Recently we received the last of our equipment from a digital storytelling grant. The grant provided us with 15 MacBooks, and assorted video and still cameras. The last items we received are the Canon HV20 High Definition camcorder and a Canon Powershot TX1. The HV-20 is charging as I write this and I plan play with it soon.

The Canon Powershot TX-1 is a hybrid 7.1 mega-pixel still and HD video camera with a 10x zoom. It can shoot at 30 fps in 720p high definition widescreen (16:9 aspect) and is about the size of a deck a cards. I've been playing with it for a few days and am finding it to be quite impressive. Some of the reviews have mentioned that the layout of buttons and controls are a bit cumbersome, but I'm not finding any problems with it. It has a component jack so it can be plugged into a HDTV for playback, and comparing it to the HV20. For editing I just download the stills and video to iPhoto and then use iMovie to grab and edit the video. Now that things have slowed down a bit at school, maybe I'll throw together a short video.