Quick Review Camcorders : JVC GR-DX307

The vertical JVC GR-DX307 is equipped with a 10x optical zoom and 500x digital zoom lens in its compact one-pound body. The 3-inch LCD monitor flips upward toward the face instead of outward and rotates 270 degrees. There is a 0.3-inch electronic viewfinder on top of the camera. To activate the viewfinder, the user must pull it out of the camera body. However, sometimes it slides back into the housing, causing the viewfinder to shut off. The viewfinder and LCD screen cannot be activated simultaneously.

On a sunny day, the JVC GR-DX307 will perform moderately well. Yellows will appear slightly greenish, and blues more of a purple. Other colors will look under-saturated and washed out. This is fairly common for a single-CCD camcorder in this price range.

As with other JVC models, the JVC GR-DX307 performed relatively well in dimly lit situations. At 60 lux (the equivalent of a room with two 60-watt bulbs), the image is nicely saturated, but definitely darker and less vibrant. There is noise across the image, but especially evident in the yellows and whites. The JVC GR-DX97 leads JVC models in low light; the GR-DX307 is a follower in this case. Colors are well-saturated at 15 lux, but the noise is so dramatic that viewing the colors is difficult.

This camcorder fares better with a different kind of noise — audio. The JVC GR-DX307 comes with a stereo microphone that records in 12- or 16-bit. There is also a mic-in port on the front of the camera. In terms of connectivity, the JVC GR-DX307 scores well. Analog to digital conversion is possible with the GR-DX307, which has ports for AV, DC, USB, S-Video, and DV/FireWire.

The automatic mode on the JVC GR-DX307 is extremely, well, automatic. Once locked in to auto mode, there is no access to any manual features. All you can do is move your feet, zoom in and out, and turn on the LED light if needed. Pretty glamorous for a “celebrity” camcorder. The JVC GR-DX307 is more successful in manual mode. The user can control white balance, gain control, and still imaging settings. Automatic, Manual, Fine, Cloud, and Halogen white balance options are available. The gain control has three options: on, off or Auto A — designated for low-light settings. The GR-DX307 can record video in MPEG-4 format onto a memory card in 160 x 120 resolution, designed specifically for sending clips via email.

In a market of convergence, the JVC GR-DX307 succeeds as a hybrid. It can record to either MiniDV tapes or a memory card. Unlike many camcorders, the GR-DX307 can capture images in Fine and Standard at resolutions of 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 1024 x 768 and 640 x 480. This camcorder has several programmed settings: Sports, Snow, Spotlight, Twilight, Sepia, Monotone, Classic Film, Strobe and Mirror. It also boasts a shutter speed range from 1/60^th to 1/4000^th of a second.

JVC GR-DX307 Compared to the...