/// HD Camcorder Comparison

Picture ?

Manufacturer

JVC

Canon

Name

GZ-HD40

HV40

European name ?

GZ-HD40

Legria HV40

US name ?

GZ-HD40

VIXIA HV40

lowest US price

585 $

On the market since

August 2008

April 2009

Manufacturers URL

Test preview

slashCAM rating ?

Good

not yet tested

test picture 1200 Lux

Test image 12 lux auto-mode

Video

Video formats ?

AVCHD
MPEG2-TS

MiniDV
HDV

Recording Medium

Built-in hard disk
microSD/microSDHC

MiniDV/HDV-Cassette

video resolutions EU ?

AVCHD 1920 x 1080/50i
MPEG2 1920x1080 50i
MPEG2 1440 x1080/50i

HDV 1440 x 1080/50i
MiniDV 720 x 576/50i
MiniDV 720 x 576/25F
HDV 1440 x 1080/25p

video resolutions US ?

HDV 1440 x 1080/60i
AVCHD 1920 x 1080/60i
MPEG2 1920 x 1080/60i

HDV 1440 x 1080/60i
HDV 1440 x 1080/24p
HDV 1440 x 1080/30p
MiniDV 720 x 480/60i
720 MiniDV x480/24p

Max Bitrate ?

17 Mbit/s

25 Mbit/s

Compression format ?

MPEG2
MPEG4

DV
MPEG2

on-board memory ?

120 GB

Optics

Optics Manufacturer ?

JVC HD

Canon

Optical Zoom ?

10 x

Wide Angle 16:9 ?

43,6 mm

Filter diameter ?

43 mm

Image Stabilization ?

electronical

optical

ND Filter ?

Yes

Exchangable optics ?

Image Sensor

Number of sensors ?

Size of image sensor ?

1/3 inch

1/2,7 inch

image sensor effective pixel count 16:9 ?

2 Pixel

2070000 Pixel

Image Sensor Type ?

CMOS

Controls

White Balance ?

auto
manual
presets

auto
presets

Focus ?

auto
manual

Minimum shutter time ?

1/4000

1/2.000

Maximum shutter time ?

1/2

Apperture control ?

auto
manual

auto
manual
AE-Shift

Infrared recording ?

Expanded Focus ?

Peaking ?

Yes

Signal Processing

Zebra ?

Off
70%
100%

Histogram ?

adjustable sharpness ?

Yes

Adjustable color ?

Cinegamma ?

Black Strech ?

Knee ?

Colorbars ?

Misc.

Shot Transition ?

Custom Presets ?

Set Time Code ?

Configuration

Connections

FBAS ?
synonymous: RCA, composite

Out

YC ?
synonymous: S-Video

YUV ?
synonymous: Component Signal

Out

HDMI ?

Out

DV / HDV (FireWire) ?
synonymous: ILink / IEEE-1394

Out

In
Out

USB ?

USB 2.0

Microphone / Audio input ?

Mini-jack

Mini-jack
Cinch

Headphones ?

Mini-jack

Lanc ?

Time-code interface ?

Genlock ?

Accessory shoe ?

Standard

HD-SDI ?

Misc.

Weight (without battery)

535 g

Weight (with battery)

450 g

Battery type

Canon BP-2L13

Battery capacity

Charger ?

internal

Remote control

Yes

Size

Height

73 mm

82 mm

Width

68 mm

88 mm

Depth

123 mm

138 mm

Relative Size ?

Viewfinder

Viewfinder available ?

Yes

Color Viewfinder ?

Color

Viewfinder format ?

16:9

Viewfinder pixels ?

123000 Pixel

Display

Display available ?

Yes

Color display ?

Color

Display size

2,8 Inch

2,7 Inch

Display format ?

16:9

Display pixels ?

207000 Pixel

211000 Pixel

Touch Screen ?

External controls

Manual Zoom ?

Rocker

Manual Focus ?

Manual Aperture ?

Focus switcher ?

ND Filter ?

Exp Lock ?

Gain ?

White balance ?

Push AF ?

Audio Levels ?

Custom Keys ?
synonymous: User buttons

Audio

Audio Formats ?

MPEG-1 Layer2

MiniDV: 2x48kHz 16bit PCM
MiniDV: 4x32kHz 12bit PCM
HDV: 2x48kHz 16bit MPEG 1

Microphone ?

Mini-jack external

Audio Control ?

auto
manual

manual

Audio levels ?

Screen

Still

Recording Medium ?

microSD
hard drive

MiniSD

Medium included ?

Effective pixels ?

Resolutions ?

1920x1080
1440x1080
640x480
2432 x 1368

1920x1080
1440x1080
848x480
640x480
2048 x 1536

Standard ?

JPEG Exif 2.2

Flash ?

Yes

Misc.

Specials

-included: dockingstation with USB,AV-Out, component outt and FireWire
-maximum bitrate 17 MPbps AVCHD, 27 Mbps MPEG-2 TS

Product Shots

View 1

View 2

Test results

Test pictures

JVC GZ-HD40 and Canon HF200?

luminance resolution

chrominance resolution

lens distortion

test small ISO image

noise / internal microphone

test picture 1200 Lux

Test image 12 lux auto-mode ?

Test image 12 lux optimized ?

slashCAM rating

Lowlight ?

Good

Resolution ?

Satisfactory

Color performance ?

Very good

subj.Picture impression ?

Very good

Optical Zoom ?

Sufficient

Wide Angle ?

Poor

Configuration / image ?

Good

Configuration / sound ?

Satisfactory

Handling ?

Sufficient

Portability ?

Very good

Photo function ?

Sufficient

Optics ?

Good

Dynamics ?

Good

Conclusion slashCAM

slashCAM rating ?

Good

not yet tested

Total score ?
(maximal 570)

342

Pros

+ Many manual controls
+ two formats (AVCHD and MPEG2)
+ good image and lowlight quality

Cons

- the controls are hard to getting used to
- formats are not arbitrarily mixable

Conclusion

The possibility to record both HD-consumer formats is a good thing, but some details are missing (the formats can not be combined at playback, no backup-tape, no HDV-recording on SD cards).Nice to see that with this introduction of CMOS sensors JVC closed the gap of lagging behind in picture qualityMany important parameters can be adjusted manually, which is great, but the operation requires a little too much patience and practice.If JVC would have included the rich manual controls of the HD7 this cam would have been a real winner for every ambitioned movie maker.

More information

Reviews and Forums

slashCAM Review

external reviews/tests

Forum posts

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