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JVC introduced the world to HDV acquisition with its GY-HD10U camcorder in 2003. While revolutionary for the industry, the small camcorder and its single CMOS chip had somewhat limited capabilities.
You can expect far more from JVC's GY-HD100U. Part of the company's ProHD lineup (think HDV with added functionality), the HD100U records 720p images on standard Mini DV tape (MPEG-2 compression) and sports three 1/3-inch CCDs. The camera samples and records the full 1280x720 progressive signal provided by the CCDs. The camcorder also offers interchangeable lenses, a shoulder-mount form factor and more at a suggested list price of $6,295.
FOCUS ON FEATURES
A quick look at the HD100U tells you it's a professional camcorder, starting with its bayonet-mount interchangeable lens. The camcorder ships with a detachable 16x Servo Fujinon F1.4 (extremely fast) 5.5-88mm zoom lens. You can turn off the servo motor or use it to accomplish painfully slow zooms. The lens hood is large and cries out for a matte box (optional). The presence of a real macro setting and back focus adjustment reveal that this is a nicely crafted piece of glass. Other available lens options include a 13x (3.5mm) wide zoom HD lens, a wide-angle converter for the standard 16x lens, an adapter for half-inch lenses, and a filter kit. JVC offers rear tripod mounted focus and zoom controls for the standard lenses. Prime lenses may be used with a third-party adapter.
Behind the lens are your ND filters, menu activation, shutter and menu access wheel, and the programmable user keys. Three adjustable levels of gain, white balance, and left and right audio adjustment wheels fill out the area.
Swing out the large, 3.5-inch LCD monitor on the camera's left side to uncover LCD brightness options, camera/VTR switch, automatic and manual audio level selects, timecode or user bit display, and a selection for the type of timecode recording. I prefer not having any buttons,...