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  • Introduction

  • Design & Usability

  • Features

  • Performance

  • Conclusion

  • Science Introduction

  • Problems With Low Light

  • Excellent Bright Light Video

  • Motion

  • Introduction
  • Design & Usability
  • Features
  • Performance
  • Conclusion
  • Science Introduction
  • Problems With Low Light
  • Excellent Bright Light Video
  • Motion

Introduction

The GZ-GX1 lacks any kind of internal memory, so you need to purchase an SD-type memory card before you can go out and shoot with the camcorder. JVC currently lists the GX1 with an $899 MSRP, which is a bit lower than the flagship models from Canon, Panasonic, and Sony—but all of those come with some amount of internal memory to offset their higher price tags.

Design & Usability

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Slow response times and a finicky touchscreen interface make the GZ-GX1 a frustrating product to work with.

Most Everio camcorders from JVC have traditional, horizontal body designs that look like your everyday consumer camcorders. The GZ-GX1 fits this description for the most part, although its large 3.5-inch LCD panel gives the camcorder a bit of a strange look on the left side. Instead of a round shape on the left, the GX1 is almost perfectly flat, and the LCD panel extends a tad higher than the rest of the camcorder body. It’s not to the point that the camcorder looks freakish, but the appearance is slightly off.

The camcorder’s usability gets bogged down by the sluggish performance of its processor.

The GZ-GX1 has a good mix of automatic features and manual controls, but the camcorder’s usability gets bogged down by the sluggish performance of its processor. The menus are slow to load, which makes accessing any control—be it manual or automatic—a frustrating process (especially during recording). The touchscreen interface is equally at fault here, as it often refused to respond to the selections of our tapping fingers. If the GX1 didn’t have these faults, it would be a great camcorder for beginners, but with these faults it becomes borderline-unusable.

{{photo_gallery "Front Photo", "Left Photo", "Left Open Photo", "Back Photo", "Right Photo", "Top Photo", "Bottom Photo", "Lens Photo", "Lens Photo 2", "3D Lens Photo", "Media Photo", "Easy Mode Photo", "Manual Controls Photo", "Zoom Photo", "Zoom Photo 2", "Ease of Use Photo", "Battery Photo", "LCD Photo 1", "LCD Photo 2", "EVF Photo 1", "EVF Photo 2", "Mic Photo", "Mic Photo 2", "Ports Photo 1", "Ports Photo 2", "Ports Photo 3", "Ports Photo 4", "Ports Photo 5", "Ports Photo 6", "Handling Photo 1", "Handling Photo 2", "Handling Photo 3", "Handling Photo 4", "Box Photo"}}

Features

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Despite its terrible interface, the GX1 has a wide range of features and controls—including a new WiFi function.

The wireless capabilities on the GZ-GX1 may steal the headlines, but the camcorder is equipped with a number of other less attention-grabbing features that are just as (if not more) useful. The camcorder has a 300fps high-speed recording option, a time-lapse function, a variety of still image modes, aperture and shutter-priority modes (but no full manual mode), auto record, scene modes, and a few different focus/exposure tracking features. With all these controls, it's also interesting to see what JVC left off of the camcorder. There's no full manual mode that lets you adjust aperture or shutter speed independently from one another, and there's no lens ring or dial to help you adjust controls and features. This puts the GX1 on that strange island in between mid-range and high-end models. It’s got a number of pro-level controls, but it’s missing key features that would attract the camcorder to prosumers and manual control freaks.

The list of WiFi features on the camcorder are fairly extensive.

The list of WiFi features on the camcorder are fairly extensive, and all of the WiFi features require at least a bit of setup and tinkering before they work properly. Expect to read the instruction manual very carefully before taking a stab at the GX1’s WiFi capabilities, but once you do you will open up a whole slew of possibilities. There's direct monitoring of video via your Smartphone, as well as direct monitoring from a remote location over the internet (in case you want to use the GX1 as a security camera). You can even have the camcorder email you photos that it snaps automatically when a subject moves within the frame. Another security feature? Maybe. But it could also work for wildlife enthusiasts who have the GX1 focused on their bird feeder.

Performance

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The GZ-GX1 is a flagship camcorder that performed more like a mid-range model in our low light tests.

Like numerous Everio models that came before it, the JVC GX1 did an impeccable job in our bright light testing. Colors were accurate and vivid, motion looked smooth and crisp, and noise simply wasn’t an issue. In low light, the GZ-GX1 had some trouble, despite the camcorder’s fast f/1.2 lens. Colors were still strong and accurate, but the camcorder had some trouble with sensitivity and noise in low light shooting. If these scores were just a bit better, the GZ-GX1 would be a top performer across the board.

Conclusion

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The JVC GZ-GX1 isn’t not even close to being the best flagship camcorder on the market, but it’s $899 price tag is a bit lower than your average high-end model.

JVC cut corners by infusing the GX1 with a cheap body design, poor handling, and a frustratingly-slow internal processor that makes menu navigation a downright chore. The camcorder also lacks any kind of internal memory, so you have to account for the cost of a memory card in with the total package. Still, the camcorder did succeed in some areas: bright light video looked sharp and vivid, motion was captured smoothly without much interference, and its low light videos looked adequate for the most part.

