The Gadget Report #2
Whipping a Diet Dr Thunder out of the office fridge this morning with NPR playing in the background, I heard camcorder sales were down this holiday season. Makes sense to me. People are buying phones that shoot better video than most people have ever shot with a dedicated camcorder. Camera makers aren’t gonna just roll over though. My favorite, Canon, is updating it’s VIXIA line.
Canon is bringing improved low-light performance. Canon knows a lot about great low-light performance. Image Stabilization is getting smarter with four modes: Dynamic, Powered, Macro and Tripod. Dynamic works when you’re on the move, Macro is obviously for closeup close ups. Powered takes care of slow, large-scale camcorder shake when you’re on a wide shot. Tripod needs no explanation.
The most exciting feature Canon’s bringing to it’s VIXIA line is Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi lets you wirelessly upload your videos to Facebook or YouTube. There’s an App that will connect cameras to iPhone or iPad to upload using the mobile network.
New VIXIA camera have DLNA built in so you can play video wirelessly on DLNA enabled HDTVs. Do you use DLNA?
A tool called Audio Scene Select lets you capture optimum sound based on your shooting situation. There’s one way to capture audio when you’re shooting your kid’s ballet recital and a different way to capture your father’s retirement speech. Audio Scene Select makes the right adjustments to get the best sound for video shot with a VIXIA
VIXIA HF M52 will be $750, VIXIA HF M50 will be $650 and VIXIA HF M500 will be $550. The budget cameras … VIXIA HF R32 will also be $550. VIXIA HF R30 will be $450 and VIXIA HF R300 will be $350. All new cameras in the VIXIA line will be purchasable in March.
