Canon Intros High-Def Consumer Camcorders

Canon has introduced new Vixia high-def camcorders for consumers...including two based on flash memory.

At this week’s Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas Canon, Canon introduced three new high-definition camcorders aimed at the consumer market. The new Vixia HV30 captures high-definition video to MiniDV cassettes, while the Vixia HF10 and Vixia HF100 record video to an internal 16 GB flash drive and removable SDHC cards.

“We are very excited about our new Vixia family of camcorders, as well as being an innovator by offering Dual Flash Memory,” said senior VP and general manager of Canon USA’s consumer imaging group Yuichi Ishizuka, in a statement “Consumers are actively investing in HD televisions and they’re discovering the value of capturing memories in HD.”

The Vixia camcorders all sport a full-HD 1,920 by 1,080 CMOS sensor, Canon’s Digic DV II image processing technology, instant auto-focus, and Canon’s SuperRange optical image stabilization.

The Vixia HF10 records video to an internal 16 GB flash drive and sports “Dual Flash” memory, in that it can also record to a removable SDHC memory card. The HF100 skips the integrated flash drive and opts for recording directly to SDHC media, while the Vixia HV30 records HD quality to MiniDV cassettes. All three camcorders feature a 2.7-inch LCD viewscreen, and support both a 30p progressive scan mode as well as a 24p cinema mode.

The Vixia HV30 should ship in February for about $999, with the HF10 and HF100 shipping in April for $1,099 and $899, respectively.