A little about me. I come at this from a Post Production background. I make my living as an Editor and DVD Authorer. However I find myself moving back into production and have produced a few internationally broadcast commercials and am making the move into producing my own content for various outlets. To do so, I will require a camera. Unlike some, I will use this camera for my lower end work and the personal, self-funded projects I like to do to keep myself sane. On larger projects, I will go rent a better camera that fits the goals of the job and the budget. The camera I am looking to own needs to produce solid images, be easy to operate in a one-man band type situation and work well through the postproduction pipeline without breaking the bank. Money is a factor as this is essentially a personal purchase and to date, I have not won the lottery.

Since the announcement of the HM100 and the larger HM700, JVC has been touting their ability to just edit right from the SDHC Card or copy the files over to a hard drive, drag them into to FCP and you’re off to the races. In fact, I heard it so much that it became kind of background marketing noise and I just stopped paying attention to it. Well, I didn’t quite get it. In using the camera it quickly became apparent how awesome this was. Ignoring for a moment the arguments of which camera makes a prettier picture and MPEG Long GOP vs. Intra Frame codec’s, JVC has the best workflow out there if you work with Final Cut Pro.

Let me say that again, the JVC GY-HM700 has the BEST workflow for editing with Final Cut Pro. In practice, it is a thing of beauty.

• Step 1 – Shoot
• Step 2 – Remove card(s) and plug into Mac with compatible card reader
• Step 3 – Drag .mov files onto your Media Drives
• Step 4 – Drag copied files from your Media Drives into FCP
• Step 5 – Edit

Not only that, there is a way to name the clips before they are even recorded so when the come into the edit system, they already have names that make sense. Some will argue that they want to be able to name their clips things like “Ralph Close Up”. I disagree, that is what LOG info is for. Clip names should be things like S12T05 for Scene 12, Take 5 but that is a whole other rant.

As for the prettiness of the pictures, the HM700 produced very pleasing images and the general rule is if you know what you’re doing, you can make any camera shine. What it boils down to is if you are a hack, this camera won’t suddenly turn you into Jeff Cronenweth, but if you are talented and actually know what you are doing this camera will produce some stunning images.

On the technical side, JVC uses 3 - 1/3” CCD sensors; not CMOS like their competition. This CCD has a resolution of 1280x720 and JVC does some pixel magic behind the scenes to produce the up-scaled 1920x1080 HD image. The downside to this is the camera has less resolution and lower light sensitivity. The upside is the camera is not as sharp and there is no skew or wobble in the image during pans and camera shake.

The reality of resolution is more of a personal preference. Images from this camera are a bit softer than those coming from say the Sony EX1/3 or the Panasonic HPX300, but that is helpful in some situations and a shortfall in others. That said, it is an HD camera for sure.

The bigger question is skew, image wobble and rolling shutter issues. In a few years, the CMOS technology used in competing cameras (Sony EX1/3, Panasonic HPX300) will be up to speed but at the moment it is an issue. What you trade in low light sensitivity and resolution you gain in being able to shoot any way you want with this camera. Hand held and camera shake on the longer end of lenses are not a friend to the CMOS and limits what you can do with them.

Now lets talk Codec’s. Panasonic currently makes the best codec for this class of camcorders. It is called AVCIntra 100 and Panasonic shocked the industry when it made it available on the HPX300, which is an $11,000 camera, give or take a bit. It is a 10 bit 4:2:2 codec with each frame being independent of one another. This is good. It also requires a lot of processor overhead to work with, which is not so good. DVCPROHD is also available on all Panasonic cameras, which is an 8 bit 4:2:2 intra frame codec. Sony went a different route with EX series and uses a codec called XDCAMHD, which is an 8-bit Long GOP MPEG2 4:2:0 Codec. While in my opinion the Panasonic codec’s are stronger codecs, the XDCAMHD is a solid codec that will give you about 3 to 4 minutes per GB. JVC licensed this codec from Sony for use it in the HM700, but theyhave put their own spin on it. They pre-wrap the files in a QuickTime .mov file that allows the file to be read natively in FCP. If you happen to use Avid, not to worry, you can get an attachment that will unlock a .mp4 version of the codec. It is the same codec underneath the .mp4 and there is no picture difference. It just makes the codec play much more friendly with Avid, but it is an extra cost.

On a slight codec tangent, AJA released the KiPro that allows you to record to 10 bit 4:2:2 ProRes in the field, which also works seamlessly in Final Cut Pro. It kind of renders the codec arguments pointless, but that is just my opinion.

Speaking of costs, the general rule of thumb with Panasonic P2 is 1GB/min in 1080. This applies to both AVCIntra 100 and DVCPROHD. Cost of one hour of recording time using the new 64GB E Series P2 Cards ($1000), $16 - $17/ minute of available recording time. The cost for the Sony SxS Cards on the other hand is $10/min using a 32GB SxS Card ($1200). Using the JVC, $1.09/min using an SDHC card. Another advantage is the SDHC cards are available everywhere, the only thing to be mindful of is they have to be Class 6.

The HM700 that I was testing only came with one 16GB card. No worries. I just took the 16GB card out of my still camera, put it in and formatted it and voila, 2 hours of recording time. The only problem was I forgot to take it out when I returned it. I went and bought a new one as the $50 to replace the card was worth less than the pain in the ass it would have been to get down and pick up my old one, which goes to illustrate the point above.

Not being the most familiar with the JVC line or its idiosyncrasies, nor were the two DP’s who helped me with the testing we ran into some head scratching moments, but we still managed to get some great looking shots, which at the end of the day is what it is all about. Once familiar with the camera and the menus, those moments would disappear.

As mentioned earlier, with the SDHC cards being so cheap, your cost of ownership for this camera is less, which is important. Build quality felt solid and it was comfortable to use and lug around. Put it on a matte box and all those other cool things and this camera still shouldn’t break your back. The benefit of this is you can use a less expensive tripod. Once you go above a 20lb load and 75mm ball, good tripod (Sachtler, Vinten, Miller, etc…) prices become a little silly. When purchasing, do keep in mind that there is more to owning the camera than just the camera. You will need a good tripod, lights and some grip stuff. The LCD display is huge and awesome inside. It leaves quite a bit to be desired outside, as it seems to have a glossy surface, which makes it hard to see in the sunlight. The viewfinder is okay with a really fast refresh rate. You can get focus from it and using the focus assist will certainly help.

The 1/3” vs. ½” chip size argument is a stupid one. You don’t get real depth of field until you are up to a 35mm sensor. That is why there are lens adaptors from companies like Red Rock, Letus and P+S Technik among others. If you require a really shallow depth of field, rent or buy one of those.

I was actually expecting to just dismiss this camera as not suitable, but after playing with it for a couple of days and seeing the footage, it is becoming my favourite.

Did I mention? JVC GY-HM700 has the BEST workflow for editing with Final Cut Pro. I work with Final Cut Pro… Check out link below for a DP’s perspective on this camera.