Canon Vixia HF S100 Camcorder Review

Canon HF S100 versus Sony HDR-XR520V
• Sony HDR-XR520V is $400 more than the HF S100, but has a 240GB internal hard drive. • Both camcorders have control dials for making adjustment, but the Canon features more manual control options • XR520V has excellent all around video performance that is comparable to the HF S100.
	Audio & Other Features	(Page 12 of 17)	Panasonic HDC-TM300 Comparison

The HDR-XR520V is Sony's top-of-the-line HD camcorder for 2009. It is a bulky product, but most of that size comes from its huge 240GB built-in hard drive. While this is an impressive amount of storage space, it also helps push the camcorder's price tag close to $1500. As far as performance goes, the HDR-XR520V is roughly on par with the HF S100. It has less noise than the Canon, slightly worse color accuracy in bright light, and very comparable motion, sharpness, and low light sensitivity scores. Both camcorders have a control dial for making smooth adjustments, but the HF S100 offers many more manual controls—including AGC limit, shutter-priority, and aperture-priority modes. It is a tough call between these two camcorders, but we think the HF S100 is better overall for manual control lovers, while the Sony is a good choice for beginners and people who are willing to pay $1500 for a camcorder with a huge storage capacity.

	Comparison Specs
	Canon HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520V
Price	$1099.99	$1499.99
Primary Recording Media	SD/SDHC Card	240GB internal hard drive
Secondary Recording Media	None	Memory Stick PRO Duo card
Image Sensor	1/2.6-inch CMOS	1/2.88-inch CMOS
Effective Pixel Count	6.01 Megapixels (video) 8.02 Megapixels (stills)	4.15 Megapixels (video) 6 Megapixels (stills)
Mic Input	Yes, 3.5mm	Yes, 3.5mm
LCD/Viewfinder	2.7-inch LCD with 211,000-pixel resolution	3.2-inch LCD with 921,000-pixel resolution, Electronic color viewfinder with 124,000 pixels
Weight	500g (including battery)	590g (including battery)
Dimensions	70 x 69 x 136mm	71 x 75 x 137mm
HD	Yes	Yes
Optical Zoom	10x	12x
Frame Rates	1080/60i, 24p, 30p (not natively progressive)	1080/60i
Image Stabilization	Optical	Optical with two settings: Standard and Active

Bright Light Noise Comparisons
Canon HF S100 100% Crop	Sony HDR-XR520V 100% Crop

Video Sharpness Scores