Canon FS200

Still Features (4.09)

Other than having the ability to take photos, the FS200 doesn’t really have any special still features. There’s no built-in flash, no ISO control, no face detection, and no continuous shooting mode. The camcorder does have two size options for taking still images—1024 x 768 or 640 × 480—as well as three quality settings: Super Fine, Fine, and Normal. The Canon FS200 also has a 10-second self-timer, as well as the ability to adjust exposure, shutter speed, and all the manual controls that are available in video mode.

Judging by the camcorder’s unimpressive list of still features, we recommend only using the FS200 to snap photos if you have no other options. The still image quality simply isn’t nearly as good as what is available on HD camcorders, and you’re better off using even a cheap dedicated still camera for all of your photography needs. In fact, many new cell phones are probably capable of taking better still photos than the Canon FS200.

Even though most standard definition camcorders don’t offer much in the way of still features, they often do quite well in our still color accuracy testing. The Canon FS200 produced a color error of 4.18 and a saturation level of 101.1% in this test, which are rather good scores. The thing is, all the camcorders in this set did very well in this test. This doesn’t mean the camcorders take great photos—it just means they capture still images with good color accuracy.

The Canon FS200 actually captures one of the better still images out of these four standard definition camcorders. The Samsung SMX-F34 produced a soft, washed-out photo, while the Panasonic SDR-S26 has some discoloration in its image. The JVC GZ-MG670 didn’t produce a bad still photo, although its colors were a bit faded as well.

The Canon FS200 averaged 1.18% noise in our still image testing. This isn’t a very good noise score, and it is a higher noise percentage than the camcorder managed in both our low light and bright light video testing. We aren’t really surprised by this poor performance, however, as we didn’t expect any of these standard definition camcorders to have good still image capabilities. The JVC GZ-MG670, however, did very well in our still noise test—averaging just 0.47% noise.

Our still sharpness test is the best measure of how good the quality of a camcorder’s still images actually is. Since all the standard definition camcorders we measured in this set took very low-resolution photos, we weren’t expecting any of them to do very well with this test. The Canon FS200 had one of the better scores—it measured a horizontal sharpness of 533 lw/ph with 1.8% undersharpening and a vertical sharpness of 446 lw/ph with 2% oversharpening. The JVC GZ-MG670 had a similar performance, while the Samsung SMX-F34 had slightly lower sharpness numbers. The Panasonic SDR-S26 was the worst of the set by quite a bit.

Basically any cheap digital camera will get you much better still images than these standard definition camcorders. Most digital cameras these days capture 10-megapixel photos or better, which is over ten times the amount of pixels the Canon FS200 has in its still photos.

Other Features (5.50)

Video Light

The video light on the Canon FS200 has a very limited range (about two feet in total darkness) and using it will drain your battery, but it is a good feature to have. We just wish Canon had made the light a bit brighter to make it more effective.

Pre Record

This can be a useful feature, but, as with the video light, using it can quickly drain your camcorder’s battery life. With Pre Record engaged, the FS200 stores three seconds of video in an internal buffer before you hit the record button. This means, once you press the record button the camcorder has already captured three seconds of footage. This is great for shooting sports or fast-paced scenes where it is easy to miss part of the action because you’re not quick enough to start recording.

Video Snap

This feature appears on all of Canon’s new camcorders for 2009 (except for the tape-based HV40). What it does is allow you to shoot 4-second video clips with the FS200, and then you can add music to these clips during playback. Canon touts this feature as capturing ‘video snapshots’ because each clip is four seconds in length. The thing is, you can add music to any of your videos during playback on the FS200, so all the Video Snap feature really does is let you take even-length four second clips.

Fader & Joystick

The Canon FS200 has a fader, a wipe, and a number of digital effects (Black and White, Sepia, Art, and Mosaic) available in the Function Menu. The effects can be turned on and off while shooting using the Joystick Menu.