Specs
- 10x optical zoom lens
- 3.1MP CMOS sensor
- up to 1080i video recording
- miniDV tapes for storage
- 2.7" LCD monitor, 211K pixels
- Internal lens cover mechanism
- Battery life: 1 hour
- Data ports: USB2.0, Firewire
- Video ports: Component, S-Video, HDMI
The instant auto focus mechanism uses a separate AF sensor to determine distance to the subject, with the image processor handling the finer adjustments. In good lighting conditions and using the standard 60i recording mode the AF takes about 2 seconds to work. The number decreases when the lighting is lower and can be dramatically increased if the AF sensor is covered, and the 24p/30p shooting modes are used.
The 24p shooting mode is a carry-over from the HV20 and attempts to simulate the more blurred motion of natural film movies. Canon also includes the cine shooting mode that changes gamma and color settings to achieve a more muted film-like look. New for 2008 is the introduction of the 30p mode. This mode captures a progressive image at 30 frames per second. The benefit of 30p is that it converts better to Internet formats that are usually viewed at 15 frames per second. Alongside the natural blurring that occurs at the 24p/30p modes, these slower capture rates have the added benefit of better low light performance.
