A good camcorder for taking pictures? The Canon DC50 and its 5 million pixel sensor fit in this category without a doubt.  However, the photo mode isn’t the only thing the DC50 has going for it.  Below is a more detailed review.

Handling

The Canon DC50’s design is quite a success with its curved shape as well as serious and compact construction.  The different controls more or less fall right under your fingers (startup, joystick, and photo mode).  Only the Menu button on the side of the camcorder is a bit far and access also could have been placed on the LCD screen.  While the DC50 is already rather fast, we really liked the QuickStart function which turns the device on almost instantaneously.  For downsides, we point to the sparse connectivity (only USB and AV) and the fact that it’s impossible to connect a microphone, headphones or other accessories.  Manual controls (aperture, shutter speed, and white balance) are also accessible although automatic functioning works perfectly.  The DC50 can be recommended for video enthusiasts that do not want to fiddle too much with parameters.

Image quality

The 5 megapixel sensor produces very beautiful images. Videos are precise and there is good color fidelity without any excess which is actually quite rare.  White balance was also correct outdoors although we noticed a few errors in this domain once we went inside.  In general, the DC50 has a tendency to overexpose shots which reinforces contrast and details in brighter zones.  As for sensitivity, the DC50 produces surprisingly good results without having to rely on techniques such as Sony’s NightShot mode.  And we add that for a camcorder in this category this is very appreciable even if grain was quite visible.  Optical stabilization was also very efficient even if in the end the zoom isn’t very powerful (10x).  As for the photo mode (and another good point in this Canon’s favor), we can see the sensor’s full potential with shots that are of rare quality for a camcorder.  The only dampener on our enthusiasm is the miniSD recording (also possible to record on DVDs), a format that’s not too widespread and which will soon be replaced by microSD.  Finally, during recording you can shoot photos but definition is reduced to 1280 x 720 pixels.