High-Quality Video on a Budget

Sony DCR-HC36

At $400, Sony's DCR-HC36 MiniDV Handycam is very affordable, but it produced some of the lowest-quality video in our tests, showing pale colors and a decidedly fuzzy, grainy look. These problems show up even under good lighting conditions and are much more exaggerated in low light, which may pose a difficulty for anyone shooting video indoors.

The DCR-HC36 is easy to use and fits comfortably in the hand, with the zoom control falling under the index finger. It seems designed for point-and-shoot camera users, offering an Easy Mode button that automates most settings. Most controls are located in an on-screen menu, which you access through the touch screen. Many of those options are buried deep within menus, however, and reaching them requires several taps of the screen.

The 2.5-inch LCD display is clear and bright, but if you shoot video in 16:9 mode, two black bars letterbox the top and bottom of the screen. The 20X zoom lens is powerful, and the electronic image stabilization does a reasonably good job of reducing the effects of camera shake, though it's not as effective as the optical image stabilization of the two Panasonic models.

The DCR-HC36 shoots still images at just 640 by 480 resolution, but the images look so grainy that, frankly, they aren't worth bothering with.

Canon Elura 100

The $400 Elura 100 is one of the smallest camcorders available, at 2.2 by 3.0 by 4.3 inches (and 13 ounces). Its controls are in the right spots for easy shooting. The 20X zoom is longer than on most camcorders, and the digital zoom goes up to 800X; but as with all camcorders, the image quality at that extreme magnification is so poor, it's unusable. You access most controls via an on-screen menu, but some features, such as wide-screen mode, have dedicated buttons.

The 2.7-inch LCD screen is clear and bright, and, like the LCD on the more expensive Panasonic camcorders, it's a true wide-screen display: When you're shooting in 16:9 wide-screen mode, video fills the entire screen. The Elura 100's ability to shoot true wide-aspect-ratio video is unusual for a budget camcorder. Many other camcorders letterbox their video, but the Elura 100's CCD is a true wide-screen sensor, which delivers higher resolution.

Though video showed good detail, it lacked the vivid colors we saw from more expensive models, especially in low-light conditions. Also, though the stereo microphones on the top of the case recorded good-quality sound, they also picked up the motor's noise, which was audible in the quieter parts of recordings.

JVC GR-X5US

The $1300 JVC GR-X5US has a boxy but lightweight case--it weighs a mere 1.1 pounds. The swiveling LCD screen resides on the back of the unit, which enables it to provide a wider viewing angle than the side-mounted LCDs commonly found on camcorders. This pricey model lacks a viewfinder, however.

The GR-X5US captured very high quality video in our tests, with strong, bright colors and plenty of detail. The camcorder's three-CCD design no doubt helped its performance. Also, the GR-X5US took quite attractive still images at 5-megapixel resolution, the highest offered by the camcorders we tested.

The GR-X5US has no video assist light but it's the only model with a headphone jack.

Unfortunately, in our tests the standard battery ran out after a paltry 49 minutes--not even enough shooting time to fill up a MiniDV tape.