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Canon Breaks into the Consumer HDV Market with the HV10 by David Kender Published on Aug 2, 2006 5:00 AM

August 2, 2006 - Fresh off last week's prosumer HD announcements, this morning, Canon USA and Canon, Inc. announced the HV10, their first consumer-oriented high definition camcorder. With an estimated MSRP of $1299, the HV10 is an HDV camcorder set to compete directly with Sony’s HDR-HC3, undercutting its cost by $200. Among the key features: optical image stabilization, a 10x optical zoom, a 1/2.7-inch CMOS sensor and Instant AF, a new focusing system borrowed from Canon’s prosumer line.

Canon’s entrance into the consumer HD field has been belated. Sony has already cycled through its first model, the HDR-HC1 (Specs, $2295), and replaced it with the HDR-HC3. Canon has not been idle, however. Just last week, the company expanded their prosumer HDV line three-fold with announcements for the XH A1 (Specs, Recent News, $3279.99) and XH G1. But with a base price of $3999 for the A1, the camcorders were unlikely to entice weekend shooters.

The HV10 features a 1/2.7” CMOS chip (2.96 gross MP, 2.07 effective MP). This is the first Canon camcorder to utilize a CMOS chip, though the company has manufactured them for some time for use in their still cameras. The camcorder shoots full 1080i HD video, and offers noise reduction built into the chip (historically, noise has been a problem with many CMOS camcorders). The CMOS sensor is designed with a Bayer pattern, which defines the arrangement in which color filters are laid out, boosting the number of green pixels to increase color production for the human eye. The HV10 will also feature a DIGIC DV II processor, the same processor found on Canon's prosumer HDV line, including the XL H1 (Specs, Recent News, $7947.89). The HV10 also features Super Range optical image stabilization.

The CMOS chip will allow the HV10 to take larger stills ( larger than their previous CCD imagers) of up to 3.1MP (2048 x 1536). Another benefit of the CMOS is its ability to capture stills up to 2MP while simultaneously shooting video. Stills save to a MiniSD card, the same card media found in Canon’s DVD lineup. No card is included. A flash and a full array of manual controls also round out the still package.

The HV10 aims squarely at Sony's existing market for their HC3. The HC3 was Sony's second generation HDV camcorder replacing the HC1 and is priced almost exactly at the same level as the new Canon HV10. The two camcorders will go head to head for sure on the floors of the nation's retailers, with one of their biggest differentiating factors being their style. The Canon HV10 adopts the upright, compact style of their top MiniDV camcorder, the Optura 600 (Specs, $1099).

The HV10 includes manual exposure and manual shutter speed (1/8th – 1/2000th video mode, 1/2 – 1/500th still mode), an array of Program AE modes, zoom, white balance and focus. This last control, focus, is among the most important when shooting HD video, as focal errors are exaggerated with the corresponding increase in resolution. The HV10 does not offer a focus ring, instead, it employs an external button to activate manual focus and a small dial to make adjustments. This method is similar to the multi-function dial of the Sony HDR-HC3. The HV10’s controls are placed on the back, facing the user, while the HC3’s dial is placed along the side of the lens barrel towards the front.

The Canon HV10 employs the Instant AF system, which uses an external sensor to speed up and increase the accuracy of focusing. The sensor, also found on the new prosumer Canon XH A1 and XH G1, judges camera-to-subject distance first to get a rough estimate of the proper focus. The focus lens then needs only to make fine adjustments. Canon executives describe the Instant AF as “Fast, very fast.”

Monitoring the video is done through a 2.7-inch widescreen LCD with a 210K resolution. This is the same size LCD found on the Sony HDR-HC3. Sony’s new AVCHD high definition camcorders, the HDR-SR1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1119.99) and HDR-UX1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $729.95), both offer a 3.5-inch LCD. A larger screen better enables the user to gauge focus. The Canon HV10 also comes equipped with a 0.27-inch view finder, which has a 123K resolution.

Additional features on the HV10 include a video light, histogram display, zebra patterns and grid markers. It uses a Canon HD video lens, F1.8 – F3.0, with a 37mm filter diameter. The zoom range extends to 10x optical and 200x digital. The focal distance ranges (in 35mm equiv.) from 43.6mm – 436mm.

The Canon HV10 uses the HDV format, which is an MPEG-2 codec that records to common MiniDV tape: among the cheapest, most widely available, and most durable media for video recording on HD. HDV also offers the highest bit rate, 25Mbps, of any consumer HD format. AVCHD, which saw it's first camcorders two weeks ago has become a competitor to HDV offering the benefits of non tape formats.

The Canon HV10 is scheduled for a release date of September at an estimated MSRP of $1299.

 See the Canon HV10 Photo Gallery