Canon Camcorders

Canon HF100

Aside from price, there are only a few minor differences between the Canon HF100 and its brother, the HF10. Cosmetically, the HF100 is a sleek, matte-grey instead of black. Plus, it lacks the HF10's internal memory, relying on SDHC cards. Still, it produces great video

Editor's rating 8.0

Canon HF10

The Canon HF10 definitely deserves a spot on your short list of potential home-movie camcorders. This dual flash memory combines 16GB of built-in flash memory and a slot for SDHC. Its performance is above average for its class, and footage retains a significant amount of detail

Editor's rating 8.0

Canon HV30

The Canon HV30 is an upgrade to last year's top-notch HV20. This model features a sleeker-looking black body and much longer battery life, making it a well-designed prosumer camcorder with a useful feature set, great performance and excellent video quality

Editor's rating 8.0

Canon DC50

Most camcorders offer still pictures as an afterthought -- not the Canon DC50. With its useful features, fine video details and a surprisingly robust photo mode, this DVD-based camcorder presents both a very good home-movie recorder and a competent snapshot camera

Editor's rating 7.2

Canon HR10

The Canon HR10 is camcorder that records to DVDs in the AVCHD format. It has an excellent complement of manual controls, including some nice image and digital effects, as well as Instant AF for changing the focus quickly. All in all, this camcorder produces some great video

Editor's rating 7.2

Canon HG10

The Canon HG10, the hard drive-based, AVCHD-compatible camcorder, takes some chances. For starters, it has one of the most comfortable zoom switches in its class. Plus, upping its low-light performance, both focus and video quality, means it goes beyond other models to produce sharp photo and video

Editor's rating 7.5

Canon XH A1

Canon's XH A1 uses the same technology as the company's professional-level XL H1, but trades in the interchangeable lens for a price that's far easier to stomach -- making it an appealing model for prosumers

Editor's rating 8.9

Canon HV20

The HV20 boasts quite a feature list, including a 3-megapixel sensor, optical image stabilisation, 24p recording, 10x optical zoom, an HDMI output and a long-lasting battery -- all in a horizontal design that's very comfortable to use

Editor's rating 7.7

Canon XH G1

The Canon XH G1 model is the mid-range of choices for videographers. It uses the same technology as the professional-level XL H1, but uses an equivalent of the H1's JackPack and -- like its sister model, the XH A1 -- an interchangeable lens to drive down the cost, which will be attractive to budding filmmakers

Editor's rating 8.9

Canon DC220

Canon's mid-range DC220 is a feature-rich DVD camcorder. Controlled with a tiny, well-located joystick, you can choose from program, shutter-priority or night exposure modes and a wealth of white balance settings. With a 35x optical zoom lens and strong image stablisation, this camera impresses

Editor's rating 6.0

Canon MD160

Canon's MD160 is the top model in the company's MiniDV line this year. It offers a palm-friendly design, a 35x optical zoom and admirable colour reproduction, but it struggles against the competition when it comes to low light

User rating 3.5

Editor's rating 6.8

Canon DC10

Canon's DC10 has an almost identical design to its sibling, the DC20 -- the latter benefits from a higher resolution CCD for stills photography and a night mode. If you're used to MiniDV, you might find the DC10's footage disappointing, but casual users may well find the convenience of straight-to-DVD recording more than compensates

Editor's rating 6.3

Canon HV10

Canon puts high-definition video recording in your pocket, although to make room in said pocket requires removing more than £800 from it. Still, that makes the Canon HV10 the cheapest, smallest HDV camcorder to date. The HV10 has more going for it than just this month's novelty value, if you can overlook some design quirks

Editor's rating 7.5

Canon DC40

Canon's DC40 cements its place among the best of the DVD camcorders with its broad, useful feature set, zippy shooting performance, attractive design and good video quality. It does suffer from many of the same performance flaws as its competitors, but if your heart is set on recording to DVD, it's well worth a look

Editor's rating 7.7

Canon MVX460

Canon's MVX460 is more compact than its entry-level MV models. It offers a larger, higher-resolution CCD sensor that provides 1-megapixel still images and better video resolution. Canon has also addressed some design issues from previous MVX models, making this a great compact camcorder, if don't need to shoot in low light

User rating 9.0

Editor's rating 7.2

Canon DC20

The DC20 offers a f/1.8, 10x optical zoom lens, coupled with a single CCD whose image quality leaves something to be desired, particularly in low light. However, as with most DVD camcorders, what you sacrifice in features you regain in simplicity and hassle-free operation

Editor's rating 6.2

Canon MV890

The Canon MV890's is not as sparse as its price suggests. The MiniDV camcorder is a surprisingly well-appointed model, which shares impressive core specs -- including a widescreen LCD and plenty of manual controls -- with Canon's more expensive models, the MV930 and its pricier MV960

User rating 8.0

Editor's rating 6.6

Canon MV930

As a general-use holiday camcorder, it's hard to level any real criticism at the Canon MV930. Years of experience and the decreasing costs of components have enabled Canon to deliver a very well-made camcorder for just over £200. If you can resist the magpie allure of the new DVD and hard-disk models, the MV930 is a bargain

User rating 4.3

Editor's rating 7.0

Canon MV960

Canon's MV960 is blessed with a palm-friendly design which includes a widescreen LCD, simplified controls and a 25x zoom -- one of the highest we've seen in an entry-level camcorder. It also delivers the same top-notch colour reproduction as its predecessor, the MV850i

User rating 6.0

Editor's rating 6.8

Canon XL H1

At nearly £6,000, the XL H1 is by far the most expensive HD option in its class, featuring three 1.67-megapixel, 16:9-native, 1/3-inch CCDs. To those familiar with Canon's XL system, the XL H1 may prove the obvious choice. To others, its quirky design, lack of progressive-video capabilities and high price may be too much to put up with

Editor's rating 7.7