The Everio GZ-GX1 also has a fun trick up its sleeve: WiFi. I was pleasantly surprised by how well some of JVC’s new built-in WiFi functions worked on the camcorder, and the set of wireless features on the GX1 are far more robust and versatile than the WiFI capabilities on Canon’s new line of Vixia camcorders. Let’s be clear: JVC’s WiFi feature isn’t perfect, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. The GZ-GX1’s WiFi lets you do such things as remotely control the camcorder with an iPhone or even monitor what the camcorder sees from a remote location—perfect for home surveillance or keeping tabs on your pets while you're off at work. Canon’s WiFi feature on the HF M52 camcorder only lets you transfer and view videos on your smartphone or tablet (something the GZ-GX1 also allows). If you’re simply interested in having a WiFi-connected camcorder, JVC’s new Everio GZ-GX1 is the best option we’ve seen so far.

Of course, $899 is a lot to pay for something just because you can wirelessly sync it with your phone or computer, and the GZ-GX1’s deficiencies as a camcorder are notable and significant. Canon and Panasonic both offer better low light performance for the money, and Sony’s Handycams are far easier for beginners. This leaves the GX1 in a strange middle-land. It’s got a few fun, innovative features, but it’s not the best model for capturing video. And that’s still the main reason we buy camcorders, right?

Science Introduction

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The JVC GZ-GX1 did well in our tests, but its scores weren't of the caliber we expect from a high-end camcorder. Colors were strong and vivid, that was good, but low light sensitivity and noise were not up to par. Motion and sharpness were very strong in bright light, especially with the camcorder's 1080/60p record mode, but the GX1 lost a lot of detail when recording in less-than-ideal lighting conditions. In the end, however, it was the GX1's horrendous touch-interface that dragged the camcorder down.

Problems With Low Light

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Colors stayed strong in low light, but the GX1 had trouble with sensitivity and noise.

The JVC GX1 has a fast f/1.2 lens that, in theory, should give the camcorder an advantage in low light. The wide angle of the lens, however, means that the aperture closes up very quickly whenever you use a bit of zoom on the camcorder. As a result, the GX1 starts to produce some crummy video in low light whenever you use zoom. Without zoom, the camcorder is far better in low light situations.

Here are the actual numbers from our low light sensitivity test: without using any zoom, taking full advantage of the f/1.2 lens on the GX1, the camcorder needed 8 lux of light to illuminate our test chart properly. That’s a pretty good score for a consumer camcorder that is shooting at 60 frames per second. Using enough zoom to frame our chart properly, the camcorder ended up needing three times as much light (25 lux). That’s not a terrible score, but it’s nothing to cheer about.

While putting up good numbers in our bright light noise test, the GZ-GX1 was not able to match that stellar performance in darker shooting environments. Our low light test really brought out the noise on the camcorder, and our image testing software measured around 2.0% noise in the GX1’s low light footage (shot at 60 lux). That’s not an outrageously terrible score, but it is a good deal higher than the competition. In fact, it’s more than double the noise we saw from the Panasonic HC-X900 and Canon HF M52, as well as the JVC GC-PX10 camcorder.

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Excellent Bright Light Video

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Colors were accurate and vivid in bright light, and sharpness was strong with the 1080/60p record mode.

The GZ-GX1 is JVC’s top-of-the-line camcorder for 2012, so we expected to see excellent performance from the model. The camcorder didn’t disappoint with its sharpness results, as the model produced a horizontal sharpness of 800 lw/ph and a vertical sharpness of 750 lw/ph—both obtained using the 60p record mode. Shooting with the 60i frame rate on the camcorder produced good results as well, although the vertical sharpness was not as solid (around 600 lw/ph).

The color error on the JVC GZ-GX1 measured at 3.72, which is a solid score that is on par with the competition. Impressively, the saturation level in bright light topped out at 96%, which is also a very good showing for the camcorder. The colors are bright, vibrant, and strong in bright light, but we urge you to look at some sample images to get an idea of what the colors look like to your own eyes.

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Motion

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Motion was smooth and crisp with 1080/60p record mode, but the slow motion options aren't that exciting.

The GZ-GX1 captures motion extremely well, with very little artifacting and only minor amounts of blur and color bleeding noticeable in our test. The camcorder offers two frame rates for recording video—60p or 60i—with the 60i setting being the more versatile option (60i clips are more likely to work with video editing software). The 60p mode, however, produces better results, although not by a huge margin. We found the 60p footage looked a bit crisper and a bit smoother than the 60i motion sample, but, again, the two modes weren’t significantly different to the naked eye.

The single high-speed record mode captures a 960 × 480 video image using a 300fps frame rate, which ends up making video that is five times slower than the camcorder’s regular record modes. This is the only standard definition recording option on the camcorder, which is strange considering the ability to record regular SD video is a feature found on JVC’s lower-end Everio camcorders (like the VX700). The quality of the slow motion video is limited, with plenty of interference and artifacting noticeable in our test video. It can be a fun feature to fool around with, but it's not going to impress with its poor image quality.

There’s also a time lapse record mode on the GX1 that lets you capture one frame of video at a selected interval of time (from 1 – 80 seconds).

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Meet the tester

Jeremy Stamas

Jeremy Stamas

Managing Editor, Video

@nematode9

Jeremy is the video expert of our imaging team and Reviewed.com's head of video production. Originally from Pennsylvania and upstate NY, he graduated from Bard college with a degree in film and electronic media. He has been living and working in New England since 2005.

See all of Jeremy Stamas's reviews

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