The best pocket-sized MiniDV Camcorder?...
Feb 12 '02
The Bottom Line For outings and family video, consider these pocket-sized MiniDV camcorders. The best camcorder in the world won't take great video unless you take it with you.
Comparison of Canon Elura 2, Elura 2MC, Elura 10, Elura 20MC, Optura 100MC, Sony DCR-PC5, PC9, PC110, & JVC GRDVM70, GRDVM90, GRDVP3U:
My in-depth evaluation of the best pocket-sized MiniDV, including test results, reviews, & side-by side screen shots of test patterns, and links to more information.
I decided to replace my 8mm camcorder with a miniDV camcorder for family videos. I decided to limit my choice to the pocket-sized camcorders because the best video camera in the world isn’t any good if you don’t take it with you. I carefully researched, and test drove the options. And I chose the Canon Elura 2MC (now called the Elura 20MC). During my investigation, I noticed that there were lots of people like me who were also trying to determine the best pocket-sized camcorder. Since I spent so much of my time investigating the best choice, I decided to post my findings in order to save others time. Of course there is no “best” video camera. It depends what qualities are important to you. So my review includes the following sections:
* Executive summary.
* Side-by-side video screen shots of the camcorders.
* Features I care about, and why.
* Features I don’t care about, and why.
* Detailed evaluation of each camcorder:
--- Canon Elura 2, Elura 2MC, Elura 10, Elura 20MC
--- Sony PC-5, PC-9
--- JVC GRDVP3U
--- Sony PC-110
--- JVC GRDVM70U - GRDVM9090U
* Links to some other good resources.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
#1: Canon Elura 2, Elura 10 ($753), or Elura 2MC, Elura 20MC($800). Truly pocket-sized, good in low-light, excellent color & excellent contrast. The video quality is a VERY close second to the Sony PC-110, but unlike the PC-110 it is truly pocket-sized and it is $400-$500 cheaper.
#2: Sony PC110 ($1230). Not really pocket-sized, good in low-light, excellent color and excellent contrast. The PC-110 has the best quality video but it’s expensive and too big to fit in your pocket. Note: The Canon Optura 100MC, which is just being released as of this posting and not reviewed in depth here, seems to have the same size and equivalent or superior video quality (including optical image stabilization) at a slightly lower price ($1150).
#3: Sony PC5, PC9 ($960). Truly pocket-sized, good in low-light, fairly good color, pretty good contrast. Video quality is good but clearly inferior to the Elura2/2MC and PC-110.
#4: JVC GRDVP3U ($912). Truly pocket-sized, decent in low-light, mediocre color, mediocre contrast.
#5: JVC GRVDVM90U ($692). Barely pocket-sized, poor in low-light, mediocre color, poor contrast.
Note: All prices are as of 10/15/01 based on pricing (with shipping) from reputable web-based retailers.
SIDE-BY-SIDE VIDEO SCREEN SHOTS OF THE CAMCORDERS:
For an excellent side-by-side, apples-to-apples comparison of single frames of real-world video captured by these camcorders under various lighting conditions, check out the following Japanese web sites. If you click on the photos for each camcorder a separate window will appear and then you can arrange the photos on your PC side by side. In these photos, the camcorders were in video mode (not photo mode) the image stabilization was “on”, and the aperture was in fully automatic mode. To me, these photos make it very clear that the Sony PC-110 has the best video quality with the Canon Elura 2 (aka “PV2” in Asia and on the following web sites) is a VERY close second. The Sony PC-9 clearly lags behind in 3rd . And the JVC is a distant 4th.
Yarn balls normal light: http://www24.big.or.jp/~a_natsu/MPe2001d/keito.html
Yarn balls low light: http://www24.big.or.jp/~a_natsu/MPe2001d/keitoLow.html
Ceramics normal light: http://www24.big.or.jp/~a_natsu/MPe2001d/shokki.html
Nighttime Ferris wheel: http://www24.big.or.jp/~a_natsu/MPe2001d/night.html
For side-by-side comparisons of resolution on EIAJ black & white resolution test patterns, check out the following web site.
http://members.tripod.com/vincent_ysc2/22DV.htm
But beware that the resolution of the various camcorders on these black & white charts does not necessarily correlate to the resolution of real-world color photos because the colors can “bleed”. If you want me to save you the time, of looking at each chart, the resolutions fall into three groups:
525 lines: Sony PC-110, Canon Optura 100MC
475 lines: JVC GRDVP3U, JVC DVM90
425 lines: Elura2, Elura2MC, Sony PC5, Sony PC9
FEATURES I CARE ABOUT AND WHY:
1. Size: I want a pocket-sized camera. The best camcorder in the world won’t record precious moments if you don’t take it with you. Fortunately these camcorders are so popular that the economies of scale seem to outweigh the cost of miniaturization and you don’t really have to pay a premium for the small size.
