Canon MV800

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http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/camcorders/0,39029967,39189153,00.htm

Reviewed 2 May 2005

Reviewed by Rick Broida

As one of four models in Canon's 2005 ZR line, the compact MV800 easily achieves its goal: to provide hassle-free moviemaking for home and hobbyist users. Flip a switch, and it's in Easy mode, where it manages all the critical settings. If you want a little more control, a flip of the same switch gives it to you, though you shouldn't expect to make too many manual adjustments.

This is a point-and-shoot camcorder, one that delivers pleasing colour and commendable battery life for a pretty affordable street price. It also strives to be a point-and-shoot still camera, but it's almost useless in that regard. Still, we'd gladly pack the Canon MV800 for our next trip or special occasion, as it takes the hassle out of making good home movies.

Design
Although there's nothing particularly striking or unique about the Canon MV800's appearance, its compact design makes for comfortable hand-holding and a coat-pocket fit. With a travel weight of around 500g, however, it's on the heavy side. That said, it and the other MV models are lighter and smaller than last year's lineup.

Beneath your right fingertips, you'll find the usual zoom rocker and a photo button for capturing snapshots. However, the latter doesn't function unless you slide a switch -- also right-finger accessible -- from camera mode to memory card mode. That also diverts you from MiniDV video recording to card-based Motion JPEG capture. Thankfully, the LCD clearly reads Tape Mode or Card Mode to help prevent confusion.

Other right-side elements include a standard mode dial (Play, Off, Camera) and, at the opposite end, interface ports beneath a rubber cover: A/V, FireWire and USB, but no S-Video. Alas, you won't find a side-loading tape compartment; the MV800 loads from the bottom, a not-uncommon design disappointment that's sure to frustrate tripod users.

The 61mm (2.4-inch), 112,000-pixel LCD swings out from the left and is easier to open than some previous Canon models, which have had an annoying separate release switch. Folding out the screen reveals five function buttons, some of them with rather confusing labels. For instance, the AE Shift/End Search and Card Mix/Rec Pause/Slide Show buttons are sure to send users to the instruction manual, though LCD Backlight and Digital Effects On/Off are fairly self-explanatory.

We had an easier time mastering the rest of the MV800's controls, which include large, clearly marked Focus and Night Mode buttons just above the LCD compartment. The combination of a Menu button and a jog/select dial makes for easy navigation of the camera's onscreen menus. The dial also controls manual focus, although it's obviously nowhere near as precise as a focus ring would be. A nearby switch toggles between Easy and Program modes.

Canon's lithium-ion battery snaps onto the rear of the camcorder below the viewfinder, which, unlike the ones on previous MV models, pulls out straight but doesn't tilt up.

Features
The Canon MV800 offers at least one enticing feature not found further up the company's specs list: a 20x optical zoom. We particularly appreciate the inclusion of Canon's 0.6x Wide Angle Attachment, which screws onto the lens for wide-angle shooting. The MV800 also caters to wide-screen shooting with true 16:9 recording, meaning it uses the full width of the sensor, with no squeezing or interpolating. This stands in contrast to camcorders that simply impose letterboxing bars over the top and bottom of the screen.

Other features include electronic image stabilisation; a backlight for the LCD, which makes for slightly easier outdoor viewing; seven autoexposure modes, including Sports, Portrait and Sand & Snow; and a white LED for low-light shooting. Novices will appreciate the presence of Easy mode, which automatically controls focus, exposure and other settings. Flipping a switch to Program mode gains you access to manually adjustable shutter speeds (1/60 to 1/2000), white-balance settings and the usual smattering of transitions and digital effects.

One complaint: the MV800's three night modes -- Night, Night+ and SuperNight -- aren't particularly intuitive. You'll have to memorise which one adjusts shutter speed, which one automatically controls the LED and which one lets you control the LED manually. And it's annoying you can't use the dedicated Night Mode button to toggle between the three modes; instead, you have to delve into the menus to choose which one the button should activate.

Although the ZR300 can capture minimovies to an SD/MMC card in Motion JPEG format, the maximum resolution of 320 x 240 limits their usefulness. Similarly, the camcorder's support for PictBridge and EXIF Print 2.2 seems rather pointless, given the submegapixel photo resolution -- but it's there if you want it.

The MV800 comes with a corded lens cap, an 8MB SD card (which has room for just 13 photos snapped at 1024 x 768 in Superfine mode), USB and A/V cables, a wireless remote and manuals for both the camera and Canon's bundled software. The software comprises only photo-specific programs, including Canon's familiar ZoomBrowser EX, PhotoRecord and PhotoStitch for Windows, as well as ImageBrowser and PhotoStitch for Mac -- there's nothing for video capture or editing. That's a minor letdown, given the MV800's analogue-to-digital converter, which enables the camcorder to record video from, say, a VCR. You'll have to supply the software to download that video to your PC for editing or DVD burning.

A bigger letdown is the lack of a microphone input or an accessory shoe. Although you can dub audio from external sources such as a CD player, the MV800's A/V port works only when plugged into RCA sources using the included cable.

Canon has also neglected to include a separate battery charger. To charge the battery, you have to plug the AC adaptor directly into the camera. That means that if you buy an extra battery so that you can charge one while shooting with the other, you'll have to pick up a charger too.

Performance
We were impressed with the overall performance of the Canon MV800, which should more than adequately handle the needs of family moviemakers. Its LCD looks sharp and bright except under direct sunlight, at which point even the backlight offers little help. We found the zoom controls relatively quick and responsive, though zoom speed seemed faster when we were in standby mode than when we were actually shooting. The MV800 definitely isn't the fastest at focusing, whether it's doing so manually or automatically, but again, for home movies and the like, it's passable.

On the other hand, it was surprisingly quick at automatically adjusting white balance when we moved from a dimly lit indoor environment to a sunny outdoor one and adequately quick at adjusting exposure. Canon's electronic image stabiliser did a decent job with high-zoom recording -- much better than we could manage trying to hold the camera steady ourselves -- but it's not the best we've seen.

The camcorder's stereo microphone, mounted just below the lens, did a good job recording sound both in front of and behind the camera, but, by the same token, managed to avoid picking up noise from the zoom and tape mechanisms. As we noted in 'Features', there's no way to connect an external microphone to the MV800, so if you want more directional audio recording you're out of luck.

As for battery life, the MV800 went the distance, lasting longer than a 60-minute tape. We were able to operate the camcorder -- everything from recording video to rewinding and viewing portions of a tape -- for almost 1 hour, 20 minutes before the battery gave out. That's quite good, though obviously spare cells are a must for holidaymakers.

Image quality
Under optimal lighting, the camera captures sharp, vibrant images with warm colours. In low-light conditions, however, don't expect quite the same results. While Canon has made an improvement over the low-light performance of last year's models, and this camera's various night modes help make for brighter images, the MV800 exhibited a distracting amount of noise in dim conditions. What's more, a tripod is a must if you use the slow-shutter Night mode; even if you're not panning, movies become blurry and jerky with just the slightest movement. The lack of an accessory shoe means you can't add an extra light source, either.

As for still photos, we recommend you don't bother. Although the MV800 managed to reproduce colours pretty well, our sample photos appeared grainy and slightly washed out, with brightly lit areas overexposed. The same goes for the 320 x 240-pixel Motion JPEG movies, which consistently looked jerky and sounded terrible.

Additional editing by: Nick Hide