 | Digital Camera Store Navigation | |
|
|
| |
| JVC Everio GZMC200 2MP 4GB Microdrive Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom | 
 enlarge | Brand: JVC
Category: Photography
List Price: $1,299.99
Buy New: $469.00
You Save: $830.99 (64%)
Buy New
Avg. Customer Rating:  (16 reviews)
Sales Rank: 34204
Media: Electronics
Special Features: Digital audio player
Optical Zoom: 10
Display Size: 1.8
Maximum Focal Length: 45
Minimum Focal Length: 4.5
Has Red Eye Reduction: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 12 x 10 x 9
MPN: GZMC200U
Model: GZMC200U
UPC: 046838015694
EAN: 0046838015694
ASIN: B0002X7V48
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
Nearly perfect except in low light December 25, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Pros:
- Great video quality if the light is good
- Great sound quality if the person shooting doesn't talk too loud
- Great size
- Massive convenience of not having to rip and encode video
Cons:
- Terrible (useless) video quality in low light
- Cannot focus in low light (making even still photos with flash difficult)
- Sensitive mike results in audio distortion is person shooting talks loudly
- S-l-o-w cold start
- No flash shoe or tripod mount
The above pretty much sums up all that is good/bad with this camera. If it worked better in low light I'd give it five stars.
One tip - the camera produces MPEG2 video with AC3 audio (not MP2), in files with a .MOD suffix. You can rename these to .MPG to play them, but many players will not handle the AC3 sound. There is a free tool to fix this. Amazon won't let me include a link but search for Converio and you should find it.
 Important tip for indoors shooting October 21, 2005
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
Had this camera for a month, used it extensively in recent vacation.
Bottom line it's a superb video camera. Video clips are very high quality with a lot of details and good colors; you just can't believe such great quality video came form this tiny camera.
Its biggest selling point of quick PC transfer and fast DVD creation works extremely well. I've transferred 41min of video to my old PC and burned a DVD within 21minutes from start to finish with only a few mouse clicks.
Best by the way is to use USB2.0 card reader instead of the camera for video transfer, it works MUCH faster.
It's biggest issue is mediocre indoors performance. It's not "poor" as some people say since JVC did a very good job of reducing noise in low light, so the video looks very smooth and pleasant to the eye.
The problem remains with washout colors and little too dark images.
I came of a way to improve its indoors performance significantly, use "M" mode with white balance set to "Cloudy" and shutter speed set to 1/50 (in extreme conditions 1/30)
The camera store these settings, so you just need to set these once and switch to "M" whenever shooting indoors.
Video will look a little brighter and colors more saturated.
Overall extremely well built very good high quality camera with only a few tweaks, with its recent price drop to about $800 it's a good value.
Great All-Around Package October 18, 2005
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is a great all-around camera. I would suggest that if you're going to spend the money, take a look at the step up--JVC Everio GZMC500 5 MP 3 CCD.
The picture quality is great under good lighting conditions. The less light, the more grainy the image which is true of pretty much any camera that is in this price range. Lighting conditions also affect the auto-focus capabilities.
I use this camera for video documentation and it works extremely well. With this camera I have a completely digital workflow and don't have to worry about converting analog tapes to digital. No more cropping to eliminate gutter noise, too.
The CyberLink software included with the camera is very basic. I use it for one purpose only: to convert the proprietary capture file to an .avi that i can edit in another platform. I use Sony Vegas which does everything I need for documentation.
The digital camera function is excellent considering it is a secondary function. It is not comparable to high-end Canon or Sony digital cameras, but I think it's better than anything out there under $350. I can set the white balance and capture at 1600 px.
I also like the voice capture function. This is particularly useful with video documentation. After I've edited my video, I can record a voice-over and insert it as an mp3 layer in Vegas.
Two complaints I have are the size of the camera and the software included. The camera is very sensitive to movement. Because it is so small it is difficult to attach to a tripod to maintain a steady foundation. Holding the camera for long distance shots does not work--any movement at all produces a shaky image that is also in and out of focus because of the auto-focus.
Very good camcorder with some issues August 17, 2005
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I've had the GZ-MC200 for a couple of months. took it on a vacation to the far east, and overall i am very glad I made the purchase.
Pros:
- very high quality video and sound.
- digital media makes video transfer to PC a snap. just take out the microdrive and plug it into a card reader.
- high quality stills. not as good as a dedicated digital camera, but 4x6 prints still turn out nice. also, the 10x optical zoom is much more powerful than the usual point and shoot.
- small and compact.
- raises eyebrows.
- accepts both CF and SD.
- bundled software is easy to use and creates pro-looking dvds.
Cons:
- expensive media.
- camera gets really hot when shooting long footage.
- battery life is short.
- slow to turn on. can someone tell me how to disable the JVC animation during start-up?
Small Camera packs a nice punch. March 26, 2005
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
The Verio GZMC200 is a great, almost PROSUMER level mini cam.
PROS: Super video quality, highly sensitive built in stereo mic with wind cut, built in flash, ultra compact size. 2MB Still capability is very good for daytime shooting. Included 4GB Micro Drive. The fact that the camera accepts two different kinds of media is also a great thing. You can record your movies on the included 4GB Micro Drive while saving your still images to an SD Card.
CONS: Washout of white light by flash. I wish that the 200 model had the pop-up flash like the forthcoming 3CCD model to avoid the overflash you get with this model. The flash is too close to the lens causing the results of your flash shots to look overexposed, especially with lighter backdrops. Another quirky thing is the fact that there is no remote control as you would normally see on a minicam. I was dissapointed to open the box and not have that feature, especially for tripod shooting or self portraits. Built in self timer is good, but doesnt replace a true remote. If you have big hands you wont like removing the Microdrive. Its very difficult to remove the CF Card and there is little room to get a grip on the card to extract it from the slot. This is a minor flaw, but worth mentioning.
Bottom Line: Give this little camera a higher still shot capability (3-5 MP) and a decent flash and a remote and youve got a perfect, miniature Prosumer camera. I hope that JVC will have a remote control on the 3CCD Model. My overall opinion is very good of this camera, but its not perfect and if you are patient and want the quality of a 5MP Still and 3CCD technology, wait for the 3CCD Model to be released later this year. I am anxious to test that one myself.
|
|
|
The Discount Digital Camera and HD Video Camera Store From Aeronautic Pictures. | | |