The JVC Everio’s understated black finish and matte box remind us of prosumer-grade handycams, but even though this miniature handheld produces some decent images, it suffers from the same problem that plagues every small handycam -- Usability.

The image quality is very good: due to the 3CCD pickup, colours are vibrant and accurate. The automatic mode responds well in all situations, but the manual controls will give you a better picture if you can control your focus, white balance shutter speed and iris properly. Unfortunately it’s difficult to do, as they are all controlled through a small four way position rocker on the side of the LCD screen.

JVC have removed the viewfinder from the Everio, leaving only the LCD display for you to work from. The camera will go into standby whenever you close it, and stop whatever you happen to be filming. The footage doesn’t look as good as footage shot on MiniDV tape, but for the convenience factor the picture still looks more than acceptable. One outstanding function was the incredible macro zoom: If the camera is zoomed out and three centimetres away from the subject, it will still be able to clearly focus.

The footage is recorded onto an internal 30GB hard drive, in a VBR MPEG2 stream, which equates to roughly the same bitrate and quality as a DVD-based handycam. You can vary the quality of your footage for more storage, but the tradeoff will be a lower quality picture. In its highest quality setting, you’ll get over 7 hours of recording if the internal hard drive is empty.

Although the camera plugs into a USB port, and acts like a removable hard drive, it doesn’t record into an easily playable format. The MOD files it records can be read, edited and burned to DVD with the included Cyberlink programs. There is a DVD burning docking station available if you want to bypass the intermediate PC process.

It’s a camera that takes some very good images, but its cumbersome menu system lets it down. Scrolling options get confusing and frustrating unless you only intend to point and shoot. Small form factor cameras are straddled with this in the first place, but the Everio offsets this by being comfortable to hold and delivering a decent picture. It’s quite expensive and you can get better for the money but it’s a very consumer friendly piece of kit.