Canon DC20 review

Gallery

Verdict:

The DC20 is a slender and well-designed video camera that's ideal for anyone who wants to point, shoot and watch with little fuss. It can also take decent still photographs. It's the best DVD camcorder here, although it is a bit pricy.

Review Date: 21 Feb 2006

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

The DC20 is very slim and looks great. It records directly to DVD-R and DVD-RW.

FEATURES

A DVD drive is smaller and lighter than a MiniDV tape deck. This allows the DC20 to be both compact and pleasing to the eye. The drive itself accepts 8cm DVD-R and DVD-RW discs. The curved rear of the body fitted our big hands perfectly and there are dedicated buttons for every function you'll use often. A small joystick by the LCD screen controls the menu system.

The viewfinder is angled conveniently upwards from the body, but it doesn't extend outwards. The slim chassis leaves no room for an accessory shoe, although all the necessary outputs are present. There's also a video light, a flash and a handy built-in lens cover.

The battery pack is tucked away beneath the LCD, so you can't fit a larger battery. The camera ran for 64 minutes in our tests.

PERFORMANCE

The DC20 produces excellent video on a par with that of the MVX330i. It's sharp with impressive detail. The camera supports a widescreen mode, but it crops the top and bottom of the picture while extending the horizontal view only marginally. Low-light performance was adequate, displaying the usual amounts of noise, and the built-in light helps when shooting in the dark.

Still photographs have a maximum resolution of 1,632x1,224. Detail levels are acceptable and colours are bright and clear, with only a small amount of noise. Photos can be stored on a DVD or MiniSD card.

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