Camcorder Madness As Canon Release 10 New Models With Fun Features

While Canon kept things mostly quiet on the digital camera front this year, they’re certainly not following that path for their Vixia line of camcorders. The company is releasing eight Vixia 1080p HD models (G10, S30, M41, M40, M400, R21, R20, R200) and two standard definition models (FS40, FS400) at this year’s CES. Here are their stand-out features.

First, they’ve improved their HD CMOS Pro sensor for better performance in all situations, but especially in low light scenarios. Canon has also improved microphone response, especially when the camera is zoomed in on a particular subject, and they’ve now given users the option of selecting certain frequencies for the microphone to ignore. Anyone who has ever shot in a loud room with bass heavy music is sure to appreciate this. Design-wise, all of Canon’s new Vixia camcorders will have touchscreen LCD panels along with two SD/SDXC card slots for creating instant back-ups or for relay recording between the two cards.

Canon has also upped the ante with their in-camera effects. Their new camcorders feature Touch Decoration which gives users the ability to super-impose graphics on their videos via the camcorder’s touchscreen LCD. Another new feature this year is Story Creator, which helps aspiring Spielbergs frame and organize the events they are shooting via shot lists for certain situations, such as a child’s birthday party. Story Creator suggests shots and gives the user a check-off list for when the suggested shots are completed.

Other in-camera effects include Cinema Look filters to give your movies a classic Hollywood look. For example, there’s a Cool filter for adding a bluish tint, a black and white high contrast filter, a soft focus filter, and Nostalgia for giving your footage a 1970’s television look. Of course, users can eschew all of these fancy effects and just use the Smart Auto mode which makes it easy for an budding filmmaker to get started.