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Canon's HD camcorder is a clear winner

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 8, 2007

With high-definition televisions showing up everywhere from living rooms to sports bars, it's making more sense to capture life's moments - our kids' first steps, school plays and Little League games - with the same resolution and clarity.

Canon hopes consumers will agree and flock to what it calls the world's smallest and lightest HD camera. Its upright-style HV10, which lists for $1,300 but is available for less than $1,000 online, weighs less than a pound and fits easily in the palm of your hand.

Its 2.7-inch sensor captures HD video to standard MiniDV cassettes in 1080i - 1,920 by 1,080 pixels - and also records in standard definition. Canon's consumer-grade HD camera isn't the first on the market, but the HV10's ease of use and sharp picture clarity make it worth the wait.

You can monitor what you're filming through the camera's view finder, or flip out the bright widescreen LCD. The screen can be twisted and placed back flush with the camera's side, providing an opportunity to step away and use the remote control when filming with a tripod.

Camcorders were made for the youth sports parent, so I tested the HV10 at a couple of my son's football games. The first, an outdoor game on a sunny day, showcased the HV10's "Instant AF" auto focus and its optical stabilizer that's supposed to keep the image clear and stable.

The camera followed the action well, constantly refining its focus to keep the picture sharp. The stabilizer helped compensate for my less-than-steady hand, although the shake became a bit more noticeable with the camera's 10x optical zoom maxed out.

The camera has some odd ergonomic qualities, and its small size complicated access to the controls. The zoom toggle is operated with the right hand's index or middle finger, which left my other fingers looking for a place to rest so as not to interfere with the camera's optics.

The record button easy to access with my right thumb, but the tiny nearby menu button and dial, which scrolls through menu options, proved tough to navigate. The rear panel's function, focus and exposure buttons - important if you decide to venture off automatic mode - are placed so flush with the body that I had to use my fingernails to press them.

The HV10's next test was a night football game, and it proved more than up to the task in low light. The video looked just as crisp as the day contest, although the camera often had to work a little harder to find its focus.

Where the HV10 really shines is when the video is piped onto an HDTV. You'll need to use either the included "component out" cable or buy a four- or six-pin FireWire cable, as there's no port to connect an HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) output connector.

No HDTV in the house yet? No problem. Just use the standard video cable to view recordings in a downgraded format on your regular set.

[Last modified January 7, 2007, 20:21:12]