Sure the newly unveiled HDR-TG5V is a svelt looking number, with a decent feature set including built in GPS, NAVTEQ maps (for geo-tagging), 10X optical zoom and a 2.7″ LCD, but give us a break, the suggested $1,000 price tag is far too high considering its 1080p is running off tiny little sensors. This thing might as well be a $500 point and shooter or a hybrid DSLR like Sony’s much better valued DSC-HX1.
The 1080p and schwaggy feature set just isn’t good enough to command that kind of price. Unless of course you fancy yourself a James Bond who likes his toys small and overpriced. Our advice, buy a $300 point and shoot that does 720P HD video, like the excellent Canon SD970.
Sure the newly unveiled HDR-TG5V is a svelt looking number, with a decent feature set including built in GPS, NAVTEQ maps (for geo-tagging), 10X optical zoom and a 2.7″ LCD, but give us a break, the suggested $1,000 price tag is far too high considering its 1080p is running off tiny little sensors. This thing might as well be a $500 point and shooter or a hybrid DSLR like Sony’s much better valued DSC-HX1.
The 1080p and schwaggy feature set just isn’t good enough to command that kind of price. Unless of course you fancy yourself a James Bond who likes his toys small and overpriced. Our advice, buy a $300 point and shoot that does 720P HD video, like the excellent Canon SD970.
File this under gadget rumors, but it does make perfect sense and merges nicely with our own secret fantasies of a DSLR-based camcorder. Now that the Canon 5D Mark II and even the new Rebel T1i can shoot 1080P video, buddying filmmakers have been clamoring for Canon to pump out the specs (24 fps is missing on both Canons). Using the DSLR’s sensors and time tested lenses, filmmakers are able to get depth of field and of all that extra mojo that makes an image “film-like”.
According to CanonRumors.com, this new HD camcorder will take the shape of Canon’s flagship XL H1 (pictured) and is reportedly spec’d to the gills, with 1080/24/30/60 as well as 720p/30/60 and 56Mbit/s to MPEG-4. There’s also auto-focus and creative manual focus alongside the usual prosumer camcorder goodies. This is looking good, and if Canon can keep the price near Sony’s XDCAM EX-1 or bigger brother EX-3’s territory, they’ll have the sweetest new HD Camcorder short of a non-vaporized Red Scarlet.
Before you run off and buy that next point and shoot, make sure it has HD video. By HD we mean at least 720P, which the likes of Youtube and Facebook now support. Canon’s latest announcements, which also include a hybrid super point and shoot called the SX1 IS even features 1080P video recording. Not quite the Canon 5D Mark II, which is a full-on 21 megapixel full-frame DSLR that also shoots 1080P, the SX1 IS is also a fraction of the cost, at around $599.
For those on more of a point and shoot budget, Canon is offering three new flavors, based on price point. There’s the Canon SX200, Canon SD970 and lower-priced Canon SD960, which despite varying specs, like zoom power and LCD screen size, all produce 720P HD video. Like Goldilocks, we like the middle of the road Canon SD970 (pictured), with its 2.8″ LCD, 720P and pretty colors. It should be available for around $280. Sony and everyone else is headed this way, and even some cellphones are starting to offer this 720P video (Samsung Omnia), so don’t spend the dough unless the HD flows.
