Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon MD235 Digital MiniDV Camcorder (37x Optical Zoom With 2.7 inch Widescreen Colour LCD)

At £180 I continue to be amazed by price and quality of technology. "Tape?", you may ask but as the media is cheap and having found it easy to do basic editting on my PC, I feel justified by the decision not to spend more money on a DVD-model. I selected the MD235 over the MD160 as it was cheaper and I didn't need a still photo feature. Also, the camera records in widescreen as standard & has an optional mic input which may come in handy in the future. Straight out of the box, I found the camera was easy to use. The camera is light and compact. The zoom is quick and focussing reasonably rapid though low light performance isn't that good with the "LCD light" practically useless. The playback and image quality is lovely and colours are vibrant and lively. On the LCD, the joystick menu system works better for me than Sony's touchscreen technology as it's a easier to navigate the menus. All in all, very pleased and would recommend highly.

I also bought DVK-203 Accessory Kit (Extended Life Battery, Carry Case & Tape) which helped get things going too. The camera doesn't come with a firewire cable so I ordered one too...

This is my first ever camcorder, and it took me a while to choose which one to buy, and I'm glad I chose the Canon. it's really simple to use and the firewire connection is great for getting your footage onto a computer, even better if you have an iMac, the software is great and so easy to make a dvd! I'd recommend getting the canon pack with the case and the extra battery whilst it's cheap, the battery is the longer life one, and the case is good quality and has enough storage for tapes and all the bits you need. good stuff!

As far as MiniDV recorders go, this is something of a final stand against the SD card-army and proves what we've known all along - that Canon knows how to build some, if not, the best consumer camcorders in the world.
I've shot 20 hours of footage with this and I'm very pleased with the results. The len, menu system, battery life (cheap spares), form, low-light performance are all excellent (in this price range) and for a cheap camcorder that you wouldn't be upset if it were to get damaged, this is great. The Widescreen addition is great but widescreen camcorders are susceptible to not being held truly level when filming but that comes with the territory. The spring operated lens cap is a god-send. With 1 hour SD cards nearing the 1 hour miniDV price point, this camera's days may be numbered but it could still make a lot of sense to get this at a cheap price because the quality of standard Def on miniDV is still very clean. Transfering to PC via firewire, whilst realtime, is without hassles. Overall I'm very pleased.