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January 5, 2010 – Canon's three new mid-range HD camcorders—the HF M31, HF M30, and HF M300—represent upgrades over Canon's previous mid-range lineup, which included the HF20, HF200, and the Japanese-only HF21. While Canon didn't change much about the internal specs with these new camcorders, it did make some significant alterations with the way these models are controlled. Each of these new HF M camcorders feature a 2.7-inch touchscreen LCD, which is used to navigate menus and make adjustments to manual controls.

Canon had long been a holdout with touchscreen technology, instead relying on small joysticks to navigate menus and adjust manual controls. Now, with touchscreen systems prominently displayed on its HF M and HF S line of camcorders, Canon has become the newest member of touchscreen club. Sony and Samsung have been making touchscreen camcorders for quite some time now, while Panasonic followed suit last year.

The HF M camcorders have the same 1/4-inch, 3.89-megapixel CMOS sensors as their predecessors, as well as the same 15x optical zoom lens. Canon did improve the optical image stabilization on these new models, with the feature now being called Powered OIS. Also included on the HF M camcorders is a hot accessory shoe that is compatible with Canon's RA-V1 LANC adapter—other than this compatibility, however, the accessory shoe is identical to the one featured on last year's models.

The Canon HF M300 records to memory cards only.

The HF M31 is the most expensive of these new models, and it includes 32GB of internal flash memory. The HF M30 also includes some internal flash memory, but only 8GB. All three of these flash memory camcorders have SD/SDHC memory card slots, but the HF M300 is the only model that includes no internal memory. None of these models have electronic viewfinders or control dials, but each of them as an external microphone port and a headphone jack.

The Canon HF M30 contains 8GB of internal flash memory.

Canon made some improvements to its auto controls with a new system called Smart Auto. It is expected that some of the auto features on the HF M series will work in conjunction with the new touchscreen system employed on the camcorders. Canon also updated its Video Snap function on these new models. The function ow lets you choose between shooting clips of 2, 4, or 8-seconds in length.

On the HF M31 and HF M30 you'll find a new HD-SD downconversion feature, as well as a setting called relay record. These options require the use of both internal memory as well as a memory card, which is why you won't find them on the card-only HF M300. Using the HD-SD downconversion allows you to convert an HD video clip to an SD clip in the camcorder itself, while the relay record setting lets you continue recording seamlessly from the internal memory onto a memory card if the internal memory fills up.

All of the camcorders in the HF M series will be available in March 2010. The HF M31 will retail for around $799, the HF M30 for $699, and the card-only HF M300 for $679.