The camcorder itself is both compact--fitting the hand snugly--and lightweight, thanks largely to its predominantly plastic construction. This raised initial concerns about the sturdiness of the product, though in our extensive testing there were no signs of weakness in the build quality. The DVL150 is fitted with a JVC 10xoptical/300x digital zoom. Zooming is complemented by the digital image stabiliser and spline interpolation, which between them enable you to zoom effectively, without wild camera shake. For low light situations, there is a bright white light fitted to the front of the camcorder, which can be fixed at on/off or auto and the camera also includes JVC’s Digital NightScope feature, which enables you to work in very low light conditions and still produce bright colour images.

In use, the camcorder is simple to operate and comfortable. The controls are logically laid out and the menu screens on the colour 2.5" LCD swivel display, or B/W viewfinder are informative, without being cluttered. The motors that drive the tape mechanism are louder than on many high-end models, which is annoying, especially when playing back on the camcorder itself. When hooked up to A/V equipment and played back through your TV, this noise is still audible, though far less obtrusive. The image quality is excellent, producing crisp, well balanced colours and handling even complex scenes well in full automatic mode. Where this is insufficient, a variety of manual modes and adjustments are available to help you get the best pictures and a variety of post-filming editing effects can also be carried out.