Canon DC330 Camcorder Review

by Jeremy Stamas
Published on Dec 18, 2008 11:00 AM

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


Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (6.00)
The automatic controls on the Canon DC330 are more than sufficient if you have no desires beyond point-and-shoot operation. In bright to moderate lighting, exposure, focus, and white balance all appeared to work well. Most adjustments take about 1-2 seconds. In lower light, the auto focus will weaken considerably. Precious few camcorders in this price range are low light champs, and the DC330 is only a moderate performer. If auto focus is giving you a problem, try turning the light up then fixing the focus manually. The focus will stay locked even after you turn the lights down again.

There are a small handful of one-touch controls that give you fast, simple correction tools for problem shots. Canon includes a very useful set of options called Image Effects. There are three presets here: Vivid to boost saturation, Neutral to decrease it, and Soft Skin for skin tone correction. Canon is one of the few manufacturers to offer any sort of control over color in this price range.


The Canon DC330 offers eight separate scene modes.

Finally, there is a selection of Scene Modes: Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, and Fireworks.

Overall Manual Control (5.00)
The Canon DC330, along with nearly all standard definition Canons, offers a solid set of manual controls. There's enough here to keep the enthusiast satisfied, but presented in such a way that beginners should get the hang of it in due course. Mind you, Panasonics in this price range offer more powerful manual control, and the Canon interface is not the easiest, but it's a good balance overall.

Zoom (6.00)
The Canon DC330 has a small, slim rocker switch on top to control the zoom. The switch feels cheap, to be sure, as does the rest of the body. However, it works quite well. We had no problem producing three distinct zoom speeds, including an impressive, slow crawl – great for amateur filmmakers. If you're not keen on doing the work yourself, you can actually fix the zoom speed to three different settings, deactivating the touch-sensitive.

While the zoom is being actively used, a small scale appears in the upper right corner to indicate where in the zoom range you are.

Zoom Power Ratio (37.00)
The optical zoom on the Canon DC330 extends to 37x. This is an impressive zoom in its own right, but it's not the number you'll see plastered on the side of the camcorder. Rather, a "48x" zoom is touted. This refers to something called the Advanced Zoom, a new development from Canon that tinkers with the information from the CCD sensor to boost the magnification. We can see virtually no difference in image quality between the optical zoom at its farthest and the Advanced Zoom.

The Advanced Zoom is dependent on the chosen aspect ratio. In 16:9, or widescreen, ratio, the power goes to 48x. In 4:3, the Advanced Zoom extends to 55x.

Focus (4.00)
The manual focus on the Canon DC330 is operated with the joystick. Push in on the joystick to access the small Joystick Menu, then select Focus. You can then push left and right to shift focus. Unfortunately, the only means to judge the correct focus is by looking at the low resolution LCD screen. Many HD camcorders include some sort of assistance tools, like an instant zoom or a false coloration to highlight planes of focus, but you'll have no such luck here.

Exposure & Aperture (6.00)
The exposure is quite easy to adjust, though we observed that user unfamiliar with Canon camcorders had a hard time locating the option. We'll tell you: it's in the Joystick menu (push in on the joystick to access it). A small scale appears in the upper right, with 23 increments in total. It's easy access and a great level of control.

Sadly, there is no option to control the aperture directly, only the simple exposure tool described above. Panasonic is the only manufacturer to offer direct aperture.

Shutter Speed (6.35)
The shutter speed controls on the Canon DC330 are located in the Function menu. There are nine settings: 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, and 1/2000. This should be enough to satisfy most users. The only limitation is that you cannot be in a Scene Mode and adjust the shutter at the same time.

White Balance (5.50)
The white balance options are also located in the Function menu. Options include: Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, and Set (Evaluative Manual). This is certainly not an abundance of options, but it's quite easy to make a manual adjustment. 

Gain (0.0)
There is no gain control on the Canon DC330. Panasonic is the only manufacturer to offer this option in consumer camcorders.

Other Manual Controls (1.0)
Markers - This option draws lines on the LCD to help you line up your shot. Options include either a single horizontal line through the middle or a series of lines that breaks the screen up into 9 sectors. Either of these patterns are available in white or grey. The lines only appear on the screen, not on your recorded video.



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