Canon FS200

Compression (2.50)

The Canon FS200 records standard definition video using MPEG-2 compression. MPEG-2 is the common compression system for standard definition camcorders and most editing programs are compatible with it. The problem is, Canon makes things a bit of a nuisance by saving the video files using an .MOD file extension. This means the videos captured by the FS200 must be imported or converted using special software before the clips can be viewed with a regular media player on a computer (a similar process must be performed with HD camcorders that record using AVCHD compression). The software provided with the Canon FS200 can import your videos for viewing on a computer—we go over this more in the Editing section later on this page.

The standard definition video recorded by the Canon FS200 is captured at a 720 × 480 resolution. The video can be displayed at a 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio, although the camcorder’s LCD screen is widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio). The camcorder has three recording quality options—XP, SP, and LP—each of which uses a different bitrate (XP is the highest quality setting). Read more about the advantages and disadvantages of various high definition compression types.

Media (5.00)

Part of the reason the Canon FS200 is so compact is that it contains no internal memory or hard drive. All video is recorded to removable SD/SDHC memory cards, which are inserted in a slot on the base of the camcorder (next to the battery pack). This card-only recording can be convenient for transferring files, but it does mean you have to remember to bring along SD/SDHC cards whenever you plan on shooting video.

Since standard definition video doesn’t require the massive amount of storage space that HD video needs, a decently-sized memory card should provide you with an adequate record time. The table below lists the approximate record time available for various memory card sizes and video qualities on the FS200. According to Canon, once a video clip reaches 4GB in size, the clip is then divided and saved as smaller scenes (there shouldn’t be any breaks in continuity, however). Read more about the advantages and disadvantages of various media types.

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.