Canon MVX35i camcorder

Posted by T3 Online on Thu 14 Apr 2005

Was cutting edge, but now as dull as a butter knife

MiniDV camcorders are the comfy slippers of the electronics world. New technologies come and go, but rarely do they have an effect on the staid whirring of tape inside their champagne plastic cases. So it comes as no surprise that the MVX35i has the same two-megapixel CCD as last year's high-end model (the MVX25i), along with an almost identical features list - auto and program modes, some exposure tweaks and a handful of digital effects.

On the swings, the 35i has boosted the resolution of its 2.5-inch screen from 135,000 to 211,000 pixels, but on the roundabouts, the lens is now only a 10x zoom instead of the 14x optics on the 25i. The 35i is also slightly smaller and lighter, modelled in a JVC palm-corder style that puts the zoom lever right under your index finger.

Video clips saved to the Secure Digital card are now stored in the efficient MPEG-4 format rather than Motion JPEG. While this enables it to squeeze twice as much footage (around five minutes) onto the ridiculously small 8MB card supplied, the resulting clips are full of pixellation and look horrible. The two-megapixel digital snaps also seem increasingly puny as camera technology races ahead, although at least you get a built-in flash and cool options like a five-frame burst mode and exposure bracketing.

Taped footage is as good as it ever was: smooth, rich colours and plenty of contrast, plus a video light to help with night-time filming. But there's no escaping that MiniDV camcorders, even ones as competent as this, are now looking rather tired.