better, but the color balance was off, and saturation levels were uneven. There were also some halos from too much in-camera sharpening. The only camcorder to arguably perform worse than the MG37 was the Sony DCR-HC26 (Review, Specs, $299.99), the bottom-end MiniDV camcorder, which also maxes out at 640 x 480. The HC26 had just as much of a problem with noise as the MG37. The colors were over-saturated and hence “more vivid,” but less accurate. Also, the HC26 had a harder time focusing.