Canon FS11 Camcorder Reviewby Michael PerlmanPublished on Jun 5, 2008 8:23 AM
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Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (6.0)
The Canon FS11 has a prominently displayed "Easy" button inside the LCD cavity, a small salvation for technophobes and point-and-shooters. In this mode, the camcorder takes all the burden of focusing, exposing, and adjusting colors off your hands so you can shoot carefree. All the auto adjustments were very good on this camcorder. The auto exposure had an odd habit of exposing almost instantly from dark to light, but gradually light to dark. This isn't a complaint as much as an observation. The auto focus worked very well as long as the light was good. We found that at around 15 lux (the rough equivalent of a dimly lit room) the focus would bounce around, unable to fix on the target. The auto white balance was a pleasant surprise, adjusting color accurately for all types of lighting. By comparison, the JVC GZ-MS100 had a hard time adjusting under fluorescent lights. However, most Canons and Sonys tend to have good auto responses overall, making them reliable purchases for the point-and-shoot crowd.
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| The joystick on the Canon FS11, well placed and responsive |
The FS11 has a small handful of one-touch correction features that allow the shooter some sort of image quality control without them having to understand some of the more complex controls like shutter speed. A button on the bottom edge of the LCD panel engages the Backlight Compensation, which should be used when shooting a subject against a strong backlight.
Canon once again offers the Image Effects round of controls, though in a less impressive array than on the HD line of camcorders. On the FS11, you can choose between Vivid, Neutral, and Soft Skin modes, all of which affect how color is captured. The upper-end Canon camcorders offer a greater level of control in this regard, including the ability to alter in-camera sharpening and create a custom setting.
The Canon FS11 also has a number of Scene Modes (often called "Program AE" modes by other manufacturers). Options include: Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, and Fireworks. Note that the camcorder cannot be in a Scene mode and allow you manual shutter speed control at the same time. You'll have to choose one or the other.
Overall Manual Control (5.0)
The Canon FS11 does not have the fully equipped package of its upper-end and high definition cousin camcorders, but it's still a powerful tool for serious videographers on a budget or a great model for beginners looking to learn more about video. You'll find manual focus, exposure, shutter speed, white balance, and several one-touch controls listed above.
Zoom (6.0)
The zoom toggle feels cheap, but it works
well enough to suit most shooters.
The zoom control on the Canon FS11 is located on top of the camcorder towards the back, placed accordingly for the index index. It's large enough for an easy grip, but feels cheap. Nevertheless, the level of control it offers it quite good. The FS11 is capable of producing an incredibly slow zoom, which should please all those aspiring filmmakers out there. Depending on finger pressure, you can get about 3-4 different zoom speeds.
When zooming, a scale appears in the upper left corner that gives you a sense of range. However, the camcorder does not offer the actual numerical value of the zoom power. We like that the Canon FS11 includes the option to fix the zoom speed, regardless of finger pressure. There are three settings: Speed 1 (slow), Speed 2 (medium), and Speed 3 (fast).
Zoom Power Ratio (37.0)
The Canon FS11 offers a huge 37x optical zoom, among the largest of any camcorder this year. Perhaps you've noticed that it's always the cheaper camcorders that offer the biggest zooms. That's no accident. First of all, there are some laws of optics at work for compact camcorders that dictate that only smaller sensors - such as the 1/6-inch CCD on the FS11 - can accommodate big zooms. Secondly, the manufacturers are in a constant war to have the biggest zoom on the block, constantly besting each other by small increments.
It's this second reason that Canon unveiled a new technology this year called Advanced Zoom, which extends to 48x. By way of imaging wizardry, the camcorder performs some digital processing "without deterioration in image quality," according to the manual. We tested the feature by shooting some high contrast, fine detail images from a great distance. There was very little increase in resolution, but neither was there a decrease in resolution. You can "move closer" to the action, if only by a little, without fear of ruining the image. Keep in mind, however, that this is a standard definition camcorder recording in a consumer format. The image won't look amazing, no matter what zoom you're at.
Of course, the Canon FS11 also offers digital zoom of 2000x. With the powerful optical zoom and Advanced Zoom, you have no excuse to fall back on digital zoom at all.
Focus (4.0)
The manual focus on the Canon FS11 is not very good, so you'll want to rely on the automatic focus when you can. To activate the manual focus, push in on the joystick. The Joystick Menu pops up in the lower right corner. Toggle through the options until you get to "Focus." The focus is adjusted by pushing back and forth on the joystick. Unfortunately, you only have the image itself on the LCD screen to tell if the picture is in focus. The LCD is relatively low-resolution, so this will largely be a guessing game.
The Focus tool in action
Canon's HD camcorders offer an assist function that automatically bumps the preview up with a digital zoom to help you see your subject better, and the zoom is not recorded to the final footage. Something like this, or better, is standard on HD camcorders. Sadly, you won't find it on the FS11.
Exposure & Aperture (6.0)
The Canon FS11 offers a simple exposure compensation tool, found in the Joystick menu. When activated, a scale appears in the top of the screen with a range of -11 to +11. The scale is relative to the automatic exposure adjustment. For instance, if you have the camcorder pointed into a dark corner and activate the exposure compensation, the scale will only go up to +1 or +2, because the auto exposure has already been pushed near its brightest point. The opposite would happen if you pointed it into a bright light.
The Exposure tool in action
The FS11 does not offer any way to directly adjust the aperture, which is a shame. Upper-end Canons do offer this option. At the same price point as the FS11, any Panasonic camcorder has aperture adjustment. Some JVCs also offer this. However, you won't find it on any Sonys.
Shutter Speed (6.35)
The Canon FS11 does offer a Shutter Priority mode, which is located in the Function menu. When activated, the shutter appears in the upper left corner of the screen. Options include: 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, and 1/2000. This is a decent range, but falls sort on the uppermost and lowermost range of speeds.
In normal shooting, the auto shutter does not drop down below 1/60th. There is an Auto Slow Shutter feature located in the Admin menu that, when activated, allows the auto shutter to drop as low as 1/30th.
White Balance (5.5)
The white balance options on the Canon FS11 are simple: Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, and Set (Evaluative Manual). A step up to the higher-end and HD Canon camcorders have more options, but as we've stated already, the FS11 is not one of those. The limited number of presets is a small loss, but it hurts the target audience of point and shooters who need all the one-touch help they can get. Making a manual adjustment is easy. Just toggle over to the Set option and push in on the joystick. There is a moment of adjustment time, and your colors will adjust.
Gain (0.0)
The Canon FS11 has no manual gain control. Panasonic is the only consumer camcorder manufacturer to offer this feature. JVC offers the ability to turn the auto gain on and off.
Other Manual Controls (1.0)
Markers - The camcorder allows you to add screen markers to help you set up your shot. These markers are not recorded to your final footage. Options include a single horizontal line in white or grey, or a 9-sector grid in white or grey.
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