Canon DM-XM2 Mini DV Camcorder

exellent product fast service, I bought this camera because I already have an identical model and wanted to be able to shoot films from different angles with the same picture quality and am very happy with my purchase, the charger system was incomplete but soon remeded with a further purchase from ebay

love the MX2, alwats wanted one. A bit used looking but O.K.
tried a few times but bidding was always too high. However, ended up with this one even higher.

I have been using several XM2 cameras for about six months.

I'll start my review by confessing that I am no fan of Canon. For years, this company has ridden on the back of consumer assumptions about the "reassuringly expensive" without delivering anything to consumers that really stands out.

The XM2 is (or was) an expensive "prosumer" camera, which means its sold to consumers who want to pretend they are professional but don't really know what the buttons do... which is why, on this camera, they don't do much. With the XM2 price you get stung twice, once for being gullible enough to buy Canon, and then again for being gullible enough to buy something marked as prosumer.

I have hopefully made it clear that it's not good value for money, but is it good?

Well, not really. It is OK.

The manual modes are not what I call manual because, when in manual mode, XM2 settings are often limited by camera electronics and it feels more like programming an automatic camera.

For instance, the manual white balance is auto-sensing and it doesn't work very well in low light conditions. You control when it sets the white balance, however, you do not control how it sets that white balance. It's not much good having a manual mode that depends on electronic-behaviour rather than real human-controlled settings.

What is really rubbish about this camera is it's manual focusing. For example, the focussing ring doesn't stop turning when the lens reaches its limit. In other words, the human user does not receive physical feedback from the focusing ring and this limits my performance. Manual focussing on the XM2 feels rather like guesswork and, again, using the manual feature is a kind of negotiation between human and machine.

The built in microphone is kind of rubbish, which Canon almost admit in the instruction manual by recommending you use external add-on microphones. However, the external microphones aren't all that good because the connections are rather constrained to pointing in one direction - most cameras have this problem, but surely, if it's "prosumer" then shouldn't it be at least slightly innovative?

So if you want high quality sound, you will probably want a soundman working with you... and he is going to hate it's single stereo 3mm input jack!

Also, don't manually shut the DV door before it has auto-loaded the tape. This can apparently break the device, although I haven't personally tested it.

I can say one good thing about the XM2 though! It is very plastic and so it doesn't weigh much. This means you can carry it in oppressively warm conditions where you wouldn't want a proper camera.

After moving up from a domestic type camcorder, the difference speaks for it's self, the look and feel give it a professional quality, it's easy to use and easy to get the film footage on to the computer for final editing. Glad to give it an excellent rating, this is why I am sure they hold their second user value.

Likes:Light weight, nice quality picture with the new canon fluorite lens.
Many useful manual setting options.
Dislikes:Plastic housing can damage easily, high noise of drum in VCR mode.

easy to use, durable. But what I really like about it is that i got it cheap on ebay, but then I have to write at least 100 characters just because ebay want me to which i think is a pain in the arse

I wanted to write this because I saw a lot of nonsense about it posted on another review. These are great cameras occasionally let down by their weakest feature, the tape mechanism. But then again, I imagine all tape based camcorders suffer the same misery. Bent mechanisms, clogged heads. Tape is great when it works and it's evil when it fails. If you get one ALWAYS take great care with the mechanics when loading and unloading tapes. There's a little message on the tape loading compartment that says "Do not press on this part". They really mean it. It should read "If you ever press this too hard your camera will be useless ever after and cost you a fortune to repair."
Show anyone who'll be using it exactly how to load a tape. One dopey hamfisted nerk will trash it for good. Beware.

The optics, electronics and image quality are excellent, and its low-light pictures are genuinely surprisingly good. I've used this kind of camera to shoot stuff for 16/9 broadcast shows and the pictures were intercut with broadcast cameras to good effect, although we had to put a severe grade on both to get them to match up. The best thing about it is it's light and small, and the worst thing about it when it's working properly is what appears to be a heavily centre-weighted autofocusing system. I don't know if it actually is heavily centre weighted, but it certainly seems that way based on the results I get.

The viewfinder is too small to find focus on manually. Don't even bother to try. Use the autofocus on/off switch. You'll really have to try hard to get a decent pull focus, and to be frank, I wouldn't waste my time trying. If you want camerawork that sophisticated, maybe another camera will suit you better.

But if you want a small, light, inconspicuous, amateur-looking camera that gets great professional-looking pictures with a surprising zoom range, this one rocks.

After dabbling with an entry level camcorder, upgrading was only a matter of time.

I have a few Canon photography products and am really impressed with the quality. The XM2 Mini DV Camcorder is no exception.

with three CCD's the colour rendition and overall image quality is excellent. Although it is not badged as a HD device, the image quality is more than good enough to view on a 24" mac monitor without any noticeable detioration in quality.

downloading is easy but slow as a result of the large files. On LP recording, 5 mins of video produces more than 1GB of files. If you're planning some serious video work (which I am) then be prepared for some serious backup requirements.

would I recommend to others? Absolutely yes. Good build quality, excellent optics and recording resolution makes this product a must if you've grown out of the entry digi-cam environment.