2. Good indoor (“low light”) operation. Much of my video is of my kids, taken at home, indoors. Many camcorders have trouble taking good video indoors, let alone under normal indoor lighting conditions which some would call “low-light” conditions. Many high-end camcorders take excellent video in outdoors in the sunlight, but then take awful, grainy video indoors—sometimes even worse than the low-end camcorders. You should disregard the manufacturer’s LUX rating. There is no industry standard for LUX ratings and so the manufacturers can (and do) claim whatever LUX rating they think will help them sell camcorders.
3. Resolution: To me this is one of the main reasons to switch to the miniDV format over 8mm, Hi-8, or VHS. However, many of the lower end miniDV camcorders have resolution (around 375 lines) that’s only on par with Hi8. I want at least 425 lines through the lens. Practically all miniDV camcorders claim 525 lines of resolution, but that’s if you record something through the jacks, not through the lens. There are only a few consumer-price-range camcorders that provide over 500 lines of resolution through the lens and none of them are truly pocket-sized.
4. Good auto-focus (especially in indoor or low light conditions where camcorders tend to lose focus). Most camcorders have pretty good auto-focus- but many of them do poorly under indoor lighting conditions.
5. Accurate colors. This almost always overlooked in professional reviews but it’s important to me. I want accurate video.
6. Accurate contrast. If the contrast is too high, it’s unnatural and electronic looking. (Although from reading reviews, most people seem not to mind contrast that is too high. I guess they like the “sharpness” that unnaturally high contrast seems to bring.) If the contrast is too low, the video looks dim and faded. (Nobody seems to like that.) Good contrast gives the video an accurate movie-film quality.
7. Good image stabilization. Most companies do a good job with electronic image stabilization. Optical image stabilization is superior (because it’s smoother and you don’t need to waste pixels on an electronic guard-band). Of the pocket-sized camcorders, only the Elura (not the Elura 2 or Elura 2MC) has optical image stabilization.
8. Good ergonomics. I could get used to just about anything so I’m pretty forgiving in this department.
9. Brand reliability: I couldn’t find any hard data on DV camcorder reliability. Based on reading hours of Web postings, Canon’s and Sony’s reliability seemed OK for DV camcorders. JVC seemed to gather a lot of complaints. Since I don’t have any hard data, I won’t discuss it further in the detailed reviews.
10. Price: I am reluctantly willing to pay a few hundred dollars more for better video. But I’m not made out of money.
11. Analog video inputs. I’d like the option to convert my old 8mm tapes to a digital format (and perhaps eventually archive them to DVDs). This is not a big issue for me because I think that there will be lots of options for me to digitize my old 8mm video through my PC or through service providers in the coming years.
12. FireWire (aka i.Link, or IEEE1394). One of the key benefits of the MiniDV format is the ability to transfer video to your computer for editing and then posting it to the Web, or archiving onto DVDs or back onto tape using your camcorder. Virtually all miniDV camcorders have FireWire ports now.
FEATURES I DON'T CARE ABOUT, AND WHY:
1. Megapixel still shots: You don’t need 1M pixel still photos for the Web. Normal 640 x 480 pixel photos are good enough for the Web. One megapixel still shots aren’t good enough that I could throw away my 35mm film cameras. In my opinion you need 3M pixels in order to throw away your film cameras. If a megapixel CCD were to help the camcorder to take better video, that would be worthwhile to me. But for example, the megapixel PC110 uses 1M pixels for photos, but only 680k pixels for video—same as the PC9, Elura 2, JVC PV3PU, et al. If the megapixel CCD costs me another $300 just for photos, I’d rather buy a separate 3.1 Mpixel digital camera for $300. (That’s exactly what I did.)
