JVC GR D20

Advantages: cheap miniDV camcorder, excellent outdoor quality, quite small
Disadvantages: a bit of motor noise, wind cut is not effective

The JVC GR-D20 is JVC's cheapest offering in their range of miniDV cameras. Consequently, it comes with very few frills at a fairly low price (I paid 275 pounds at greatsaves in August). Consumer camcorders of the miniDV format have a number of typical advantages and disadvantages. They produce excellent video in good lighting conditions and they are quite small. However, they tend to underperform in poor lighting conditions and, due to their small ...
...The JVC GR-D20 is not different. Image quality suffers quite a bit when it gets dark. Night scenes in cities can produce rather grainy images with poor colour reproduction. However, because the lens (the same one the is used in the more upmarket variations of the JVC GR-Dxx) of this camcorder has a widest aperture of f1.6, the quality is not too bad. When shooting at night, you may occasionally have to switch to manual focus, though, because the ... Read review

Advantages: COMPACT
Disadvantages: NO LIGHT

...in my experience have found JVC cameras to be most reliable. Although they don't have quite as many features as some other makes, such as special effects and a light, I have found that there is less to go wong when you want a camera for normal everyday use. I have found that although the extra features on the other camcorders sound good at the time for everyday use you only end up using a couple. The picture and sound quality is excellent and I find ...
...this camcorder very easy to use which is very important. Although a light would have been useful a lot of the time it is unecessary as it picks up really well even in the most subdued lighting. The camera is very small which makes it very easy to carry around. ... Read review

Advantages: Compact / feature rich / easy to use
Disadvantages: zoom control can be a bit tricky to reach and the digital night vision is poor

...The Main reason for choosing the JVC GR-D50 and not it's little brother the D20 is the DV in feature. If you want to be able to convert your VHS tapes into digital and not have to risk sending off your tapes to have this done by professionals which will set you back the price difference between the D20 & D50 then this is the camcorder for you. Converting old VHS onto DV tape is a breeze. Then hooking up the D50 to your PC with a firewire card and transferring the footage off to preserve and make digital backups is just as simple. The D70 may add the camera snap shot feature with multi media card, but at only 1024x768 resolution this feature isn't that great, if you want snapshots you can still take stills from the footage you take on the PC. Overall the D50 is the one to go for as it has the features you most want and will get use... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful