With the Everio GZ-MS100EX, JVC has a simple, entry-level camcorder, that records directly onto flash memory.

The target audience is users who want to shoot short clips quickly and upload them to sites like YouTube to share with their friends.

Handling

The GZ-MS100EX is a small, pocket-size camcorder, even if it isn't as tiny as the Panasonic SW20.

At times it feels a little too lightweight, but it's certainly portable, and the interface is kept very simple.  A single scroll wheel is joined by two buttons: one to start and stop video recording, and one to take still photos.

To access the other commands, you first need to flip open the LCD display, which is controlled using a new 'Laser Touch' interface, a vertical bar that you slide your finger up and down, a little like the scroll wheel on an iPod.  Unfortunately, though, you can't 'click' by tapping on the bar, but instead have to use a separate OK button.

The most popular feature of the interface is likely to be the One Touch mode, which allows you to record a video that's ready for immediate export to DVD or YouTube, but there's also a range of manual settings that you can program, too.

The screen itself is very reactive, but with only 112 000 pixels, it struggle to capture all the detail in complex scenes.

In terms of timings, you'll need to wait around four seconds to switch it on, which is perfectly acceptable for a camcorder that's there to capture key moments, after which you'll enjoy a battery life of up to two hours.

Unfortunately, the autofocus can be a little hesitant, especially in low light or when zooming in and out, but the fact that you can zoom during recording at all gives the GZ-MS100EX a solid advantage of the majority of compact digital cameras, most of which can also record video but not with zoom.

You can enlarge the image up to 35x using the optical zoom, but the digital image stabilization isn't always up to the job so you might struggle to make the most of all of this power.


Video Quality

A small 1/6'' sensor was never going to produce astonishing results, but our test videos were just about presentable.

The automatic features work well, but the 800 000 pixels on offer from the sensor can't capture much detail.  Some shades seem a little too saturated but are generally satisfactory.

In low light, there's a lot of noise on each frame which really affects image quality.  Photo mode is just as disappointing and produced some very mediocre shots.

These days, it's perfectly reasonable to compare high-end digital compact cameras--a handful of which can now film in HD.