The DVD camcorder has plenty of consumer appeal. If you don’t fancy the idea of editing your video, or just don’t have the time, it’s very convenient to simply slip the discs from your camcorder straight into your DVD player. Although the format used to command quite a premium, now that high definition models are pushing standard definition down, even fully featured DVD camcorders have fallen to keen prices.
Canon’s DC50 comes in at below £400, yet could hardly be called a budget model. In fact, it’s the pinnacle of Canon’s standard definition DVD camcorder range. The cornerstone of the DC50 is its large 1/2.7in CCD, which sports a sizeable 5.39-megapixels. This allows it to take still images at up to 2,592 x 1,944 pixels (an SD memory card slot is available for storage), although less of this resolution is harnessed for the video side of things. Canon only uses about four fifths of the CCD’s area for video, but theoretically this will still be good for the DC50’s low light capabilities. The greater the area picking up light, the greater the sensitivity. Continuing the premium specification, Canon integrates optical image stabilisation rather than the less effective electronic version, which can also have a negative impact on video resolution.