GY-HM100 to GY-HM150 upgrade, is it worth it?

[David Fox]

I've had a GY-HM100 for about 15 months and in general have been pleased with it. Image quality for such a small and relatively low cost camera is superb. Most, if not all of my filming is out door, so the poor low light performance is not really an issue. I find the workflow from the SD cards to NLE is quick and painless.

I do however have an issue with the rocker zoom on the camera body and no remote / LanC.

I'm seriously contemplating an upgrade to the GY-HM150 primarily to get a wired remote to attach to the tripod; I don't do much hand-held stuff. Some of the other new additions are also of benefit.

I would really appreciate feedback from owners who have already made the upgrade and maybe those that haven't and why.

Does the remote wired zoom give you good smooth control?

Comments and feedback especially from GY-HM150 owners would be most welcome.

Many thanks...

[Malcolm Allsop]

I recently bought the 150 though I never owned the 100. I also have an Panasonic AG-AC160. I much prefer the JVC camera. The wired remote works brilliantly with slow smooth transitions. It is a brilliant piece of kit an much more instinctive to use than the Panasonic though both give excellent results. For the price and size really hard to fault. I was initially put off by a snobby dealer saying that JVC cameras were not up to much. I am glad I ignored that advice.

[David Fox]

Hi Malcolm,

Thanks for your response. There does seem to be a real blind spot with the 150. As far as most dealers are concerned now, if it doesn't say Canon or Sony on the outside, they don't want to promote it!

From what I've read elsewhere the image quality is similar on the 150 and in most respects I am happy with the handling and the output of the 100. It's just that frustrating zoom rocker on the camera body, trying to pan and zoom smoothly is very difficult. It's encouraging that you say you are able to get good zoom control with smooth speed transitions with the wired remote.

The initial JVC intro package for the 150 included the wired zoom, but they have superseded that with the wide angled lens for 'free'. I haven't yet found a store that actually has the wired zoom in stock. I would really appreciate if you could post some images of it, or email them to me. I'm interested in the size and shape of the unit and in particular the travel of the zoom control.

Thanks once again..

[Christian Brown]

Is the wired zoom for the HM150 simply the rocker of the HM100 put on to a remote? If so, that doesn't help much at all.

Or can you actually do delicate, smooth zooms without start/stop jumps or slow/fast stutters?

[Malcolm Allsop]

The remote is made by a third party manufacturer - German company and is an excellent, sensitive piece of kit. It was given away free with camera for the first few months. Some dealers still have them and if you ask can provide as part of the deal. That's what I did. Try Pro- Av in Hemel Hempstead which is where i bought mine or try Creative Video Productions (just Google them.). As a stand alone buy it is about £250.
JVC HZ-ZOE-HM150 (HZ-ZOE-HM150) Remote Controller Tool for GY-HM150 camcorder

[David Fox]

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately the link doesn't actually have an image!

I've done a bit of research on the wired remote and it seems that the unit offered by JVC in Europe is different to that available to the US market. - Has the same functions no doubt, but produced by a different manufacturer. It has been mentioned on this forum, that you can assign a speed to the zoom, but I'm unsure from the post if that relates to the wired control or just the little joystick on the display.

Just have to get one a find out!

[Steven Brown]

questions for Malcolm Allsop - Most people buy 2 matching cameras. Which camera did you buy first? Why did you decide to buy another type? What about the AC160 don't you like? I'm all set to buy the AC160 but some clients want me to shoot and leave the footage/chip with them. So the JVC would be best as my main clients are Mac people and understand QT

[David Fox]

Some considerable time has gone by since my initial post on the subject, but for those that may be remotely interested. (no pun intended!)

I did upgrade to the GY-HM150 and purchased the wired remote. In fact it seems that there are (at least) 2 different suppliers. As mentioned in a previous post, the BebBob unit is sold by JVC and others for the European market, however I purchased the Vari-Zoom remote, which is normally only available from the USA. I guess the contents and functionality are very much the same, but I happen to think the Vari-Zoom unit looks a bit more sturdy. It certainly performs very well on the camera.

The wired remote does provide a significantly smoother control on the 150 than was ever possible on the 100. This I guess is partly due to the 'travel' on the control being greater giving a better transition between zoom speeds. There is a *very* slight delay when hitting the record start / stop on the wired remote, which is not a problem when the 5 second pre-record option is enabled.

I also got myself the newer JVC wide angled adaptor and hood, which has hardly been off the camera since I fitted it. It seems to give good results at both ends of travel. The extra weight also helps the balance mechanism on my Vinten VB.

So in conclusion, for me it was really worth the upgrade and the addition of the wired remote. The resulting shots are significantly better.

Now, what's next on the 'I must get one of those..' list

[Petter Flink]

Thanks for the update!

Intresting to read.

[Andrew Maclaurin]

interesting. i was hoping that Malcolm Allsop would comment on his reasons for having a panasonic 160 and a jvc 150 and whether he found one better etc

[Rob Stowell]

Thanks from me, too :) I need to have another look at the HM150 - it's very decently priced. I liked the HM100 apart from some control issues, and the zoom rocker- which really put me off.

[Scott Kase]

Having owned the GY-HM100 GY-HM150 the 150 has the Pre Rec mode that has a 5 Sec Catch. This has saved me several times . It also records in standard Def that I find helpful for non HD projects.