Regarding the mjpeg compression, I thought I’d toss in the advantage of the format: it’s extremely high quality. The smaller file sizes of mpeg4 and others comes at the cost of the details lost in the codecs’ compression.

Leaving aside the enormous file size it produces, I’ve been really impressed with the quality of what the camera and mjpeg format in good light (in low light the camera’s small chip clearly struggles and produces grain).

I do wish Canon had also offered an mpeg4 additional option, perhaps calling it a “Super LP” option for the HD mode.