low performance compared to HMC40?
 

How does the JVC HM100 compare to the Panasonic HMC40 in low light?
The HMC40 can gain up pretty high and at least give you an image- how about the JVC?

The HM100 can do very low light images, whether you would want to use them for anything other than nighttime docos is another matter.
At 18db gain I can still have a usable image in certain conditions, which I thought was pretty good, until I compared what I get from my GH1(3) with a Canon f1.4 50mm, its just apples and oranges, so I guess everything is relevant.
So all in all Ive not helped you at all, lol.
Im happy with my GYHM100 and I wouldnt expect getting any better low light performance unless you go up to the bigger sensors, A1S maybe.

All 1/4 sensors are going to have similar performance. There no real "magic" that one company can place in them to make them perform better than 1/4's do. They can interpolate the photosites and make them larger on the grid or they can keep it smaller, less sensitive but with full raster.

That's pretty much it. They can play with the math in the DSP and post processing to try to clean it up a bit. (JVC does a good job at it) But really at the end of the day, it's just a 1/4 inch sensor block.

I look at it like this; "size" vs. "portability" vs. "feature set" vs. "video quality" vs. "codec".

My Sony EX1R will always be my true love but to me, the GY HM100 is the leader of it's class.

CT