Canon DC22 Camcorder Review

by John Neely
Published on Nov 29, 2006 12:00 PM

 
Intro Performance
Format Tour
Auto/Manual Controls
 Still Features
Handling and Use Audio/Playback/Connectivity
Other Features Comparisons/Conclusion
Specs/Ratings


 
Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (7.5)
The Canon DC22 performs well in Auto mode. Sonys have a slight edge in the way they handle transitions, and they provide a large Easy button on most of their consumer camcorders to engage their idiot-proof mode. Canons take a similar approach in just about every aspect of auto mode functionality. Engaging Auto on the DC22 is as simple moving your finger over to the Mode switch and selecting “Auto.” In Auto mode, many controls are disabled, but you can select video recording quality and options for simultaneous still photo recording in the Function. In Auto mode, manual exposure and manual focus cannot be used.
 
Like other Canons, the DC22 shines in terms of the Special Scene Recording Programs it offers (often called Program AE modes by other manufacturers). These programs are special auto modes tailored for specific shooting situations. To use Special Scene Recording Programs, the Mode switch must be set to SCN. Pressing the Function button calls up the scene selection menu, and the Multiselector is used to cycle through options and make selections. The programs available on the DC22 include Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, and Fireworks. Each program is represented by an icon in the menu, and as you move through the icons, its name is displayed. The situation each program is tailored for are easily intuited from their names – Fireworks is optimized for shooting fireworks, but might work for other very high-contrast situations; Portrait is optimized for static interview-style shots, etc.
 
A number of Image Effects are available when the Mode switch is set to P in the Function menu. These effects include 4 presets for Vivid (emphasizes contrast and color saturation), NEUTRAL (tones down the contrast and color saturation), Low Sharpening (softens outlines in the recorded image), Soft Skin Detail, and Custom. Soft Skin Detail is a  setting that softens details in “skin toned” areas, which we have found actually means areas that are light-skin toned. There is no setting for “darker” skin tones, and we find such settings a bit offensive. Canon is not alone in offering a skin tone softening feature. We hope manufacturers add the ability to select skin tone in the future, or at least better explain how the system works. The Custom setting allows further control over the elements that make up the presets by setting them to –1, 0, or +1. These elements are brightness, contrast, sharpness, and color depth.
 
Canon also offers a large range of Digital Effects (not to be confused with Image Effects) in the Function menu. These effects are more extensive than those available on most consumer camcorders, and qualify as a virtual library of digital bells and whistles. This camcorder includes a whopping nine fader selections (Fade-T, Wipe, Corner, Jump, Flip, Puzzle, Zigzag, Beam, and Tide), nine effects (Black & White, Sepia, Art, Mosaic, Ball, Cube, Wave, Color Mask and Mirror) and Multi-Image Screen, which splits the recorded image into 4, 9, or 16 tiles. We regard digital effects like these with skepticism. They can be fun additions to a family video at best, gratuitous gimmicks at worst. For whatever reason, Canon offers up more digital tricks just about any other maker of consumer camcorders.  
 
Overall Manual Control (7.0)
Overall, the Canon DC22 has a pretty good set of manual controls for a consumer DVD camcorder. Of course, Canon generally offers a decent control suite – better than Sony, but not as thorough as Panasonic. Nearly all camcorders offer manual focus and exposure compensation, and this is no different. The DC22 ups the ante with Aperture and Shutter Priority modes, which are a boon for users seeking some degree of control but are bereft of expert knowledge. Panasonic definitely takes the edge in this category, granting fully independent aperture and shutter speed on all their consumer models.
 
All of the controls and menus are operated via a small joystick located on the rear of the body. While we normally praise joysticks for being the best of all possible controls on a consumer camcorder, the one factor that consistently causes our support to waver is size. When a joystick is too small, it can make operation just as difficult as any other poorly designed control. This is far from the worst joystick we’ve seen, but it is awfully small. And for some unforeseeable reason, the designers chose to taper the tip of the stick as it extends out, rather than keeping it straight or broadening it into an easy-to-grip nub. As a result, your finger is more likely to slip. Again, it’s not the worst we’ve seen, but it could be better. And unlike the DC100 and DC40, the joystick is rear-mounted, making one-handed operation possible.
 
The menu is broken up into two main portions, the Function menu and what we’ll call the Administrative menu. The latter contains most of the controls you would not necessarily need close at hand, including infrequently changed settings like stabilization on/off, LCD brightness, and level markers, as well as settings you would likely never use more than once: menu language, time and date settings, etc. The animated gif below shows you all of the options.
 

 The Administrative Menu (left) and the Function Menu (right).

 
The Function menu contains most of the controls you do want close at hand. Here you can switch between shooting modes (P mode, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority) when you’re in the P setting on the mode switch, or the scene mode (Portrait, Sports, Night, etc.) when the mode switch is in SCN mode. Below that are the white balance submenu, then Image Effects, Digital Effects, recording quality, and still resolution (for shooting stills in video mode only). Navigating the Function menu is quite easy with only a little practice, though it is easy to mix up the button to access the Function menu with the buttons for the Administrative menu and Widescreen on/off. Some size or texture variance could have really helped with no-look operations on this camcorder.
 
