Canon Vixia HF S100 Camcorder Review

Color & Noise Performance Summary
• Good color accuracy in bright light • Multiple color modes give you some control over the footage • Noise levels were a bit high in bright light. • Very sharp, detailed image
	Product Tour	(Page 3 of 17)	Motion & Sharpness Performance

Color (10.03)

Being a high-end HD camcorder, it should come as no surprise that the Canon HF S100 delivers a sharp, pristine image in bright light. Its captured colors are also very accurate, measuring a color error of just 3.49 in our testing. This isn't as good as the JVC GZ-HD300, which had some of the most accurate colors we've seen this year, but it's still a very good performance for the HF S100. The camcorder also had a saturation level of 88.13% in our bright light testing. (More on how we test color.)

Color Accuracy Performance
Color Test Chart (above), Color Error Map (right)
The Canon HF S100 produced a color error of 3.49 and a saturation level of 88.13% in our bright light color testing. (The map on the right is a diagram of the color error. The length and direction of each line indicates how the camcorder processed each particular color.)

Looking at the color error map above, you can see the Canon HF S100 was particularly off on some reds and purples in our color tests. Blues, greens, yellows, and skin tones were rendered quite well by the camcorder, and its overall color accuracy was strong. The HF S100 offers a number of color modes, or image effects as Canon calls them, that allow you to enhance certain aspects of your video image. The color modes on the HF S100 are identical to the options on the HF20, HF11 and the rest of Canon's HD lineup. Below are test images of each preset color mode on the HF S100—vivid, neutral, low sharpening, and soft skin detail.

Canon HF S100 Color Modes
Auto	100% Crop
Image Effect Vivid	100% Crop
Image Effect Neutral	100% Crop
Image Effect Low Sharpening	100% Crop
Image Effect Soft Skin Detail	100% Crop

The color modes don't alter the image dramatically, but you should be able to see a difference in the saturation levels between the vivid (boosted saturation) and neutral mode (decreased saturation. Low sharpening does exactly what it sounds like, it lowers the sharpness of the image. Soft Skin Detail enhances skin tones by smoothing-out certain colors.

Canon HF S100 Color Comparisons
Canon HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520V
Panasonic HDC-TM300	JVC GZ-HD300

As we said before, the four camcorders in this set all look very good under bright light. Each had above-average color accuracy, although the JVC GZ-HD300 is the runaway winner in this category. Looking at the color chip chart below, you can see the Canon HF S100 has a slightly brighter image in auto mode than the Sony HDR-XR520V. The Canon also shows a bit more artifacting and noise in the color patches compared to the Sony and Panasonic.

	Close-Up Color Comparisons
	Ideal	Canon HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520V	Panasonic HDC-TM300	JVC GZ-HD300
Red
	Ideal	Canon HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520V	Panasonic HDC-TM300	JVC GZ-HD300
Green
	Ideal	Canon HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520V	Panasonic HDC-TM300	JVC GZ-HD300
Blue
	Ideal	Canon HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520V	Panasonic HDC-TM300	JVC GZ-HD300
Skin Tone 1
	Ideal	Canon HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520V	Panasonic HDC-TM300	JVC GZ-HD300
Skin Tone 2

Color Performance Scores

Noise (6.27)

Various Canon camcorders, including the HF20 this year, have had trouble with high levels of noise. The HF S100 average 0.88% noise in our bright light tests, which isn't bad, but it certainly isn't terrific. All the other camcorders we tested in the set below measured lower levels of noise in bright light, with the Sony HDR-XR520V leading the way with only 0.37% noise. (More on how we test noise.)

Noise Comparisons
Canon HF S100 100% Crop	Sony HDR-XR520V 100% Crop	Panasonic HDC-TM300 100% Crop	JVC GZ-HD300 100% Crop

The crops above should also give you a good look at each camcorder's sharpness, which is something we'll go into further detail in the video sharpness section of this review. While the HF S100 has a very crisp, sharp image, it is definitely rivaled by the Sony HDR-XR520V and the Panasonic HDC-TM300. The JVC GZ-HD300 is clearly a notch below the other three camcorders in terms of sharpness, but keep in mind that it also retails for $699, which is hundreds of dollars less than the other camcorders in this set.

Noise Score Comparisons