Jvc - revision suggestion hm-100
 

Not that I would believe for one nanosecond that JVC reads this forum but hey.

Please, oh please - as you plan the first revision for the HM-100, any chance of adding the OIS function onto the User 1, 2 or 3 buttons? That's gotta be easy. The OIS works fine, but not on a tripod.

Focus assist on User 1, fine. OIS on User 2 would be fab. T/C reset on User 3.

Oh well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. Let's look towards 100% shall we ;-)

Brilliant camera, love it.

Oh yeah, and another thing - more options on what gets displayed in the viewfinder please. Like make everything selectable! All I need is timecode display, mic level. Do you realise I've turned off continuous A to B card recording feature just to get rid of the annoying v/f icon?!? Even with 'Simple Finder' it's full of rubbish!! Or am I missing a menu option somewhere? Ack.

Cotty

yea am with u on the OIS on/off thing - I have my user 3 set to delete - so I can delete the last clip at the touch of a button (thats exactly same as EX1 can be setup)

You delete out in the field? Ummmmm, I'm telling on you ;-)

well i'm no pro - but when u know a scene is utter rubbish - no point keeping it :)

You had better believe it -- I can wholeheartedly assure you that JVC reads this forum on at least a daily frequency.

Well then, here's a message for JVC, loud and clear: What this camera needs (and even more so, the HM 700) is timelapse, timelapse, timelapse.

The lack of interval recording on both cameras is the real deal breaker for me and means I will most likely have a couple of EX3s in my future instead.

Sorry Paul, I understand your frustration, but I'm at a loss to understand why you're comparing apples to oranges? The EX-3 is a couple of orders of magnitude up the chain, with commensurate pricing to match. Personally I think what has been achieved with the HM-100 is pretty good, and the price point is just on the high side of right.

I shoot mainly news on SD, and the HM-100 is teaching me about the HD workflow in the meantime, until I am ready to move to a shoulder mount HD. The EX-3 is nice, but is only a half-baked biscuit. If the HM-700 had 1/2 inch chips I'd be foaming at the mouth, and I guess when that does appear it'll be called an EX-5. That's an 'A' camera.

(Fire-retardant suit on and zipped up ;-)

Cotty

Paul.
For some reason, a lot of people seem to be comparing the HM100 with sony EXs. The only thing these cameras have in common is the EX codec and workflow. The HM100 is in the same league, (price wise) as semi pro models from Sony, Canon and Panasonic. For what it costs it is an amazing piece of kit. I think anyone comparing this camera to Sony EXs is in for a dissapointment. Embrace it for what it is, a small camcorder capable of producing outstanding footage. (Still waiting for mine to arrive).

You're quite right, Steve -- I guess my frustration (mainly with the HM 700) boiled over there and should probably be in a different thread! The HM 100 is certainly a great piece of equipment and, grumbles apart, we'll very likely be using one shortly.

No need for the suit!

My Wish List for JVC
 

I've played with my HM100 for about a week now, shot maybe a few hours on it. I've had a chance to work a bit with the images in post and I'm liking it better. I love the light weight and the feel of it. I'm not liking the overly recessed 46mm filter mount or the strange and ineffective OIS which you can see moving around. I'm not crazy about the way it handles highlights on high contrast images or the square-aperture bokeh. However I'll probably wind up shooting twice as much on it as my EX1 because it isn't a chore to take it practically anywhere I go. And it's image is close in quality enough to the EX1 to use as a B camera and intercut with it --- with the SAME wonderful XDCAM EX CODEC! That is awesome.

I realize that this camcorder should not be compared with the EX which is twice as much as it but, JVC if you are listening, I would like some things in an upcoming firmware upgrade:

1) More options for the custom buttons. Don't limit us to a few selections, OIS and other options would be nice
2) Make more use of the LCD joystick to give us even quickly accessed functions. Right now it's limited to the 'scenes'. How about a quick custom menu that you can joystick around to and click that has a list of preset items.
2) HISTOGRAM! I know that a lot of people don't use or like histograms, but they are standard features on almost all digital cameras and camcorders nowadays so they must have some utility for most of the people out there. Why, oh why did JVC leave this out? To me histograms tell me how far off I am. Right now I really have to guess or use the not so great zebras to see if I'm blowing out.
3) More apparent zebras. You can't see them very well, especially in focus assist mode.
4) More responsive and finer zoom rocker. It's just not very good at all, $500 camcorders have better zoom rockers.
5) Make the focus/zoom ring switch configurable to focus/aperture. The clicky aperture up/down button on the back is just plain BAD.
6) More buttons to activate record. -This may not be possible but if the user buttons were more assignable...

That's it for now, I'm sure I'll have more. Overall I'm happy I've got this camcorder. After looking at the images in post I'm even happier. As I said I'm going to be using it a lot, I just wish there were a very few simple things included for this price point.

OK, another thing I was remembered today while playing with it:

Shot Duration Counter. I've got this on a few camcorders and it's a great feature, especially with file-based recorders. A counter to let you know how many seconds have gone by while recording the current shot.

Any body else have suggestions for JVC?

I wish, the focus ring had a meter/inch scale. And/or the LCD/VF would show me the distance to my object just like the Canon A1 does. I find myself dialing the focus ring back and forth all the time because in high contrast situation or back light it´s very hard to see when it´s sharp. Being able to switch the focus ring to be an iris ring would be a dream. Using the joystick on the LCD for the iris would be an improvement too. I wonder if a firmware update could take care of that...

I think that almost anything with the user interface could be solved in a software update, but what I have found is that hardware, switches, things like that are marked one way, like "Focus/Zoom" might not change even though those switches are just inputs to the software. JVC might make it a 'hidden' option for those that wanted it, but they also might think that to add other options that didn't match the physical labels could be confusing. I hope though if they could they would. The depth of field range you suggest would be another great addition as well as actual numbers / percentages for the zoom range.

The point of this camera is the size. I wonder why do the engineers always make the microphone attachment at the front of the camera? I think in this case the microphone should be somewhere towards the back-side to keep the size down.
Charging money for a piece of crap microphone is also pretty bad imo. The mic provided with this camera is a mid level consumer grade, Sennheiser MKE300/400 produces way better sound for under $200 price tag! As the matter of fact I would like to see the option of purchasing the camera without the handle, and selling the handle separate.
Also idea of wide angle converter is stupid. This camera is so small and 10x zoom is so weak it should hardly be used in tele mode. so why not add another element to the lens and make it 28-280? Use tele converter if needed and have wide angle as stock lens without need and hassle of wide angle converters.

wait.. you can't turn the ois off with this cam?