2. Progressive scan: Progressive scan (scanning every pixel on the CCD in one frame) is better for still photos than interlaced scan (scanning only the odd rows in one frame and then the even rows in the next frame). But progressive scan doesn’t necessarily help video quality. In fact, as far as I can tell, progressive scan is only used for still photos, not for video. And as far as I can tell “progressive shutter” is just a gimmicky term used to trick customers into thinking that the camera has progressive scan.
3. USB: USB is too slow for transferring video to your PC. For that you need FireWire (aka i.link or IEEE1394). USB is only useful for transferring still photos or small MPEG4 clips. Most camcorders have the option to store photos on flash cards or memory sticks, which can then be easily transferred to your PC via cheap (or included) memory card readers (either USB, PCI, or PCMCIA/PC-card).
4. In-camera special effects: If I ever want to rework my video and add sound and titles, I’ll do it on a computer. That’s one of the key benefits to digital video. Many of the newer computers (even laptop computers) now come with built-in Firewire for transferring video to and from your PC. You can add a Fireware card to your PC (even laptop PCs) for about $70. But editing video on camcorder seems painful and it seems like a great way to shorten the lifetime of the camcorder.
5. Infrared “Night Shot”. This is useless in my opinion. The video isn’t in full color. It’s basically just black & white (actually black and green). I have no need for black and green video memories of my kids and my travels.
6. Microphone picking up camera motor noise: I’m not a professional cameraman. There’s usually enough sound in my videos to drown out any reasonable background hum from the motor. By virtue of the small size, the microphones on the pocket-sized camcorders are very close to the motor so you will hear a “whir” when shooting video of quiet scenes. If this is important to you, beware.
7. Digital zoom: The digital zoom just gives you pixilated (grainy) and jerky video. I think it’s useless. I prefer camcorders that let you turn off the digital zoom so that you don’t accidentally use it.
8. Accessories like lights, flashes, and microphones: I couldn’t be bothered with such stuff. If I’m home or at somebody’s house I’ll just turn on more lights if I need more light. I wouldn’t bother to carry that stuff with me when I go out and I wouldn’t bother to attach it to my camcorder even if I had it with me.
9. Long battery life: Even when I was on safari in the African bush for 5 weeks, I don’t think that I shot more than 20 minutes of video in any given day (before I was able to recharge the batteries back at camp or the jeep). I only shot 5 hours of video in 5 weeks of one of the best trips in my life. When I’m shooting video of my family it would be unusual for me to shoot more than about 10 minutes of video in a day. The one exception in my home video collection is my (Catholic) wedding ceremony which a friend shot for about 45 minutes (yawn) followed by about 30 minutes of wedding reception footage. We generally fast forward through most of the ceremony and go directly to the “I do’s”, the “dove release” and then the reception.
10. MPEG4 on the camera. Rather than shooting a hodgepodge of different video formats, I’d rather shoot good digital video, transfer it to my PC, and create MPEG4 or Quicktime clips from my full-resolution video. To me, that’s one of the key benefits of DV.
DETAILED EVALUATION OF EACH CAMCORDER:
* Canon Elura 2, Elura 2MC, Elura 10, Elura 20MC:
Truly pocket-sized (about the same size as the JVC GRDV3PU and Sony PC-9). Very good resolution. Better low-light performance than most camcorders and arguably the best of the pocket-sized camcorders. Auto-focus works well. (A bit better than the JVC and the Sony PC-110 in very low light. A bit worse than the Sony PC-9 in very low light.) By far the Elura 2 has the most accurate colors and contrast of the cameras in the truly pocket-sized category—warm and true. The Sony PC-110 is a bit better but it’s much bigger and more expensive. Image stabilization worked well on the Elura2—on par with Sony but perhaps a bit more natural than JVC. (I think that they all worked well enough.) The ergonomics are fine. The zoom control is a bit difficult to move slowly. The user interface is intuitive. And although the automatic exposure settings work very well in low light, the manual exposure override is VERY easy to access through a separate button and dial near your thumb. This makes it really easy to brighten up the video in very low light situations or backlit situations—and in my opinion makes it a much better camcorder in low light. The exposure control on most of the other camcorders was so complicated to access that I’d probably never bother to try to adjust it while filming for fear of shaking the camera or taking my eye off the subject while filming.
