All the camcorders have a card photo mode. But don't think that means you'll get good quality! With an 800,000-pixel sensor, a camcorder is mostly restricted to shots of 640 x 480 pixels, which gives you a barely decent print of just 7 x 10 cm. Actually, the photo mode is mainly designed for Internet use (sending photos by email or publishing on a website). Some of the models may boast higher resolutions of 1024 x 768 (Canon Elura 50 and JVC GR-DX95), but the results are hardly any better and in some cases worse, as with the JVC GR-DX95, which turns out noisy pictures in full sunlight! See for yourself:

Canon Elura 50

JVC GR-DX95

The Hitachi DZ-MV350 photo mode only works with an SD card or on DVD-RAM.

Remember : photo mode has a greater focal length because it uses more of the sensor's surface.

Accessories

All the camcorders come with a set of cables. You always get the three-input RCA combination (red, blue, white), a mains cable with a battery charger and a USB cable. The set includes the remote with the usual buttons (zoom, record, photo mode, play, rewind), batteries, flash card and the software CDs. Note that the FireWire cable (six pins, four pins) is never supplied, so remember to buy it as you'll need it for transferring video to a PC for editing.