The Canon MVX 330i gives the serious video enthusiasts all the features required for taking great video, with a simple point and shoot operation. The photo features are well thought out, with simple sharing options for printing, with or without a PC.

It’s not a huge step forward, but at this price, it’s exceptional value for money for such good image quality.

A fairly decent camera that struggles to find a balance between quality and usability

A basic DVD camcorder that offers few advantages over its Mini DV brethren

A well designed camcorder that offers 32x optical zoom and an impressive 30GB of storage space, however it is let down by poor image quality.

A great digital video camera from Hitachi, the HS500SW combines two recording formats for added convenience and offers great quality video footage to boot.

A great handycam for a day at the beach, or a simple series of home videos, the Sony DCR-PC55 isn’t for the serious camera enthusiast.

The Sony DCR-SR85 is a good quality mid-range camcorder that easily matches any standard-def model in its price range. If you're determined to ignore the HD boom, you could certainly do a lot worse than this.

Sony's DCRDVD602E is an easy-to-use, robustly built DVD camcorder that should satisfy anyone wanting to shoot video to view on the home TV.

Once again the Everio design impresses us, but the video quality isn't as good as we'd like with this unit.

The Samsung VP-HMX20C might not be perfect, but for $1199 it ticks all the right boxes. Users will be particularly impressed by its Full HD resolution and extensive recording options. Without question, it's one of the best 'value choices' on the market.

Despite being hampered by a weak optical zoom and questionable asking price, the GZ-MG275 is a solid HDD/SD camera that will satisfy all but the pickiest of users.