I am currently looking to upgrade my camcoder to one that is waterproof and came across this site with the reviews of my current MV5i MC.

I am astonished to find that quite a lot of reviewers consider it to be rubbish.

I have had mine now for about 4 years and have always been in awe of the absolute sharpness of the picture, the excellent microphone and the inclusion of a reasonably good quality stills camera.

This will continue to be my main general purpose camcorder used for capturing all our 'once in a lifetime' holiday videos. I would not even consider another replacement camera for this.

As for size it sits comfortably in your hand with your fingers and thumb falling quite naturally onto the buttons used most regularly.

Well done canon, I still think that this Mini DV tape recorder is a winner over SD technology.

I would not recommend this camcorder to anyone, the camera is constantly saying remove cassette..and the video playback is always disfigured..Called Cannon but they were of no help, so I'm such with a camera that only works when it feels like it!!

I find that I get more use from my Canon MV51 MC digital camcorder than any other camera that I have owned. Used indoors, it is fine so long as you remember to check the white balance. The 10 times optical zoom is good. It has the advantage of being small, so it is unobtrusive. I actually was able to use it in some of the tombs in Egypt without getting thrown out. I have owned it now for about 4 years.

I owned a Hi8 Sony brick for many a year, and I gave it to my parents when my son came along, and purchased the Canon MV5i MC digital camcorder as I thought we could carry it around a lot easier. That may be so, but it's worthless without quality video. I'm no Spielberg, but if you're shooting is mostly in the home for kids, you'll need all the lights on. Or just buy a different one! It's a nice camera, and it has the features, it's just not really up there, and I would happily carry that old Sony brick around, knowing that it's at least watchable when it's edited!

The Canon MV5i MC digital camcorder has bad resolution compression artifacts, noise, and poor colors at low light, and also microphone pick up motor noise in low noise environment.
My old analog Canon A2 from 91 is much better!

I would highly recommend the Canon MV5i MC to people who want a very small and capable video camera for accasional video taking in daylight.

DO NOT buy this camera if your video taking is indoors or in low light as you will be disappointed. It does have low light and night mode but accompanied with the lower shutter speed the image is jerky and not "natural" looking. Sony units are in general much much better for these conditions in my experience (I also own a Sony TRV16E unit).

Good unit for converting analogue video to digital as you can pass thru the video direct to digital (to computer) without first recording to tape.

Never bought anything better in my life, this is 800 pound very well spent, haven't much time to write more stuff, but the're plenty of reviews around for this camera!!!! Forget the High end compact Sony camcorders this beuaty is the best It has ANALOGUE IN(WICKED!!!) DIgital to analogue converter and vice versa Different light mode setting (so that you can film in any lighting conditions Just buy it

Don't get me wrong, the Canon MV5i MC digital camcorder is something I always wanted and I'm far more than astonished. This little baby made from one of the best/most well known companies is great for shooting movies. It's very easy to use and edit your videos...of course after you've read the manual (which takes a few hours to properly understand) and and are confident with it. I highly recommend you get yourself a good video with S-video In/Out so you can get the best possible video and sound quality. The camera, although it doesn't arrive with cassettes, has many useful cables but not the expensive ones (such as DV cable) and software wich gives you tips on how to get the best from your camera. The rechargeable battery last only 1 hour (as does the tape) but you can buy another pack with 2 hours recording time. Also note that the time of recording depends on if you use the viewfinder or the LCD screen. I was worried in the beginning about the LCD display because it's too small (I've always wanted 2.5 even 3.0 in display). But the 2.0 is enough and it doesn't really matter because smaller is better (not always). With the model I've got (MV5i MC), you can enjoy the multimedia card which is the only way to put your videos or PICTURES on the PC. About the zoom, i can only say that before you buy something always look at the optical zoom first rather than the digital. This cam has 10X optical and 200X digital but after I pass the optical I only use up to 40X since it's plenty of zoom and also the picture does get worse at 200X. And believe me, don't worry about it because, as I said, it's plenty of zoom which you want to use anyway.
All I can say about this Canon Camcorder is it's really good if you have £900 - this is the choice you should make and it sets the standard for years to come.

Please note also that Canon make one of the best Camcorders and Nikon make one the best Digital Cameras when it comes up to which manufacturer is the best.