Canon Vixia HF S10

Video Sharpness (11.32)

The Canon HF S10’s sharpness results were identical to the Canon HF S100 and HF S11. All three camcorders measured a horizontal sharpness of 800 lw/ph and a vertical sharpness of 650 lw/ph. These are excellent scores, even compared to the very elite competition among other manufacturers. Of the other camcorders we’ve tested this year, only the impressive JVC GZ-HM400 and JVC GZ-X900 produced better sharpness results.

To read more about how the flagship models from Canon fared, see the Video Sharpness sections of the HF S100 and HF S11 reviews. More on how we test video sharpness.

Stabilization (4.26)

The HF S10 didn’t perform particularly well in our stabilization testing, especially compared to other high-end models with optical image stabilization (OIS). The good news is that the HF S11 didn’t really fare any better—despite Canon’s new Dynamic setting. If you were thinking of upgrading from the HF S10 to the HF S11 on the basis of stabilization alone, you can save your money. To read more about the HF S11’s Dynamic stabilization performance, read the Stabilization section of the HF S11 review. More on how we test stabilization.

In our low shake test, the HF S10 managed to reduce 28% of the shake. When we cranked things up to high shake, the OIS reduced 29% of the shake. These aren’t horrid numbers, but we expected better. The stabilization will certainly have some impact, but it’s not as effective as what you’ll find on top models from Sony and Panasonic.

The charts above show how much the HF S10 shook during our stabilization testing. The blue lines represent the movement of the image without stabilization, while the orange lines show the movement with image stabilization turned on. As you can see, the patterns of the blue and orange lines are virtually identical; the OIS didn’t do a very good job in correcting shake.

The video above is an example of the Canon’s stabilization capability at low shake levels. When watching this video you can notice a slight improvement with OIS engaged, but the difference isn’t huge. Overall, the stabilization system on the HF S11 didn’t perform as well as the JVC GZ-HM400 or the Sony HDR-CX500V, but it is a significant improvement over the Sanyo’s electronic image stabilization.