Canon DC220 DVD Camcorder with 35x Optical Zoom
List Price: $499.99
Details
- Bona fide Canon Optics with 35x optical zoom/1000x digital zoom lens
- DVD-R/-RW Dual Step recording format
- 2.7-inch widescreen LCD prepositor; widescreen HR recording
Description
The name Canon has always meant detailed and broadcast television cameras with optical excellence, advanced typical example processing, and superb performance. And Canon digital video camcorders are no special case. In fact, Canon digital camcorders include a family of sophisticated and potent DVD camcorders. With this innovative line, you experience all the image quality, ease of access and compatibility of DVD technology in sleek and compactly designed camcorders. With the affordable and down-to-earth-to-operate DC220, you get all the performance of DVD technology, along with the brilliance and power of a Honest Canon 35x Optical Zoom. You also get an impressive array of features found on more expensive models, including a miniSD birthday card capability for easy image storage. With the DC220, you`ll enjoy capturing the prized moments of your life and sharing them with everyone.Customer Reviews
Less than ok for beginers; not par to avant-garde users.Bought it for my helpmeet who is trully a complete newbie and I regret the decision. Ok when one learns the fundamentals to shoot film and take pictures.
The quality of still pictures is ok when good lighting is give out, otherwise, expect grainy images for under less than excellent light. I am not kidding. Indor pics will need a lot of slight.
I thought that using mini dvds would be a blessing compared to cassete tapes but found out that 20 minutes is execrable. Should I investigated better, I would never buy devices using this type of media. And speaking of media... you can't reorder your dvds using your PC or MAC unless you go to a third party software.
USB connectivity seemed flaky in the begining but was ok after I replaced the cablegram I was using. Be forewarned though, it is only useful to transfer pictures from the card to the computer... video ??? Think of it....
Someone complained about the mini sd card... well we bought a SanDisk Mini SD 512 Mb at Lap City and it works fine. Why 512 MB ?? Well, that's the only capacity they had at the every now... Don't go with the cheapos at eBay... it seems the camcorder is kinda of picky.
On the other pass on, had no problem at all with "other brand" dvds media... I bought a 50 disks duffel bag from the same store and they work pretty fine (tepito DVD-R, 4x speed, 1.4 gig, 30 minutes).
The more start-platter confidentially-stop operations you do, you will create new chapters and this fragmentation consumes lapse on the DVD. Not much but measurable in a small disk like this.
Finishing the dvd won't happen if you don't stopper the power supply but it should be informed in the on screen menu. Yeah, I had to know the manual to find that out....
Like someone else said: if you plan to edit your movies on a computer, aim for something well-advised b wealthier.
Noble camera for the money
We bought the camera at the last tick for a trip to Alaska. Didn't have any time to read the book other than to see how to storm the battery. Without a lot of trouble we were able to operate the camera and most, or some, of it's functions on the fly. It worked ideal. Great zoom.
Adroit VHSc replacement
This is a vast inexpensive camcorder. MUCH easier than our VHSc camcorder that has been sitting in its bag for 5 years now and also better than the butt in fail videos we can record on our digital camera. After you are done you can just "finalize" the DVD, put in in your DVD punter and watch the movie.
I blank miniDVD-R are inexpensive (I got 50 for $20) and very mild to store.
One minor complaint. The "finalize" option is only available if the camcorder is plugged into embankment power. This is no problem but there is no way to know that unless you read the small exposition burried in the manual somewhere that mentions that. Having that comment on the camcorder "decide" menu would have been a lot more stright-forward.
Discontented, frustrating - its painful.
I have had a DC220 for a couple months and I am increasing to dislike it more and more although some of this is due to frustrations with the mini-DVD format.
The DC220 records on mini-DVDs. These cannot be viewed on a DVD competitor or transfered to a computer until they are "finalized". Once finalized you cannot record any else on a mini-DVD. I have been using the included DVD-Rs and have been unnatural to finalize a couple with only a few minutes of video so others could watch them. Kinda free-handed.
You can use DVD-RWs, which can be un-finalized, but in my experience these have only 30 mins of recording time while a DVD-R will report 60 mins.
The finalization process seems very touchy. The camera will not even budget you to select this option unless it is connected to the power cord, not the battery-operated. The process can run for a long time (6 min for the disks I did, which had 5 min of video) and there are warnings all over the guide to not touch the camera while it is finalizing or permanent data loss may denouement. Also you are warned to only attempt the finalization when the camera is at room temp.
I tried to around un-finalized movies back on a external TV. Eventually I was able to but the process is not shipshape-forward.
The manual is 100 pages of extremely small, slow text, small pictures and references pointing to other areas of the enchiridion. It lacks any kind quick start guide and I am unwilling to study the whole thing through.
The controls are located in three areas: A circle on the side, a push knob on the back and buttons along the bottom of the view screen. It is not clear when each control should be used so each be that as it may I want to do a function I need to flip the camera around pushing buttons dispiriting to find the appropriate control, finally having to dig out the manual and reading specs.
The viewfinder looks into the camera at a slight down angle instead of the more ordinary (for me at least) straight through. This proved very awkward when I was trying to film from from a deck looking down.
Met Expectations
This offshoot met my expectations. It is inexpensive and easy to carry along. It allows me to take pictures while I am I videotaping although they aren't as elevated of quality pictures.