I found the Elura 2MC on the Web from reputable dealers for $775 (as of 10/01). And Canon has been offering free Zio MMC-USB card reader for authorized purchases of the Elura 2MC and Elura 20MC. Check the Canon’s web site for details. http://www.usa.canon.com/
The difference between the Elura 2 and the Elura 2MC is a multimedia memory card slot and a 8MB memory card for storing photos. Although I plan to use a digital camera for my high resolution still photos, I thought that it might be nice (if I didn’t have my digital camera handy) to have the option to capture low resolution stills for posting to the Web. It’s only about $50 more for the 2MC-- about $20 of which could be justified by the included 8MB memory card.
The Elura 10 and Elura 20MC have just replaced the Elura 2 and Elura 2MC, respectively. According to Canon’s web site, these models seem to be identical to the Elura 2 and Elura 2MC, respectively. I couldn’t find a difference. There seems to be no difference in resolution according to the test chart at normal light. (http://www24.big.or.jp/~a_natsu/IXYDV2.html). I read one press release that said that the Elura 10 and Elura 20MC have improved low light performance but I have no independent verification of that and I'm skeptical of the claim. If you find the Elura 2 or Elura 2MC much cheaper than their newer cousins, you may want to just go ahead and save the money.
Bottom line: Truly pocket-sized with very good video quality—even in low light. Although I generally like to leave the camcorder on full automatic-exposure mode, I found that the manual exposure override on this camcorder (and only this camcorder) was so easy that in real life recording situations, I can brighten up low-light video thus effectively giving this camera superior low-light performance. I agonized over whether to buy this or the PC-110, which has slightly better quality video, but the truth is that the PC-110 is not pocket-sized, and that’s very important to me. The PC-110 would not join me on ski days with the kids, etc. The Elura 2 goes everywhere.
* Sony PC-5, PC-9:
The PC-5 and the PC-9 are essentially the same except that the PC-9 has a USB jack and longer battery life. The prices are the same so I don’t know why anyone would buy the PC-5 (which I’m sure will be discontinued). The PC-9 is compact—about the same volume as the Elura 2 or the JVC GRDVP3U—though a bit stockier so not quite as pocket-friendly. Fine nonetheless. Resolution is good (but significantly worse than the Sony PC-110 and Elura 2) The performance in indoor light is good—right on par with the Elura 2 & PC110. The auto-focus works well—slightly better than the Elura 2, PC110, and JVC GRDV3PU in VERY low light. The color is fairly good, but everything has a slight yellow-gold tint to it, as though you were filming under a sodium lamp. Grays appear golden. Reds are over-saturated. Browns and maroons appear reddish. Blues lean toward indigo. Yellows have accurate tone, but are over saturated. The contrast is good but a bit too high. The video on the automatic exposure settings is a bit too bright. (But I have to say that the combination of the golden tones, the over-saturation, the over-brightness, and the high contrast makes for surrealistically beautiful video. Golden roads are prettier than gray roads. It just doesn’t make for accurate video.) The image stabilization works well. The ergonomics are good for a camera of this size, the touch screen user interface is innovative. But I felt that the most useful features (like the aperture program settings and manual exposure control) were buried so far into the touch screen menus that I’d never really use them when actually shooting video because it would take to long to deploy them and it would shake the camera. (The possible exception was the touch screen spot-metering feature, which I really liked. Just select the spot-metering feature from the touch screen and then touch the subject that you want to be well-lit. The only problem is that you have to have the flip screen out to use it, which renders the feature useless in bright sunlight.)
I found the PC9 on the Web from reputable dealers for $960 (as of 10/01). Note: Sony’s proprietary Memory Sticks are more expensive than the ubiquitous multimedia memory cards that the rest of the industry seems to use.
Bottom line: This is a good camcorder. It’s got lots of cool features (like night shot and USB) that I wouldn’t use. But compared to the Elura 2, and PC-110, the color reproduction and contrast are inaccurate and unnatural and the resolution is noticeably degraded by color bleed.
