Canon HR10 Camcorder Reviewby Michael PerlmanPublished on Oct 25, 2007 10:00 AM
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Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (6.5)
The automatic controls on the Canon HR10 are good – as good as they were on the HG10 and HV20. The full Auto mode responses, in conjunction with the assortment of one-touch image controls, make for a powerful point-and-shoot package with a clean HD video look.
The strongest control on the HR10 is probably the auto focus. Canon equips its HD camcorders with the two-part Instant AF system. An external sensor is located on the front of the camcorder and is used to determine the gross focusing. This leaves the traditional AF system to do only the fine focusing. As a unit, they improve focus time, though not necessarily focus accuracy. The Instant AF system also has a habit of “snapping” the focus into place rather than a gradual shift. If this is not the look you’re going for, you can turn Instant AF off and rely on the internal AF only.
The Function menu contains a series of Program AE modes that can be used for tricky lighting situations. Choices include Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, and Fireworks. The Canon HR10 also include one-touch correction tools such as the Image Effects tools (described below in Other Manual Controls).
The Canon HR10's joystick
Overall Manual Control (6.5)
and mode dial
The overall manual control of the Canon HR10 is among the best in the small pool of high definition DVD camcorders. The Panasonic HDC-DX1 and HDC-SX5 offer a greater number of true tools that videographers like, such as independent shutter and aperture and gain, but Canon arguably has the better overall system of controls.
Most manual control work is done with the joystick and Function menu, accessed via the menu button on the upper-left side of the body. The joystick is mounted to the rear of the body, as it is on the standard definition DC50, allowing for one-handed operation. However, due to the tall, thin design, using a left hand on the LCD panel to stabilize is advisable. The HR10’s hard drive equivalent, the HG10, received all the design upgrades this year, including a large rocker for zoom control and an odd, spinning wheel control on the LCD panel. We can’t say we miss them too much on the HR10. The handling is fine as it is.
What makes the manual control set on the HR10 so good is that Canon has found the balance between ease of use and powerful controls. Panasonics have independent shutter and aperture, while Canon has an Aperture Priority mode and a Shutter Priority mode. It seems likely that most consumers, even the ambitious student filmmakers, are perfectly happy with the latter set. Panasonic offers gain control, but Canon offers color control in the form of the Cine gamma mode and a suite of image effects for adjusting saturation and sharpening. It seems, again, that consumers would prefer Canon’s controls, despite having a distinctly more “consumer feel” than a “pro feel.”
Zoom (5.0)
The Canon HR10’s zoom toggle is located on the top near the back, positioned for the index finger. Though shaped a little oddly, it functions as well as any Canon zoom toggle, offering approximately three speeds depending on finger pressure. The menu also offers an option for locking the zoom to a fixed speed, regardless of finger pressure. There are settings: Speed 1 is a slow crawl, Speed 2 is a medium pace, and Speed 3 is a fast clip.
Zoom Power Ratio (10.0)
The Canon HR10 has an optical zoom of 10, which is the same power nearly every top camcorder on the market is offering. The digital zoom can extend to 200x, or be capped at a moderate 40x.
Focus (5.0)
The focus control on the Canon HR10 is activated by pushing in on the joystick. A small menu appears in the lower right corner of the screen. Toggle through the options until “Focus” appears. Push up on the joystick to engage, then shift the joystick left and right to adjust focus.
If this were the sole means of focusing, we would score the control poorly. The LCD is not large, nor is it a high resolution – both of which make it difficult to tell if anything is in focus. Fortunately, the camcorder comes equipped with Focus Assist tool (activated via the Main menu). When engaged, any time you make a focal adjustment, the screen automatically zooms in about 2x to 3x to help you better see line edges. The zoom is not recorded onto the final footage. Overall, the Focus Assist is good, but we haven’t seen anything as good as JVC’s peaking tool that creates artificial color across all areas that are in focus.
The Focus Assist tool in action
Exposure & Aperture (7.6)
The exposure on the Canon HR10 can be altered with two tools: exposure compensation and Aperture Priority. The exposure compensation is the easier of the two. To activate, push in on the joystick. A window appears in the lower right corner. Page through the menu to get to the “EXP” option, then push up. A scale appears at the top of the screen. Toggle the joystick left and right to adjust the exposure. The scale ranges from +/-11.
The exposure tool in action
The more advanced means of controlling exposure is the Aperture Priority tool. This actually lets you set the iris; the camcorder automatically adjusts the shutter speed to correct for exposure. This is a great tool when you want to play with depth of field – otherwise impossible without a direct aperture control. To activate this control, go to the top line of the Function menu and shift the camcorder from P mode to Av. Aperture settings include f/1.8, f/2.0, f/2.4, f/2.8, f/3.4, f/4.0, f/4.8, f/5.6, f/6.7, and f/8.0.
Shutter Speed (7.7)
The Canon HR10 offers a Shutter Priority mode, which is activated just like the Aperture Priority. Go to the top line of the Function menu and shift to Tv mode. When activated, the camcorder automatically adjusts the aperture to correct the exposure. Unlike most controls, the shutter speed settings vary depending on whether the camcorder is in the 60i or the 24P frame rate. In 60i mode, the shutter settings include 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, and 1/2000.
In 24P mode, the settings are: 1/6, 1/12, 1/24, 1/48, 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, and 1/2000.
White Balance (7.5)
The white balance settings offer a better variety of choices than most camcorders. Obviously, a manual white balance is always your best bet, but sometimes a white or gray card is not handy. In those cases, you can turn to the following options: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Fluorescent H (fluorescent that emulates daylight). Many brands only offer one outdoor and one indoor setting. Canon provides more flexibility.
Making a manual adjustment is easy. Simple select the manual WB option and push in on the joystick. The adjustment takes about two seconds.
The White Balance menu in action
Gain (0.0)
The Canon HR10 does not offer manual gain, nor does any consumer Canon camcorder.
Other Manual Controls (2.0)
Cine Mode - The Cine mode settings, located in the Function menu beside the Aperture and Shutter Priority modes, is an alternate gamma curve that accentuates the mid-tones and compresses the shadows and highlights. This is meant to emulate, in the roughest sense, the look of film. Using it means you must be more careful to light properly, as the camcorder will be able to pick up less detail in the shadows.
Image Effects - As with most Canon camcorders, the HR10 offers a series of color correction tools collectively called Image Effects. The camcorder gives you four options from which to choose: Vivid, Neutral, Soft Skin, and Low Sharpening. Each of these can either be turned on or off – nothing more. There is a fifth option, as well, called Custom. When activated, this allows you to create a single custom setting composed of four parameters: Color Depth, Brightness, Contrast, and Sharpness. Each of these can be set to a value of -1, 0, or +1. The camcorder is not very good about remembering your settings, so if you really like it, you’d better write down the values.
The Image Effects submenu
Markers - The HR10 can create lines on the LCD screen to help you compose your shot, either a horizontal line across the center or two lines horizontally and two lines vertically, to create nine sectors across the screen. Either line pattern can be drawn in white or gray. The lines are not recorded onto your final video.
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