JVC GRDVL310U MiniDV Digital Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode

by JVC

Product Details

• Item Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005KAMO
• Item model number: GRDVL310U
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,218 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1973

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good except the Viewfinder, September 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: JVC GRDVL310U MiniDV Digital Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode (Electronics)

Quality is good, but the problem is the viewfinder is black and
white. We go to Yellowstone national park and use it,
in the day time, the LCD does not looks very clear, so some times
you have to use viewfinder (Also to save the battary),
but the black and white thing will confuse you what you
are looking at. Skys, mountains, trees looks same color in it.
You can not easily focus the thing you really want, expecially
when you zoomed. So I suggest buy a color viewfinder.

The weight is not heavy, but when we bought a big battery,
the weight and size enlarged a lot.

The image quality is better than I expected, when I recorded
it to tape it looks fine, much better than things shown in viewfinder. Voice is acceptable.

The night shot does not seem very useful. At night, it works not
good.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great camcorder at an excellent price., January 7, 2002

By 

Denny C Dunaway (Tuscaloosa, AL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JVC GRDVL310U MiniDV Digital Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode (Electronics)

My wife and I have really enjoyed using this superb digital camcorder. For the price - you can't find any other camcorder that can compare (I did a lot of research before buying).

Because there are a few drawbacks, I can't rate it 5 stars. As I anticipated, the digital still picture quality is only average. Also, the zoom button is not ergonomically placed, so it takes a little practice. Picture quality in low light is not great, but is much better when using the built in light (it just drains the battery faster).

However, having stated the only drawbacks that we have found, this is an excellent quality camcorder for the price. The sound and picture are clearly superb to VHS and Hi8. It is easy to use and we have still not uncovered all of its many features. Great product JVC!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good value, excellent "beginner" model, January 7, 2002

By 

superwesman "doctor of love" (chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JVC GRDVL310U MiniDV Digital Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode (Electronics)

I'm definitely a video amateur, but I dig this camera. It's small, lightweight and comfortable to hold. I haven't used it for extended periods of time, but the battery life seems acceptable compared to other models in this price range.

The digital effects are pretty cheesy, but there are some that are kind of neat. I'm a big sepia-tone fan. I plan to do editing on a computer, so these seem like useless gimmicks that I'll never use, as I'll do coloring and fading in a powerful environment.

It comes with a serial cable hookup for your computer, which is cool because every PC has a serial cable and not cool because serial is stupid slow. There is an optional USB cable (woo) and a DV (FireWire) cable (woo hoo!).

The stabilizer and the night shot are both pretty lame. In fact, I'd say useless. They make everything choppy. I just bought a tripod ($20 Ambico) so that should solve at least one of those problems. This also has a light which is sweet and two microphones set up in a nice little stereo pair.

Things I wish this had: microphone in (I have a pair of sweet mics for my MD recorder), color viewfinder (I've seen quit a few that skimp on this feature too), still camera mode (this has a cheap knockoff of still pictures, also pretty much worthless).

Basically, if you just want to make movies of your cats and maybe a dirty flick or two, this is a good buy.