Video review of JVC GY-HM 100
 

I was out all day filming with it. Very impressed. Bit fiddly at times but I kind of expect that from these small cameras, but the image is really good. Will have the video up by Friday night.

In the meantime here is a shot of me filming "guerilla" style. I went out with no tripod, just a baby cinesaddle and the camera.

That little camera and CineSaddle blend right into the sidewalk and surroundings.

The moose size patch of red just above the camera also moves attention away from the lens.

You have to go out tonight and shoot with lo-lux at 0dB gain. It's kinda cool.

Philip,
Can you please please show some meaningful low light footage? Also: Did you get our hands on a production model or is it still a pre-production cam?
Thanks,
Matthias

Really looking forward to watching your video.

i'm really looking forward to your review. i've been reading the posts in dvinfo on the new JVCs and Panasonics and your blog (which is great by the way) and i'm really hoping this is the camera for me. my Sony PD170 just seems old now but i wanted to wait till i really needed HD before changing.
how easy is it to focus with it?
any chance of testing how easy it is to use with your letus?
and of course, like everybody else i want to know how it handles low light!

review almost done.

it was pre production model. Couldnt get much low light footage shot as only had one battery and had to charge that up halfway through the day.

Nice camera

tried to look like a tourist!

trying to work out how to convert 720p 50p to 25p in FCP. Any ideas?

done it. used compressor. works well

It must be "night" in London by now, it MUST be. No? Btw., thanks for taking the time, Philip...

it is still light but only had the camera for a day! It's gone back to JVC

the review part will be graded but there will be chunks of footage shown ungraded

I was referring to you saying "will have review up Friday n-i-g-h-t" :-) No, I absolutely not impatient...

it will be up...got five hours or so of Friday to go!!

just teasing, man, just teasing...

go Phil go - you are the man! :)

We are all waiting baited breath to see if our hopes are realised and this IS the camera of 2009.

Or will you say, as we all are dreading.. "The small sensors just dont cut it in low light"

(I have an EX1 and love it so hoping this will be the ideal smaller/lighter brother for him.. please don't say I have to buy an AVCHD cam.. please don't..)

finished the edit. Sorry there is little low light footage, my battery didn't last.

Converting it and then will upload to XR and Vimeo as well as my blog

90mins phil... :)

There is no way will make the midnight deadline. Sorry!!

It's converting a 2.41gb file now down to H264 for uploading. So that will take a good two hours for both I think.

I will stay up and get it done. in the meantime I will write my little written review of it.

If anyone can offer a hosting of the full native .mov edit of 2.41gb I can offer that for download too...no way my server will take that sort of bashing!!

Is your last photo in London? Hope so. It would be nice to know you folks are finally learning English.

ah but you notice it is over "Bella Italia". It's part of the restaurant, basically you have to go to "School of English" before you go be a waitress there. Bit harsh methings.

Burbank? What language do you speak there. Isn't that almost Valley speak? ;-)

Here is the link to the review,

Hopefully the video part will be up by 1am my time.

Hope you like it. Was a lot of work this one!

Philip Bloom Blog Archive Review of JVC GY HM 100.

ok. Exposure room is saying 3 hours as the file is 550mb. I may have to go to bed...

BBBBbrilliant - your 1st impressions are exactly what I was hoping for - now awaiting the footage... I got a bottle of plonk in hand so am in a very forgiving mood :) COMEON JVC you can do it..

I soooo want this camera to live up to the hype.. when u said it was actually less noisy than the hm700 my mouth went from pensive to grin :)

... I so hope I agree with Phil on this one....

Video is now up!!

I thought your video had a "28 Weeks Later" look so I'm wondering if this was what you mean by the "Upgraded ..." tag. I'm hoping the many pale white faces and horribly crushed blacks are not what the camera delivers natively. Here in Vegas we would rush anyone who looked so poorly to hospital. :)

If this look is from the camera itself -- then it's going to face competition from the DSLRs that shoot HD. The Panasonic GH1, for example, delivers a skin tone I've only seen from film -- more yellow-orange based then red-pink based. And, the Canon is far more sensitive with less noise in saturated colors than I saw in your samples.

But, then this is third generation. You can upload second generation x264 (not Apple's horrible codec) directly to an Apple Gallery at 720p.

Loved your using a "concept" for a camcorder review! A nice step forward over the typical here's some stuff I shot with a Glitzo K9. It clearly showed the HM100 could really be used as a tool by someone with talent.

Most of the review was graded with Magic Bullet Looks to give it that guerilla look. The two sections which say are ungraded are the er, ungraded bits. The "mirror mode" was shot on the HVX 200 and the end bits to cam were on the EX3 ungraded.

Glad you liked it!

Philip, Thanks very much for the review, extremely interesting and innovative. I have arranged a demo of the HM100, as soon as it is released. The only drawback I can see is the price, seems a little high for a cam with 1/4 chips, But hey, its only money. The tapeless workflow, particularely with FCP looks to be a real time saver . Once again thanks for a great review.

Phil - Maybe Tim Dashwood would host the orginal clip files on here (DVINFO)

worth asking?

Ahhh! Ungraded not upgraded. Makes perfect sense now. Are you coming to Vegas next week?

yes arriving tomorrow!

