Review: Canon HV20 HD Camcorder — High Definition Labor of Love: "
When it comes to HD cameras, call us hopeless romantics. We’d love to find a shooter capable of taking beautiful footage but without the bulk of a professional cam. Canon’s new HV20 got close, but eventually it just broke our hearts. Here’s why: We took the cam to Bay to Breakers (a 7.46-mile foot race across San Francisco that often features more binge drinking and nudity than actual running). Our movie from the event? Hyper-clear with very little jitter due to the camera's excellent image stabilizer. But the honeymoon ended when we tried using the playback functions at the bottom of the LCD screen. The poor menu setup and messy control scheme left us scratching our heads. Plus, for the thousand-dollar price tag, you'd think Canon could have included an HDMI connector. Sigh. The search for true love continues. —Rachel Swaby
WIRED Super clear, super clean, super colorful 1080i video quality. Tapes eject quickly and cleanly. 10x zoom and rapid auto focus. Compact size and light weight (1.3 pounds!) make transporting the cam second nature. Top mounted mic cancels out ambient noise like a pro.
TIRED Holy design flaw! The electronic lens cover sputtered and failed to open right out of the box; we had to prop it open with our fingers. Poor menu configuration — especially with playback functions. Image stabilization has its limits: 10x zoom requires a tripod if you don’t want it to look like you are experiencing an earthquake.
$1099, usa.canon.com
(Via Gadget Lab.)