 "JVC GR-D350AG")
JVC’s new mini-DV camcorder aims at the budget buyer. But how well does it stand against the competition? Let’s find out.
Build
When it comes to pure build quality, there’s not much to complain about. The D350AD’s body is mostly made up of hard plastic, yet it feels sturdy enough for rough travel. The lens comes with an external lens cap which is kind of a downer since I generally prefer having an automatic lens cover on camcorders, due to the nature of their use.
The adjustable grip strap feels comfortable and you can easily wrap your fingers around the 56x94x112 mm body with ease. The recording controls are placed within easy reach of the thumb and the forefinger allowing easy single handed operation of the DV cam.
As in all camcorders, you have the option of using the tilt-n-swivel pull-out screen or the electronic viewfinder for shooting and playback. The playback controls however consist of some tight buttons, placed uncomfortably under the pull-out screen, which seemed like a bother to use.
Features
The D350AD supports a shooting resolution of 520 lines at 4:3 ratio, PAL. It also has an option of shooting in anamorphic squeeze 16:9 aspect ratio, which means that though it will look normal on a widescreen TV, regular TVs will show the video as vertically stretched. A letterboxed 16:9 aspect ratio—which would show black bands on a regular TV to maintain the aspect ratio, would have been better appreciated here, considering that its target audience in not likely to have a widescreen TV to begin with.
Another drawback of the anamorphic 16:9 aspect ratio is that even when shooting the video, the visual appears vertically stretched on the camera’s display, since the display is of native 4:3 aspect ratio. In the end the implementation of the widescreen mode seems more like a last minute add-on gimmick to increase the appeal of the camcorder.
The menu structure of the D350AD is pretty simplistic, but the navigation requires you to fumble around with the inconveniently located playback controls. To make things worse, the menu interface is staggeringly slow, which makes switching between options a cumbersome task.
You have a manual shooting option which provides you with a number of special scene modes and special effects like sepia and black and white, but it gets downright frustrating getting to those options. Most users would prefer keeping the camcorder set in auto mode to avoid going through the menu.
Unlike most consumer DV cameras these days, the D350AD does not sport an infrared night vision mode for shooting in pitch black darkness. Instead it compensates with a night mode that simply overexposes the sensor, but that’s clearly not sufficient.
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Performance
This is where the camera completely disappoints. To begin with the colors looked very dull and washed out. Even when shooting in bright daylight, the colors seemed de-saturated and even downright boring. Considering that this camcorder will be used primarily for recording home and vacation videos, this is definitely not the way to go.
In low light, things obviously get worse. If you’re going out on a night trek or even for a walk in a remotely dark area, this camcorder will not serve you well. Lack of a night vision mode kills a lot of fun options that the camera would have been otherwise capable of.
Sound recording though the D350AD’s mic was clear and audible, but only as long s the sound source was right in front of the camera. The person shooting the footage would have to speak loudly to have a clear recording of his/her voice.
On a better note, the 32x optical zoom performed smoothly during the tests, with the camera keeping the focus level intact in most cases.
Conclusion
As you can tell, my experience with the JVC D350AD mini-DV camcorder was not exactly pleasant. From the weird playback control placement to the quality of the video captured, nothing made it worth Rs. 19,950 for me.
If you want a budget vacation camcorder that’s really worth its price, look elsewhere.
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