New Camera
I’m desperately keen on the new JVC video camera, the Everio MZ-GC200. It’s a palm-sized video camera with features that make me drool, hardcore: 10x optical zoom, 2-megapixel camera, dual memory card slots (SD + CF) and far more. It’s about a grand street price though, so it’s going through a more rigorous vetting process than is normal around here.
I was drooling over the live demo unit in Yamada Denki yesterday and thought it’d be fun to try out the camera part of it. I shoved my SD card (which is always nearby in my cellphone) into the video camera and snapped a few pics around the store.
My first reaction is that 10x optical zoom is mad fucking cool. I really wish my still camera had that, instead of the almost half-hearted 3x zoom. It’s fast to zoom in or out, and has a little indicator on the viewscreen showing the current zoom level. I didn’t actually notice if it had intermediate zoom stages, but at the most extreme levels of zoom it didn’t appear to, the slightest touch of the zoom control would send it from one zoom level to the next without pause. It may not act like this at the other end of the scale.
Here’s two image samples, the first showing zero zoom, the second showing full 10x zoom. Click for larger, though the large ones are still reduced 50%.
I had also taken an image at 5x zoom but it came out a little blurry. In fact, most of the sample images I made came out blurry. The camera’s focus ability seems a bit weak. Not a huge deal for me, really. The last reason I’d be buying this would be for the 2mpix camera. My regular camera’s four megapixel. Hell, my cellphone’s two megapixel. It’s the VIDEO camera I want, but sadly there’s no way to get the video files home without investing in a massive memory card of my own. The shopkeepers are going to be quiite reluctant to let me run off with their 4GB microdrive, I’m sure. =)
--NFG
[ Nov 18 2004 ]
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