Canon MV850i

An enormous zoom almost guarantees satisfaction

Only in our crazily converging digital world could we be testing a camcorder based on a CCD with less than half the resolution of some mobile phones. With just 800,000 pixels to call its own, the largest photo the MV850i can capture is smaller than most PC desktops. But its 1/6-inch sensor is still large enough to record decent quality PAL video, and the rest of its specification is anything but under-sized.

Canon has shoe-horned a gigantic 22x optical zoom lens into the compact plastic body, and while the 2.4-inch LCD isn't massive, it is sharp, colourful and comes with a one-touch backlight button. The interface is brilliantly bogstandard - anyone who's ever used a camcorder will be up and shooting in seconds.

Zooming is quick and easy (although not totally silent), switching between the tape and SD card (8MB supplied) is simple, and there's a handy jog-shuttle wheel for navigating the basic menus.

There are just a few special features, but they're all goodies: true widescreen recording, a built-in white LED light (never quite bright enough) and a handful of digital effects. SD card movies are captured at fuzzy 320 x 240-pixel quality and jerky 12.5 frames per second, so stick to traditional MiniDV recording. This is smooth and well exposed, although the colours and sharpness are no match for triple CCD or megapixel models.

As a basic camcorder with a huge zoom and useful features, the MV850i represents great value. But if you're a little sensitive about the size of your CCDs, you might want to spare your blushes and spend a little more.

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