Thanks Phil! Very good review!

Too bad there was only a few seconds of battery juice left for the low light...
I am surprised that the chip is actually natively 720 - not 1080. Despite that, it's a little wonder that blows all previous small-factor pro cameras in terms of ease of use and picture quality. Phil, would you recommend to always shoot in 720P to avoid 1920X1080 in-camera upconversion using this cam?

Thanks again!

Thanks so much Phil, the first usable examples of the HM100 footage I've been able to find.

I want one now.

Thanks for the review, Philip, finally some footage that gives us a good idea of what we can expect. If you compare the image quality to the XH-A1 or to the Panny 150/170 or Sony Ex1 where does the JVC stand in you opinion? How did you like the focus assist function? Did you give the shot gun that comes with it a try? Any opinion on the camera pre-amps/sound quality it produces?
Thanks,
Matthias

Stabilization?
 

Were the shaky bits on the train platform and walking through the dark with the stabilization turned on? It does have stabilization, right?

If it was on, this thing's as bad as my Sony A1U handheld.

I don't know how Canon does it, but the microscopic Vixia HF100 is actually useable handheld with their optical stabilizer.... wish other manufacturers could learn that trick.

Thanks for the review. To be honest the picture quality was not earth shattering. At least not enough to fork off 3.5 grand. The deal breakers: lack of wide lens, lack of separate focus/zoom and poor image stabilization (judging by the hand held footage). Sorry, but for this price it should be much better- no sale here, saving for EX1 now.

I am sold on the camera and will be ordering one. Phil's review isn't really a review as such - it's a hands-on, first impressions, from-the-gut feeling put to pictures, music and words. It's heavily stylized with Bloom written all over it - and that's a good thing. There will be plenty of reviews in due course where each and every pixel is deconstructed, examined in minute detail, poked and prodded, regurgitated with a sea of detailed numbers. And quite right too, everyone needs a bit of that. But for now, we have Phil's impressions to deal with, and impressive they are. It must say something if the man himself wants one.

I shoot news for UK tv (SD) and would like something really small to use for inaccessible filming locations (mountains etc) where dragging my DSR-450 would be impossible. I'd like to get into the HD workflow, so this camera seems pretty ideal. Phil's impressions pretty much sealed it for me. My criteria: tapeless, small, professional sound input control, small, decent picture, good build quality, did I say small?

I think if you're looking to buy something as a single purchase, a sole camera to use (instead of a 'B' camera) then you might be disappointed. On the other hand I personally would not consider an EX-1. I would consider the HM700, but really I'm hoping that by the time I can ditch the 450, Sony will have the proper shoulder-mounted EX5 out and that will be my main camera :-)

I think the picture quality from the HM100 looks great - these are 1/4 inch sensors! The ungraded pics were super. If it's not wide enough, there's a wide adapter allegedly available. Image stabilization has to be used with care - personally I don't think it was switched on at all in Phil's video - he makes excellent use of the Cinesaddle.

I think the price will come down a bit after 6 months or so. Here in the UK, I would expect about 2200 plus the VAT. But I'm shooting up a mountain in NC next month so will have to bite the bullet. Still sold :-)

Cotty

I am an owner of JVC GY-HD100 and as far as durability it by far the worst camera I have ever owned. I shoot climbing footage and this camera doesn't even come close to durability of HVX200 or DVX100 by Panasonic. Sony is also tough, not JVC. I had 3 repairs on it, by far JVC has THE WORST customer support ever! (Mr Yanagi- are you listening?). On the other hand Sony was just the opposite, so don't count on quick help if you have a brake down.

Very very nice and entertaining to boot. It would be great to see the HM 100 and 700 intercut into a sequence.

Thanks for the review.

Interesting - I have no experience of JVC's professional products, or their customer support. Here in the UK, I deal with professional equipment dealers and any follow up (including warranty work) is done through them. I've never spoken to anyone any customer support for my kit except the Anton Bauer techies at Vinten House. Never a need. I appreciate your sentiment though, thanks.

Cotty

Reliable Camera and Great Product Support from JVC Canada
 

Steve,

I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that many of us who have owned and used JVC’s GY-HD100 for the past 4 years have had much better experiences than Robert has with his camera. I have personally had mine fall off a tripod from shoulder height as well as knocked over while on a tripod, both times onto hard surfaces, and have been amazed that all it suffered was relatively minor external damage (cracked handle and shattered viewfinder housing – less than $500 Canadian in total). Moreover, both my dealer (HMV) and JVC Canada have be more than quick to process any warranty repairs or upgrades when needed. With the exception of a few dead pixels, which were easily repaired, I have nothing but good things to say about the HD100’s reliability.

I have already pre-ordered my HM100 and can only say that Phil Bloom’s ungraded footage looks stunning to me. In a few weeks, I am heading off to Africa for a month to film a doc and the compact form factor, tapeless SDHC recording format, and pro audio features make it the perfect camera for such a project. I am more that willing to live with its apparently modest low-light performance and fully expect that JVC will stand solidly behind this new camera as they have with their other products.

I am hoping to visit friends in the Lake District again this summer and am looking forward to being able to capture its beauty with the HM100 and enjoy it’s travel-friendly form factor.

Cheers!

Michael Lafleur