Canon’s DC40 is the company’s top of the range DVD camcorder. As such it offers a good range of features and decent quality video to boot. The let downs come in the form of occasionally blurry stills, the lack of a microphone jack and a tendency to over-expose bright areas, but as far as DVD camcorders go, this is one of the best on the market.

The Canon DC40 is the new top-of-the-line model in the company’s DVD line. Its specs are impressive – a 1/2.8 inch CCD, a relatively large lens, and just as many manual controls as the Optura line. But major differences between MiniDV and DVD camcorders become all too apparent in video quality. The DC40 is not, despite what it may seem, a match for the Optura line. We’re sorry to say that, despite a lot of great features, this camera just did not stand up to performance expectations.

With its broad, useful feature set; zippy shooting performance; attractive design; and good video quality, the Canon DC40 cements a place among the best of the DVD camcorders. Of course, it suffers from many of the same flaws as its competitors-such as sluggish disc activity-but if your heart is set on recording direct to DVD, it’s definitely worth checking out.