Canon MV960 review

Most people have widescreen TVs in their homes, so it makes sense to have a widescreen video camera to match.

Unfortunately, most budget camcorders just crop the top and bottom of the image to get the widescreen aspect ratio, losing picture information in the process. Canon's MV960 is one budget video camera that claims to have true widescreen recording.

We've seen more expensive camcorders make this claim in the past, but most still crop the image a little to achieve it. The MV960 manages a 16:9 ratio without any appreciable cropping, but only when the electronic image stabilisation (EIS) is switched off.

Turning EIS on uses up a proportion of the small 1/6" CCD's resolution and results in noticeable cropping when shooting in widescreen, so you must choose between widescreen and potentially shaky images.

Image quality is excellent for a budget video camera, surpassing Panasonic's NV-GS17B, our Budget Buy award winner in Labs, Shopper April 2006. Colours look great, from skin tones to brighter shades, and there's a surprising amount of detail. You will always see some noise from a budget camera, but it's light and doesn't spoil the overall effect. Low-light shooting introduces more noise, as the small CCD struggles, but there is a light provided for very dark environments.

The video camera is a pleasure to use. The main controls are self-explanatory and with the Easy mode activated, you shouldn't have to delve into the advanced options. If you want to adjust the options, the menu is clearly laid out on the 2.7" LCD. This display is widescreen to match the video captured. A small joystick and four buttons below the screen control the menu system as well as playback. The viewfinder doesn't extend from the body, nor is there any way to access the menu while using it, but this won't bother casual users. Below that is the small 720mAh battery, which lasted for a decent 81 minutes. The MV960 also has a handy built-in lens cover.

As this is the top-of-the-range budget model, it has numerous input and output options. There's FireWire input as well as output, letting you capture edited footage back to tape for storage. There's also composite and phono input for capturing old analogue videos to MiniDV tape. It can also take low-resolution stills and save them to an SD card. If none of these features interests you, look at Canon's cheaper but similar MV930 and MV890 models.

This is a great budget buy. Canon hasn't completely solved the widescreen problem, but it is a step closer. If you're looking for an easy-to-use MiniDV video camera, this is ideal.