Digital Trends

JVC EVERIO GZ-HD3 September 30th, 2007 | by David Elrich

Features and Design

I really, really like HDD and flash memory based camcorders. They’re so compact and look way cool unlike that DVD-based clunker just reviewed. Because there are no drives (tape or disk), companies can create really small, sleek designs such as the Sony HDR-CX7. The GZ-HD3 measures 3.25 x 3 x 6.125 (WHD, in inches) and weighs 1.5 pounds including the battery. It’s hardly a featherweight because of the 60 GB HDD and overall build quality; it feels very solid. By comparison, the more expensive and also very solid HD7 is 3.67 x 3.1 x 7.365 and tips the scales at 1.7 pounds with the battery. The CX7--which only uses memory cards for media--really is a lightweight at just a pound fully loaded. As always we urge you to hold your prospective purchase to see which feels the most comfortable. The all-black GZ-HD3 has glossy and textured finishes and fits comfortably in the palm of your hand.

The front is dominated by a 10x Konica Minolta HD lens surrounded by a built-in lens hood. You can hit 200x with the digital zoom but we always urge you to turn this feature off since the results are filled with digital noise. The hood can be removed and it accepts 46mm filters. Directly below the lens is a switch that flips back the lens cover (it’s not automatic when you power off or on). This seems a bit quaint but at least it’s not a lens cap attached by a string! There’s also a Focus Assist button to help when you’re manual mode, a compartment with mic-in and USB ports as well as tiny LED light, like the Canon HV20. These lights are pretty useless with very small coverage areas. Still it’s better than nothing for capturing a close-up in dark areas; a flash would be more useful in my opinion.

The left side features a fold-out 2.8-inch LCD monitor rated 270K pixels, similar to the HD7. When closed there are a variety of logos touting the FullHD 1080 video, 3CCD system, HDD and more. It’s a bit messy for my tastes but these are not objects d’art but home video makers. To the left of the monitor is a Light switch that lets you adjust the LED (always on, auto on or off). When you flip open the monitor you’ll find three controls on the left side for Index, Function and a nice joystick for navigation through the menus. Index quickly tells you how much battery life and space is available on the 60GB HDD. Function opens a variety of manual adjustments while the stick quickly accesses the five Program AE options (portrait, sports and so on), backlight compensation, spot metering and a Night mode for shooting in the dark. This is all nicely done and simple to operate. On the body itself are keys to switch between auto/manual recording, Menu, Direct Back Up and play/record along with a speaker and S-video output.

The top of the camcorder has a stereo mic (not 5.1), a cold accessory shoe, the wide/tele zoom switch and a dedicated snapshot button. The rear is dominated by the battery which is inset and discrete. To the right is a compartment with iLink, HDMI and component outputs while above the battery are A/V out and DC-in ports. You’ll also find the record button, a mode dial to switch between video/stills and lights to indicate which mode you’re in and to show if the battery’s charging.

There’s nothing on the right side other than an HDD emblem since this is the location of the hard drive. On the bottom of the camcorder is the SD card slot and a tripod mount.

The GZ-HD3 is supplied with the things you need to get started other than an SD card. Of note are the component video cable and a CD ROM with CyberLink’s PowerCinema NE, PowerProducer and PowerDirector to help you burn BD discs and perform basic edits. 

After the battery was charged and SD card loaded, it was time to put the unit through its paces.

Image Courtesy of JVC