JVC?s GR-DF430 is one of the more compact cameras you?ll find under $900. It packs in useful features including colour viewfinder and a bright F/1.2 lens to give better low light capture but in testing, we found this one to produce slightly muted colours. And while the viewfinder is great, you need to remember to pull it out in order for it to switch on.
Its $899 price tag gives you extra features such as ADC and remote control and it offers electronic image stabilisation and 15x optical zoom. The placement of the mics under the lens however means you?ll pick up some zoom motor noise. If you need still image capture, the DF430 isn?t your best option as it only captures 720×576-pixel stills to tape.
That said, this is one of the better cameras for analog inputs and outputs with both S-Video and composite-video supported. All up, a pretty decent camera for the price.