Two manual controls, exposure and focus, do not reside in any menu. To access them, you simply push up on the joystick (for exposure) or down (for focus). Small icons appear onscreen to indicate that these controls are active.
 

 It get a little congested with all the controls on the back of the DC22.
 
The DC22 also offers a Custom Menu, which gives you some degree of control over features that most consumer camcorders do not. In the Image Effects submenu of the Function menu, there is a choice for a single custom image setting of your design, which allows you to dial in a specific brightness, contrast, sharpness, and color depth. It sounds great, but in reality, you can only adjust each of those factors to a +/-1 degree. Still, it’s not something you’ll find on any other manufacturer’s consumer camcorder.
 
Zoom (7.0)
The Canon DC22 offers 10x optical zoom and 200x digital zoom, controlled by a small raised toggle on the rear of the top. This is the type of toggle we like to see on a consumer camcorder – sticking out high and proud above the profile of the body – unlike the sliding switch that Panasonic tends to employ on their models.
 
The switch has a good feel to it, not super-sensitive, and it is capable of about three zoom speeds depending on finger pressure. Also available is a feature Canon has begun loading on all their recent consumer camcorders – manual zoom speed. With this option, you can fix the zoom to Speed 1 (the fastest), Speed 2, and Speed 3 (the slowest), or plain ol’ Variable speed. Personally, we prefer the variable speed.
Zoom Power/Ratio (10.0)
The Canon DC22 features a 10x optical zoom, and a digital zoom option that can be set to off, 40x, or 400x. Compared to many consumer camcorders with 1/6” imagers that feature optical zooms as high as 33x, 10x is relatively modest. The reason the DC22 has a lower zoom power is the direct result of  a much larger imager, measuring 1/3.9”, and producing more than double the effective pixels of a 1/6” chip. In other words, a high zoom power on a consumer camcorder generally indicates a small imager while a lower zoom power generally indicates a larger and often superior imager. We’ll take the larger imager over a low-quality 1/6”camcorder with a 33x zoom any day since you can usually get closer to your subject, but you can’t improve a shoddy image. The digital zoom option should be used with caution, or set to off because the digitally zoomed image quality on this camcorder plummets above 20x.
 
Focus (5.5)
Manual focus on the Canon DC22 is performed by pushing down on the joystick (which is labeled “Focus”). A small “MF” icon appears onscreen. Toggle the joystick left and right to adjust focus. There is no indicator or scale to gauge where in the focal range you are; there is only the quality of the image on the screen to guide you. Because a 2.7-inch LCD screen is hardly large enough to inform you adequately with this information, it’s recommended you stick with the auto focus in all but dire circumstances.
 
Exposure (Aperture) (4.75)
Exposure can be controlled in two ways on the Canon DC22. The first, and the simpler, is the exposure control, sometimes called exposure compensation by other manufacturers. To access this control, push up on the joystick. A small scale appears in the upper right corner of the screen. Pushing the joystick left and right moves the icon along the scale at a maximum range of +/-11. The scale is context-sensitive to your shooting environment, however, and the scale can shorten. For instance, if you were to point the camcorder into a dark corner and then activate the exposure, the auto exposure has probably already opened up the iris as far as it will go. Calling up the exposure compensation now would allow you to only push it up to +1 or +2. Exposure compensation is nice to have for a quick fix, but thankfully, the DC22 gives you more advanced controls, as well.
 
In Aperture Priority mode, you can select the exact aperture while the camcorder automatically sets the shutter speed (this works vice versa in Shutter Priority mode). Aperture values range include: f/1.8, f/2.2, f/2.4, f/2.8, f/3.4, f/4.0, f/4.8, f/5.6, f/6.7, f/8.0, 9.5, f/11, f/14, and f/16. This is a great range of settings, and should allow you to get the depth of field you want. It’s a shame you can’t have manual shutter speed control at the same time, but Canon withholds that feature for their top consumer models.
 
Shutter Speed (5.0) 
The Canon DC22 offers shutter control in Shutter Priority mode. Settings include 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, and 1/2000. In Shutter Priority mode, the camcorder automatically adjusts the aperture. When the camcorder disagrees with your shutter speed setting, the numeric icon in the upper left corner will flash. You can choose to heed or ignore the warning.
 
White Balance (7.5)
Making a manual white balance on the DC22 is easy. Enter the Function Menu, scroll down to white balance and chose Set, and then push the joystick inwards until the icon stops blinking (about 4 seconds). The manual white balance appears to be accurate, and is located in a fairly convenient spot. It’s not as though most consumers will be changing white balance so frequently that they need an exterior button.
 
Automatic white balance settings include Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Fluorescent H. This is a great set of auto settings. Canon typically has the best range of options in the category.
 
Gain (0.0)
There is no manual gain on the Canon DC22. Only Panasonic offers gain control in its consumer-class camcorders.
 
Other Manual Control(2.0)
Level Marker – The DC22 comes equipped with a Level Marker Feature which creates a thin, horizontal line across the middle of the screen. In the center is a short vertical line forming a target in the center.

The Level Marker as it appears on screen
 




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