Everio: The Diminutive Do-It-All Digicam

JVC's new $1,300 Everio GZ-MC200 digital media camera is brilliantly miniaturized and includes some of the requisite trade-offs, but the company has done a masterful balancing act. The result is a delightful combination of usability and convenience coupled with excellent craftsmanship and quality output.

 The Everio is mainly a video camera that can record up to 60 minutes of high quality MPEG-2 video on its included 4GB Microdrive. It is also a 2-megapixel digital still camera and voice recorder.

Most video cameras have longer zoom lenses than most digital still cameras, but the Everio's 10x zoom can be used for both still and video. But when used as a video camera, the unit's digital zoom can extend to 200x magnification. This extreme reach is nearly impossible to use without a tripod, but the Everio has a gyro stabilizer to help smooth out unsteady shots. I let the stabilizer do its magic even when I was shooting video at lower zoom ranges, and the results were much more steady than when I had it turned off.

The Everio is available in both vertical and "cube" versions but share the same specifications and functions. Your choice depends on your preference for holding the camera. I tried the cube version, and it felt solid, with the controls in easy and logical reach. The handgrip portion of the Everio contains most of the user controls and a 1.8 inch LCD. The lens portion of the Everio swivels on the handgrip, which is different from a traditional video camera where the LCD swivels independently of the camera body. I liked this arrangement because I could hold the camera comfortably for viewing the LCD while tilting the lens up or down at the subject.

There are a total of seven controls on the camera, and many of them do double-duty, switching roles in context. The camera does a good job as a point-and-shoot unit, but once I became comfortable with the mini-joy-stick, I was able to make quick adjustments to exposure, focus, light balance, shutter speed, and effects. The programmed auto-exposure settings make it easy to get well exposed shots in difficult situations. It was a pleasure to be able to select from twilight, spotlight, snow, and sports scenes without traversing a complex menu.

Taking Pictures

I used the Everio to take both still pictures and video scenes. I liked being able to use the same camera for both kinds of shooting. Switching between modes is done by pushing a button on the side of the camera that cycles between video, still images, and voice recording. The joystick controls are the same for both video and still modes which simplifies the learning curve.

I relied on the automatic focus and exposure for most of my shooting and the results were very good. Pushing the joystick left and right while shooting video or lining up a still shot moves the auto-focus area left, right, and center so you can pinpoint your subject. This was especially helpful in the video mode, and let me keep my subject in sharp focus.

MPEG-2 video compression produced very good video results. I used the included A/V cable to hook the Everio directly to my ViewSonic LCD projector, and even when projected on a 100" screen, the images were sharp, and the definition more than acceptable. As a still camera, 2 MegaPix is far below the current norm. But because of the camera's 10x zoom I was able to avoid cropping and still get the close-in pictures I wanted. The quality of the still images was terrific as long when viewed on a normal PC screen, but became very pixilated when displayed from my projector. But when I used them as e-mail attachments and in an online photo album the visual quality was as good as a 5-megapixel camera's photos.

The Details

The Everio cube, or more correctly, the GZ-MC200 and the vertical model, labeled the GZ-MC100, share the same basic parts and features. Besides the 4GB Microdrive, there is an SD slot to which you can alternatively direct your voice recording and still pictures. The rechargeable battery is removable so you can carry a spare or two, but I was able to shoot 60 minutes of video at DVD quality (which filled the Microdrive) on a single charge.

The build-in microphone and speakers do a great job of recording in stereo, and the digital "Wind filter" can be switched on to cut through the breeze.

Be sure to try out both versions of the Everio before you buy as you may find one fits your hand better than the other. But either version will give you great results. What may prove even more important, you may find that you actually have the camera with you because its diminutive size makes it easy to carry.