JVC GR-D290EK MiniDV Camcorder with DV in/out & SD card [25x Optical Zoom, 2.5"LCD] Camcorder Best Buys

Excellent video camera - 02 Jun 2006

3 out of 3 found this review helpful.

I bought this on impulse 6 months ago and it's been a really good buy. The quality of the video taken is first class and it'a really easy to use. The night vision makes the image a little jittery, but works well in low light.

Copying movies from my old 8mm analogue camera was easy once I realised that i didn't need to record it on the JVC first - it just passes straight through.

The only niggle is that having tried to use it as both a video and stills camera, I've found the stills pictures to be quite grainy - although the 25x zoom is something you don't get on any stills camera

mac compatability is an issue - 26 Apr 2006

3 out of 4 found this review helpful.

How on earth do you get it to work with a mac. I got the firewire, but the mac just can't see it. The disc is also unrecognisable. So I have loads of video footage that I can't do anything with.
So I'm not too chuffed with what is essentially a really good camera....

Excellent Camcorder!! - 24 Mar 2006

7 out of 7 found this review helpful.

After reading around I decided that this camcorder was the best in my budget. I shall be using it for my safari honeymoon + the massive 25x zoom was a big appeal so I'll be able to keep a safe distance from the wildlife : ) Also the light so that we can make blair witch style video diary entries in the tent at night. The price on Amazon is great!

After recieving the camcorder I've got to say it's even better than I thought! The image quality, even in very low light (ie. in darkness except for the camera light) is absolutely excellent! My previous camcorder was terrible indoors + I really can't believe how much better this is. The full colour night vision is pretty useless (it strobes REALLY badly) but that's no biggie. The only real complaints are the terrible battery life (be sure to add the cost of a bigger battery) and that the tape mechanism noise is picked up by the mic. All considered however I love it + would recomend it to anybody!

NOTE: If you do buy one don't be tempted by the cheap american ones that are on Ebay as they are lower spec than the UK (they don't have 3D-Noise Reduction) and the image quality is no where near as good!

Great for usign with helmet cameras - 05 Mar 2006

3 out of 3 found this review helpful.

Its a great camera, good compact size, high quality pictures. It was recommended to me as I needed a camcorder with an AV-In for my ActionCam 480 helmet camera. I have not been disappointed. Its small size and makes it easy for me to carry in my backpack when I go snowboarding and mountain biking.

Easy to use and full of functions - 05 Jan 2006

11 out of 13 found this review helpful.

I recently bought a helmet camera to take skiing with me and needed to get hold of a camcorder which would allow me to record videos taken via the helmet camera. I specifically needed a camcorder with an AV-IN socket, which many lower budget camcorders do not have.

The GR-d290 allows me to record videos with my helmet camera and comes with lots of other useful extras.

After doing a lot of research into the camcorder market i went for this and am very happy. It meets all of my requiremnets: AV-IN; DV-IN (to transfer movies to a pc); memory card and mini-DV tape; built in light; large optical zoom (25x).

Its small too, as most of these things are!