Canon MV960

By Rick Broida, CNET.com
May 10, 2006

The MV960 offers more compact-camcorder goodness to budget-minded home moviemakers. The new model maintains a palm-friendly design while adding a wide-screen LCD, simplified controls, and a bump to 25x zoom--one of the highest we've seen in an entry-level camcorder. However, while the Canon MV960 delivers the same top-notch color reproduction as those of its predecessor, it's equally bad at low-light video and still photos.

Design
Canon has kept the MV960's weight down to just 400g with its battery (720mAh) and a tape installed. The grip and right-hand controls are fairly standard, with Easy/Program mode and Tape/Card switches grouped near the zoom rocker. An SD card slot resides below the zoom and to the left of the A/V, USB, and FireWire ports. We were disappointed to see that tapes load from the bottom, though it's common for such a compact design,.

The camcorder's left side is dominated by a 2.7-inch wide-screen LCD--a natural match for the MV960s full-sensor-width, wide-screen recording capabilities. Even better, Canon moved all video and playback controls to the bevel of the LCD panel and simplified them, too. A five-way joystick provides navigation and quick access to manual focus and exposure settings. Four buttons put frequently used features, including digital effects, wide-screen/4:3 mode, and the video light, at your fingertips. We like the built-in lens cover, which slides open and shut. However, the lack of an accessory shoe is disappointing, especially considering that there's room for one on top of the unit. Canon doesn't include a microphone input either.

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