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Model
|
| Canon HF M41 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| Picture ? | | |
| Manufacturer | Canon 
| Sony 
|
| Name | HF M41 | HDR-HC3 |
| European name ? | Legria HF M41 | HDR-HC3E |
| US name ? | VIXIA HF M41 | HDRHC3 |
| lowest US price | (799) $ | 911 $ |
| On the market since | March 2011 | March 2006 |
| Manufacturers URL | link to Canon | link to Sony |
|
|
Test preview
|
| [ top ] | Canon HF M41 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| slashCAM rating ? | Good
 | Sufficient
 |
| test picture 1200 Lux | |  |
| Test image 12 lux auto-mode | |  |
Video
|
| [ top ] | Canon HF M41 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| Video formats ? | AVCHD
| MiniDV HDV
|
| Recording Medium | SDHC card built-in flash memory SDXC card
| MiniDV/HDV-Cassette
|
| video resolutions EU ? | AVCHD 1440 x 1080/50i AVCHD 1920 x 1080/50i
| HDV 1440 x 1080/50i MiniDV 720 x 576/50i
|
| video resolutions US ? | AVCHD 1920 x 1080/60i AVCHD 1440 x 1080/60i
| HDV 1440 x 1080/60i MiniDV 720 x 480/60i
|
| Max Bitrate ? | 24 Mbit/s | 25 Mbit/s |
| Compression format ? | MPEG4
| DV MPEG2
|
| on-board memory ? | 32 GB | |
| Optics |
| Optics Manufacturer ? | Canon
| Carl Zeiss
|
| Optical Zoom ? | 10 x | 10 x |
| Wide Angle 16:9 ? | 43,6 mm | 41,3 mm |
| Filter diameter ? | 43 mm | 30 mm |
| Image Stabilization ? | optically and electronically
| electronical
|
| ND Filter ? | No
| No
|
| Exchangable optics ? | No
| No
|
| Image Sensor |
| Number of sensors ? | 1 | 1 |
| Size of image sensor ? | 1/3 inch | 1/3 inch |
| image sensor effective pixel count 16:9 ? | 2000000 Pixel | 1434000 Pixel |
| Image Sensor Type ? | CMOS
| CMOS
|
| Controls |
| White Balance ? | auto manual presets
| auto manual presets WB-Shift
|
| Focus ? | auto manual
| auto manual
|
| Minimum shutter time ? | 1/2.000 | 1/auto
|
| Maximum shutter time ? | 1/6 | auto
|
| Apperture control ? | auto manual
| auto AE-Shift
|
| Infrared recording ? | No
| Yes
|
| Expanded Focus ? | Yes
| |
| Peaking ? | Yes
| |
| Signal Processing |
| Zebra ? | No
| Off 70% 100%
|
| Histogram ? | No
| Yes
|
| adjustable sharpness ? | Yes
| Yes
|
| Adjustable color ? | Yes
| Yes
|
| Cinegamma ? | Yes
| No
|
| Black Strech ? | No
| No
|
| Knee ? | No
| No
|
| Colorbars ? | No
| Yes
|
| Misc. |
| Shot Transition ? | No
| No
|
| Custom Presets ? | No
| No
|
| Set Time Code ? | No
| No
|
Configuration
|
| Connections |
| [ top ] | Canon HF M41 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
FBAS ? synonymous: RCA, composite | Out
| Out
|
YC ? synonymous: S-Video | No
| No
|
YUV ? synonymous: Component Signal | Out
| Out
|
| HDMI ? | Out mini
| Out
|
DV / HDV (FireWire) ? synonymous: ILink / IEEE-1394 | - | In Out
|
| USB ? | USB 2.0
| USB 2.0
|
| Microphone / Audio input ? | Mini-jack
| No
|
| Headphones ? | also AV-output
| No
|
| Lanc ? | No
| Yes
|
| Time-code interface ? | No
| No
|
| Genlock ? | No
| No
|
| Accessory shoe ? | Advanced Mini
| AI
|
| HD-SDI ? | No
| No
|
| Misc. |
| Weight (without battery) | 360 g | 500 g |
| Weight (with battery) | 400 g | 600 g |
| Battery type | Canon BP-808
| Sony NP-FP60
|
| Battery capacity | 850 mAh | 1000 mAh |
| Charger ? | internal
| internal
|
| Remote control | Yes
| Yes
|
| Size |
| Height | 74 mm | 82 mm |
| Width | 71 mm | 78 mm |
| Depth | 137 mm | 139 mm |
| Relative Size ? | 7 | 8 |
| Viewfinder |
| Viewfinder available ? | Yes
| Yes
|
| Color Viewfinder ? | Color
| Color
|
| Viewfinder format ? | 16:9 | 16:9 |
| Viewfinder pixels ? | 260000 Pixel | 123200 Pixel |
| Display |
| Display available ? | Yes
| Yes
|
| Color display ? | Color
| Color
|
| Display size | 3,0 Inch | 2,7 Inch |
| Display format ? | 16:9 | 16:9 |
| Display pixels ? | 230000 Pixel | 211200 Pixel |
| Touch Screen ? | Yes
| Yes
|
| External controls |
| Manual Zoom ? | Rocker
| Rocker
|
| Manual Focus ? | Menu
| bi-functional focus or aperture wheel
|
| Manual Aperture ? | Menu
