Two new ranges of digicams for Canon
The MVX300 series and the MV800 series are the two new ranges of digital camcorders from Canon. The 1.33-megapixel MVX300 series is designed to be super-compact, while the MV800 range is more of an entry level spec, with just 800,000 pixel resolution.
The MVX350i, MVX330i and MVX300 vary slightly in features, the 350i offering a 20X optical zoom while the other two both come with an 18X optical zoom. There’s a video light on the 350i, but the 330i and 300 have to settle for a digital still flash. A 2.5-inch LCD screen at 123K pixels lets you view your footage and still images, while digital video can be saved onto SD or MMC memory cards (at 1.23 effective megapixels) or miniDV tape (860k effective pixels).
The rather more chunky looking MV800 series is aimed at a first time user market, which explains why they’ve apparently made less effort on the design front. The cameras all feature optical zoom – 20X for the MV830i, MV830 and MV800 and 22X for the MV850i – and come with an “Easy” button which puts the camcorder in control of the filming process. This means you get to just wander round pointing it at things, without worrying about sorting out the various settings.
The cameras also come with Night Mode (or Super Night Mode in the case of the MV850i) 16:9 letterbox widescreen mode and PictBridge for easy printing (the MVX300s have this as well, incidentally). An 8MB SD memory card comes supplied. Both ranges are out at the end of Feb with pricing still TBC.
