JVC Everio GZ-HM400

Still Features (13.86)

Like the JVC GZ-X900 before it, the GZ-HM400 has plenty of still features to play around with. The main feature of note is the camcorder's 9-megapixel still image capability, which means the HM400 can take photos at a native resolution of 3456 x 2592.
The camcorder can, of course, take photos in a number of additional sizes as well (10 in all), and it offers two photo quality settings (Fine and Standard). While the camcorder does let you capture still photos in video mode (even during recording), you cannot set the size of these photos—all still images taken in video mode are 3072 x 1728 (5.3 megapixels).

The GZ-HM400 has a variety of continuous shooting modes that are confusing to use and are not well explained in JVC's instruction manual. You engage continuous shooting by switching the shutter mode to continuous in the camcorder's menu. To switch the speed of the successive shots, however, you must go into the Basic Settings menu and choose from High, Medium, or Low. The spreading out of these options is very strange and the inclusion of the shooting speeds in the Basic Settings menu makes no sense at all. The continuous shooting mode also acts differently whether you are in still mode or video mode. The chart below outlines the continuous shooting mode features:

Image provided by JVC

The 9-megapixel continuous stills can only be captured in still mode, although you can also capture continuous stills at other resolutions in still mode. In video mode, all continuous stills are taken as 5-megapixel images. We do like these continuous shooting modes quite a bit, but we wish JVC had made them simpler to use. Without extensive trial-and-error research, it is difficult to figure out what the limitations are for each mode.

The built-in flash has a number of settings.		This small tab switches you between video and still mode.

In addition to the continuous shooting modes, there is also an auto exposure bracketing option on the HM400. With this feature turned on, the camcorder will take 5 successive shots, each with a different exposure level. This is good if you are shooting in low light or in situations where you are unsure of how to set your exposure levels. The camcorder also has a built-in flash that can be set to Auto, Red-Eye reduction, and Slow-Synchro (for using the flash with slow shutter speeds).

The GZ-HM400 offers ISO control in still image mode, which is something that isn't commonly found on consumer camcorders. The ISO range goes from 100 to 3200 and can also be set to Auto. Other than ISO, the manual control options in still mode are mostly the same as video mode—except you cannot set Zebra patterns or adjust sharpness in still mode. Still mode has a self-timer option that can be set to 2 seconds, 10 seconds, or face detection (the shutter will go off when it detects a new face in the frame).

During playback you can digitally zoom into photos or paused video, but this action can only be performed using the provided remote control. We would have liked to see JVC include a basic playback zoom that can be performed with the camcorder's zoom rocker as well. If you press down the shutter button while video playback is paused the camcorder will capture a still image from the video (at a resolution of 1920 x 1080).

The still image shooting menu...		... and the still image playback menu.

Still Colour (11.36)

With its impressive still feature resume, we assumed the GZ-HM400 would do very well in our still image testing. It met our expectations for the most part, although the camcorder measured higher noise levels than we would have liked. As far as colour accuracy is concerned, the camcorder did very well. It recorded a colour error of 3.08 and a saturation level of 106.8%. These are better numbers than the HM400 managed in our bright light video testing. (More on how we test still colour.)

The still photography colour error map: the length and direction of each line indicates how the camcorder processed each particular colour.

The GZ-HM400 captured very vivid colours in its still photos. Its saturation level was nearly identical to that of the GZ-X900, although the HM400 had slightly more accurate colours. All the camcorders shown below captured very good colours in its still images, although the Canon had lower saturation levels than the rest. The Panasonic HDC-HS300 had the most accurate colours in this set.

JVC GZ-HM400 Still Colour Comparisons
JVC GZ-HM400	JVC GZ-X900
Panasonic HDC-HS300	Canon HF S100

Still Noise (1.73)

The GZ-HM400 averaged 1.14% noise in our still image testing, which is rather high. This is more noise than the camcorder measured in our bright light noise testing (almost double, actually). Both the Canon HF S100 and JVC GZ-X900 had similar noise levels, however, so this isn't an uncommon occurrence for a high-end camcorder. The Panasonic HDC-HS300 managed much lower noise levels, registering around 0.79%. (More on how we test still noise.)

Still Sharpness (9.69)

Still sharpness is probably the most important still image test we run because it gives you an idea of how much detail the camcorder can capture in its photos. The GZ-HM400 did quite well with still sharpness, managing a horizontal sharpness of 2329 lw/ph with 24% oversharpening and a vertical sharpness of 1800 lw/ph with 6.7% oversharpening. These are much better numbers than the JVC GZ-X900 put up, which is likely due to the different lens featured on the HM400. This is also far better than the Panasonic HDC-HS300 was capable of. The GZ-HM400 couldn't hang with the best still image camcorders, however. The Canon HF S100 had better still sharpness, as did the Sanyo VPC-CG10 and Sanyo VPC-HD2000.  (More on how we test still sharpness.)

JVC GZ-HM400 Comparisons
JVC GZ-X900	Panasonic HDC-HS300	Canon HF S100