High Def Camcorders

Aiptek AHD Z500 Plus

We're happy to report that you can find the Aiptek AHD Z500 Plus for under £200, which is great considering it's a 'full HD', lightweight camcorder. It's a true point-and-shoot and yields crisp images and movies and performs well in most situations -- though sound quality leaves something to be desired

User rating 7.0

Editor's rating 6.7

Aiptek AHD200

High-definition filming couldn't be simpler with the Aiptek AHD200 camcorder. Plug in a memory card, open the screen and away you go. It's a perfectly decent camcorder for anyone on a budget who's looking to take a compact shooter on holiday or someone ready to start an HD career

Editor's rating 6.0

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 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 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 HG21

Our main issue with the HG21, Canon's high-class, high-definition camcorder, is that it may be too good for its own good. Now that should tell you something. The HG21 comes with a whopping 120GB hard drive, a vast array of high-end features and produces video that is absolutely breathtaking. If you think you can make use of it all, this one's a winner

Editor's rating 8.6

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 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 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 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 Legria HF S10

Offering top-notch performance and video quality, the flash-based Legria HF S10 is an excellent high-definition camcorder with a good, functional design. As long as you can live without an electronic viewfinder, you'll find it provides a better shooting experience than many of its rivals

Editor's rating 8.0

Canon Legria HF S100

Offering top-notch performance and video quality, the SD card-based Legria HF S100 is an excellent high-definition camcorder with a good, functional design. As long as you can live without an electronic viewfinder and internal memory, you'll find it provides a better shooting experience than many of its rivals

Editor's rating 8.0

Canon Legria HF20

Compared to its competitors, the flash-based, high-definition Legria HF20 compact camcorder is pricey. But it goes a long way to justifying the extra expense by offering a relatively extensive feature set, top-notch performance and excellent video-quality in a functional, classy-looking package

Editor's rating 8.0

Canon Legria HF200

The flash-based, high-definition Legria HF200 compact camcorder is pricey compared to many of its rivals. But a relatively extensive feature set, top-notch performance and excellent video-quality go some way to justifying the extra cost. And it all comes in a functional, classy-looking package

Editor's rating 8.0

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 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

Creative Vado HD

The easy-to-use Vado HD marries impressive video quality with a strong feature set, making it a serious rival to the leader in the mini-camcorder market, the Flip Video Mino HD. The Vado HD also boasts one feature that its main rivals do not -- a mini HDMI connector

User rating 7.0

Editor's rating 8.0

Flip Video MinoHD

The MinoHD isn't without its drawbacks, most notably a high price tag and its lack of a memory-expansion slot, but it's a great mini-camcorder nonetheless. Considering its size, this ultra-simple device shoots solid 720p video, and uploading your recordings to the Internet couldn't be much easier

Editor's rating 8.0

Flip Video UltraHD

The Flip Video UltraHD follows its other mini-camcorder brethren in getting simplicity right. Although it's lacking in style, the UltraHD makes up in ease of use and good 720p HD video quality. It delivers the best video yet from these budget, Web-friendly camcorders

Editor's rating 8.0

Genius G-shot HD520

For £90 or thereabouts, you can't expect to get the pinnacle of video-capture performance, so it's no surprise that the G-shot HD520's 720p footage isn't the best we've ever clapped eyes on. But it's packed with features and worth a look for those who just want to capture the moment

Editor's rating 5.7