| bi-functional focus or aperture wheel
|
| Focus switcher ? | No
| Yes
|
| ND Filter ? | No
| No
|
| Exp Lock ? | No
| No
|
| Gain ? | No
| No
|
| White balance ? | No
| No
|
| Push AF ? | No
| No
|
| Audio Levels ? | No
| No
|
Custom Keys ? synonymous: User buttons | No
| |
Audio
|
| [ top ] | Canon HF M41 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| Audio Formats ? | Dolby AC-3 Digital 2 channel 48 KHz
| MiniDV: 2x48kHz 16bit PCM MiniDV: 4x32kHz 12bit PCM HDV: 2x48kHz 16bit MPEG 1
|
| Microphone ? | Stereo internal Mini-jack external
| Stereo internal
|
| Audio Control ? | auto manual
| auto
|
| Audio levels ? | Viewfinder Screen
| No
|
Still
|
| [ top ] | Canon HF M41 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| Recording Medium ? | built-in flash memory SDHC card SDXC card
| Memory Stick Duo
|
| Medium included ? | No
| No
|
| Effective pixels ? | | 1991000 Pixel |
| Resolutions ? | 1920x1080 | 2304x1728 2304x1296 |
| Standard ? | JPEG Exif 2.2
| JPEG Exif 2.2
|
| Flash ? | | Yes
|
Misc.
|
| [ top ] | Canon HF M41 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| Specials | Cinema-style filterStory CreatorTouch Decoration | &"Smooth Slow Record" slow motion mode: 3 seconds are recorded with 200 half frames/sec., resulting in a 4-fold slow motion.However, the recording is without sound and in poorer image quality. |
Product Shots
|
| [ top ] | Canon HF M41 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| View 1 | | |
| View 2 | | |
Test results
|
| Test pictures |
| [ top ] | Canon HF M41 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| luminance resolution | | |
| chrominance resolution | | |
| lens distortion | | |
| test small ISO image | | |
| noise / internal microphone | | |
| test picture 1200 Lux | | |
| Test image 12 lux auto-mode ? | | |
| Test image 12 lux optimized ? | | |
| slashCAM rating |
| Lowlight ? | Very good | Satisfactory |
| Resolution ? | Very good | Sufficient |
| Color performance ? | Very good | Sufficient |
| subj.Picture impression ? | Very good | Satisfactory |
| Optical Zoom ? | Sufficient | Sufficient |
| Wide Angle ? | Poor | Sufficient |
| Configuration / image ? | Satisfactory | Satisfactory |
| Configuration / sound ? | Satisfactory | Poor |
| Handling ? | Good | Sufficient |
| Portability ? | Very good | Very good |
| Photo function ? | Sufficient | Sufficient |
| Optics ? | Good | Good |
| Dynamics ? | Good | Good |
| Conclusion slashCAM |
| slashCAM rating ? | Good
 | Sufficient
 |
Total score ? (maximal 570) | 362 | 264 |
| Pros | + Manual control over image characteristics + Good low-light characteristics
| HDMI out + Cheap price
|
| Cons | - No Zebra - (Too) little external controls
| - bad color resolution - DV-quality only average - poorly equipped
|
| Conclusion | In terms of sharpness, the new camcorders are finally on par again with the generation preceeding its predecessors.The good low light performance and the - for many users - sufficient manual features certainly make the RF M-series interesting for price-sensitive buyers.However, has to live with the small wide-angle, a low-resolution display, missing features such as zebra or histogram as well as the automatics. | The Sony HDR-HC3 offers only average brightness resolution in HDV, the color resolution is beneath SD-level.Occasionally significant (colored) moirees can be seen on fine details.The subjective picture impression is barely good, in part thanks to the good dynamics behavior with little noise and few smear-effects.Color-wise the HC3 is pleasantly warm.The wide angle is very limited for indoors, but on the other hand there are only few lens errors.In low light situations the HC3 performs satisfactory. |
More information
|
| Reviews and Forums |
| [ top ] | Canon HF M41 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| slashCAM Review | | |
| external reviews/tests | | www.camcorder-test.com
|
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