I'm a bit peaved about the performance of my Canon MV5i...

I love the size and ease of use etc... battery life is good.
The menus are easy to use and the overall functionality is great...

Two points though:

1/ The microphone is too sensitive, in low noise situations the auto gain increases the levels and all you get is camera noise.
This camera does seem to have a whiney noise about it.

2/ In low light the picture is way too grainy. Use of 'Low light' or 'Night mode' presets gives a better result but only when used with a tripod.

I have experimented with this camera and during the day in good light the picture is excellent. The sound is acceptable so long as you are not in a quiet enviroment.

I spoke to Canon tech helpline and they said that this amount of camera noise pickup is acceptable for a camera this size stating that all mini dvcams suffer from this problem to a certain degree.
A workaround is to use an external mic. I don't mind this option. It will give better results.
He also stated that dvcams are not that great in low light conditions due to the nature of the CCD.
The MV5i has a 1/6-inch type 800,000-pixel CCD.
I can state that this works OK in normal light but not in low light unless I am doing something wrong.

any comments about this would be appreciated...
I have 10 days left to return this product if I'm not happy with it.

R

***update***

sent this pos back...
I'm really dissapointed but it just will not work in low light.
The sound became too annoying.

Back to the drawing board for Canon I think.