Canon Vixia HF S10 First Impressions Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Jan 9, 2009 11:00 AM
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Ease of UseThough the Canon HF S10 is a powerhouse camcorder, it's not particularly easy to use. That may not ruffle the feathers of the enthusiast crowd, but it may limit its appeal to novices. All those controls – and there are many – have to go somewhere, so the menus are expansive. In an attempt to simplify things, Canon chose to split the menu up into multiple sections, which makes it hard to remember how to access certain controls. There's a Joystick menu, a Function menu, and a Main Menu (which we call the Admin Menu).
All the menus have been redesigned, but the Joystick menu most drastically. In our first attempts, we found it a trail to operate. It requires a lot of patience and pattern recognition to remember how to make it pop up, select an option, then adjust that option to your preferred setting.
Overall, the learning curve will be worth it for those that want to take advantage of all the features, but be sure to do a practice run before your first important shoot.
Handling
As we said above, the interface is not simple, and interacting with the menu is a big part of handling. However, the camcorder feels great in your hand, and after discovering the bevy of manual controls, you probably won't mind climbing the learning curve. It's just plain fun to play with the great peaking tools and other surprises.
Canon's camcorder bodies have never felt particularly hearty, and the HF S10 is no different. It's a cheap, plastic exterior, and all the good stuff is inside. We've never done endurance testing, but we'd worry about the survival rates of something like this after a bad drop. The hand strap, however, feels great. It has a thick pad that should ease the sufferings of a long shooting day.
The two primary interface devices, the joystick and the new Custom Key/dial combo, are both well-placed and comfortable.
Portability
The Canon HF S10 is not a small camcorder, but that's usually not the top selling point for a camcorder with so many manual controls. It measures 70 x 69 x 136mm (2.8 x 2.7 x 5.4 inches) and weighs 500g (1.1 pounds) fully loaded. It will fit into any camcorder bag or a good-sized purse without weighing your should down too terribly.
Battery
The HF S10 ships with the BP-807 battery pack. It loads from the bottom and the rear, and has an open cavity to allow for expanded batteries.
The battery loads from the bottom
and the rear
LCD & Viewfinder
The Canon HF S10 has an LCD, albeit a limited one, but no viewfinder. Enthusiasts may slam the camcorder for its lack of a viewfinder, and they'd have a point, but the industry has clearly moved away from including them in order to keep the size down. Those desperately seeking a viewfinder can find them on the new Panasonic models, the HDC-HS300 and the HDC-TM300.
The LCD on the Canon HF S10 measures 2.7 inches and has a limited resolution of 211,000. In no way can this compete with Sony's 3.2-inch, 921,000-pixel LCD on the new HDR-XR520, and we can't help but feel it was the one element Canon skimped too much on. It does, however, offer a great resistance to solarizing at angles, and the peaking tools make manual focus easier without having to rely on LCD sharpness at all.
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| The modest 2.7-inch, 211,000-pixel LCD |
Menus
The menu experienced a massive redesign from previous Canon camcorders. The text looks neater and cleaner and the animation has been jazzed up. Those are great things that we're happy to see improved. The problem is in the structuring. There are so many features, almost too many to organize in a simple way, so the overall feeling is one of clutter and confusion. There are three menus, and it will be a steep learning curve for the new owner to sort through.
If you've owned a Canon before, the structure is similar. The Function menu contains many of the manual controls, and is relatively easy to comprehend. To get to the deeper level options, like setting audio options or just adjusting the clock, you have to access the Admin menu through the Function menu. Then there's a whole other set of controls in the Joystick menu, which is the most confusing. It's an arcane combination of pushing and prodding the joystick in the correct order to activate Exposure, Backlight Compensation, or any of the other controls located here. You'll figure out over time, but prepare yourself.
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| The shooting screen | The Assist Functions |
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| A page from the Admin Menu |
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