* JVC GRDVP3U:
Truly pocket-sized but relatively poor video quality. Low light performance is OK (but noticeably worse than the Elura 2, PC9, & PC110) but in my opinion acceptable. The auto-focus was acceptable, though perhaps not as responsive as the Sony or Canon products. The colors and contrast were not very accurate. The contrast is unnaturally low, and the colors are unnaturally washed out and shifted. Reds are a bit purple. Yellows are a bit orange. Blues and greens are pretty true. Image stabilization worked well- acceptable, though it seemed to have a slightly unnatural rubber-band effect when panning compared to the Canon and Sony products. The user interface and ergonomics are pretty good for a camcorder of this size. The zoom is probably the easiest (of the pocket camcorders) to use. However, the tape cover is connected to the hand-strap on the JVC GRDVP3U, and the latch is ridiculously weak, so while filming, I repeatedly accidentally ripped open the tape cover several times which then automatically ejected the tape. I thought that maybe it was a defective unit but the same thing happened on another unit. It’s pathetic. I can’t believe JVC shipped this product with such a design flaw. The consumer could overcome this problem with a piece of duct tape, but this really makes me wonder about JVC’s commitment to quality and reliability.
I found it on the Web for $960 (as of 10/01).
Bottom line: The video quality is relatively poor and it just doesn’t stand up to the competition. The nail in the coffin for the GRD3PU was the tape cover which accidentally rips open—though if this camcorder had superior video overall I would have bought it and put a piece of tape around it.
* Sony PC-110:
Although the PC110 has the “pocket-sized” shape, it’s big in comparison to the Elura 2, GRDV3PU, or PC9—and not really pocket-sized at all. It’s about the same size as some of the small traditionally-shaped camcorders which yield similarly high quality video. This camcorder has excellent video quality, with excellent resolution, very true colors, accurate brightness and contrast, and good auto-focus. Under indoor lighting conditions the autofocus performs on par with the PC9 and Elura 2, though slightly better than the GRDV3PU. The auto-focus is a slightly worse than the PC9 under VERY low light conditions but about the same as the Elura 2. The image stabilization works well. The ergonomics are good—perhaps slightly better than most because of the bigger size. The user interface is intuitive though there are so many features that you’ll need to study the manual well. That’s OK with me.
I found it on the Web for $1230 (as of 10/01). Note: Sony’s proprietary Memory Sticks are more expensive than the ubiquitous multimedia memory cards that the rest of the industry seems to use.
Bottom line: This camera has the best video quality of the “pocket” camcorders… the downside is that it’s not really pocket-sized and it costs $400-$500 more than the Elura 2. If I were going to buy a camcorder like this, I would consider getting the 1.3M pixel Canon Optura 100MC (which is just being released as of this posting). Although I haven’t seen the Optura 100MC in person, it is similar in size to the PC-110 and perhaps a bit better on video quality thanks to its 1.33Mpixel CCD and optical image stabilization. (http://www24.big.or.jp/~a_natsu/IXYDV2.html) Also, if I were considering either of these non-pocket-sized camcorders, I would consider some of the smaller traditionally shaped camcorders like the JVC GR2000, which, unlike the PC110, actually fits (albeit uncomfortably) into my pants pocket.
* JVC GRDVM70U - GRDVM90U:
There are several versions of this same base camcorder which add various features (like USB, multimedia card slot, bigger view screen, special effects, etc) for more money. But the video quality is basically the same throughout the series. The series has relatively poor video quality. Mediocre performance in low light, and because the video is dark, the auto-focus doesn’t work well. This is a non-starter for me. But for a mere $620 - $660, I could certainly understand why these camcorders are popular.
LINKS TO SOME OTHER GOOD RESOURCES:
http://www.cnet.com/
These guys offer mediocre reviews and pretty good pricing searches. But they don’t do side-by-side reviews, they don’t measure performance quantitatively, and they don’t provide screen shots. Also, because they don’t have the same person review all of the miniDV camcorders, it’s hard to make apples-to-apples comparisons. And because they don’t keep their reviews up to date, some of the complaints in their reviews are outdated—especially with regard to pricing.
http://www.pricegrabber.com/
These guys do an exhaustive pricing search, but unlike CNET, they don’t discriminate against dishonest e-tailers. So their search results include dishonest outfits that always advertise the lowest price. I recommend only using the retailers that have 4-5 star ratings and have been rated by over 100 reviewers.
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