Canon Announces Two New MiniDV Camcorders, Optura 300 and Optura Xi

Both camcorders include a 1/3.4 in. CCD, which is the largest CCD that Canon has placed on their consumer camcorders in recent years. This larger CCD will hopefully improve the low light performance over the Optura 200MC, Optura 10 (Specs, $373.15) and Optura 20 which had very bad low light performance. Whether or not the Optura Xi is a replacement for the Optura 20 and Optura 10 is unknown, however it is unlikely because of the major price difference.

Both camcorders can shoot at a 4:3 aspect ratio as well as a 16:9 aspect ratio. What technique is used to shoot at 16:9 is unknown, and whether or not the camcorder maximizes the resolution is also unknown. Canon's press release also mentions an RGB Color filter which ''...actually separates the light passing through the lens into its individual red, green and blue color components in order to provide more accurate color reproduction.'' What actual improvement this offers is also unknown.

The Optura 300, the matchbox vertical model includes a 2.5 in. LCD screen. The Optura 300 also includes a 10x optical zoom. The Optura Xi, the horizontal standard layout model, includes an 11x optical zoom and a 3 in. LCD.

Both camcorders can record 2 Megapixel stills to SD cards, as well as MPEG-4 video. The camcorder's include Canon's DIGIC technology which ''... provides dual image signal processing capabilities, which can differentiate between the video and digital still formats and makes it possible to achieve accurate color for both video and digital photos. DIGIC DV technology utilizes two different color processing techniques to optimize the image quality of video for playback on TV or computer monitor and photos for TV viewing or printing.''

The Optura Xi will be available in August for $1,499 and the Optura 300 will be available in September for $1,299.