Canon Vixia HF S11

Lens & Imaging System

If you were expecting Canon to upgrade its lens or imaging system, prepare to be disappointed. The HF S11 features the exact same 10x optical, f/1.8 Canon lens and the same 1/2.6-inch CMOS sensor as the Canon HF S10 and Canon HF S100, released earlier this year. Fortunately, both lens and sensor offered excellent performance on the earlier models. If there is a difference in performance with the old and the new, it will be a result of internal processing—not lens or sensor.

Lens
Filter Diameter	58.0mm
Focal Range	6.4–64.0mm
Focal Range (35mm equivalent)	43.5–435.0mm
Maximum Aperture	f/8.0–1.8
Optical Zoom	10x
Lab-Tested Wide Angle	47.0°	How we test wide angle

Sensor
Type	CMOS x 1
Size	1/2.6 inches
Pixel Count (Gross)	8.59 megapixels
Pixel Count (Effective)	6.01 megapixels (video) 8.02 megapixels (photo)

Zoom Ratio Examples
Wide Angle	5x Zoom	10x Zoom

LCD (7.88)

The Canon HF S100 has a 2.7-inch LCD screen with a 211,000-pixel resolution. The camcorder has no electronic viewfinder, so you’ll likely run into trouble framing your image on a bright, sunny day. The LCD’s design is rather interesting. It is completely flat and glossy, which means the entire LCD panel is a single, even pane. Most camcorders, including Canon’s mid-range models (like the HF20), feature an LCD screen that is recessed by a few millimeters. We feel this indentation helps to protect the screen from aggressive glare, whereas the glossy surface of the HF S11 attracts more glare.

Still, the LCD panel on the HF S11 looks very sleek, and, in most lighting conditions, it doesn’t pose a problem with glare reflection. There are a few buttons at the bottom of the panel that serve dual purposes. In playback mode, the first three buttons represent VCR controls. In shooting mode, the first button will start/stop record, while the next two can be used to zoom. The button farthest to the right switches between shooting mode and playback mode. We like the design of these buttons very much and they are some of the best LCD panel buttons we’ve seen on a consumer camcorder.

One more button and a joystick are located to the far left of the LCD panel. The Function button brings up—unsurprisingly—the Function menu, and the joystick is used to navigate through menus and access the joystick guide.

Feature	Canon Vixia HF S11	JVC GZ-HM400	Panasonic HDC-TM300	Sony HDR-XR520V
Display Size	2.7 in.	2.8 in.	2.7 in.	3.2 in.
Display Resolution	211000 pixels	207000 pixels	230400 pixels	921000 pixels
Touch Screen	✗	✗	✓	✓
Viewfinder	✗	✗	✓	✓

Connectivity (5.88)

Connection	Canon Vixia HF S11	JVC GZ-HM400	Panasonic HDC-TM300	Sony HDR-XR520V
A/V output	✓	✓	✓	✓
Component output	✓	✓	✓	✓
HDMI	✓	✓	✓	✓
USB	✓	✓	✓	✓
FireWire	✗	✗	✗	✗
Headphone jack	✓	✓	✓	✓
External microphone	✓	✓	✓	✓
Accessory Shoe	✓✓	✓	✓	✓✓
Accessory Shoe	✓✓	✓	✓	✓✓
Wireless Remote	✓	✓	✓	✓
DC Power	✓	✓	✓	✓
WiFi	✗	✗	✗	✓
GPS	✗	✗	✗	✓

The connectivity options on the HF S11 are essentially identical to the Canon HF S100 and HF S10—with one notable exception. The HF S11 is compatible with Canon’s newly released RA-V1 remote adapter, which plugs into the camcorder’s accessory shoe and gives the camcorder a LANC (wired remote) terminal. The RA-V1 is sold separately for $120 and does add a significant bulk to the top of the camcorder.

There’s also been some discussion as to whether the RA-V1 is compatible with older models. We tested it with the HF S10, HF S100, and HF20 and found that the camcorder recognizes the RA-V1 and allows you to attach a wired remote. However, Canon has informed us that the RA-V1 has been known to cause audio frequency interference in older Canon models, particularly when using an external microphone. If you plan to use the LANC controller and an external microphone, we recommend you do so only with the Canon HF S11.

The ports on the HF S11 are located in a number of different places. On the right side of the camcorder, behind the hand strap, is a plastic door that tilts open to reveal a Component-out, USB, and HDMI port. The placement of these ports are a bit annoying, as they can be difficult to access behind the thick hand strap. Also, the port cover doesn’t open very far.

Component-out, USB, and HDMI ports	The mic port

Two more ports are located on the back of the camcorder: the AV/headphone-out port and the DC-input. Both of these terminals feature their own, dedicated port covers that are tethered to the body of the camcorder. These covers feel quite strong and do match the body of the camcorder very well. They can sometimes get in the way, however, particularly when you have cables connected to both ports simultaneously.

The DC-input	The AV-output

Inside the LCD cavity is the camcorder’s SD/SDHC memory card slot. The slot is well protected by a hard piece of plastic that folds down towards the bottom of the camcorder. This design does make it difficult (or impossible) to swap out memory cards when the HF S11 is mounted to a tripod.

We discussed the camcorder’s Mini Advanced accessory shoe earlier in this section. From what we can tell, the shoe is identical in every way to Canon’s previous Mini Advanced accessory shoes, and its placement is the same as on the Canon HF S100 and HF S10. The shoe is protected by a sliding piece of hard plastic that provides adequate protection.

The SD/SDHC card slot	The proprietary accessory shoe

Battery (5.00)

This is also nearly identical to the battery life on the card-only Canon HF S100, which went for 98 minutes in our test. All these camcorders do have the benefit of open battery compartments. This means you can purchase and use larger battery packs that should give you increased battery life when recording. Canon specifically sells the larger BP-819 and BP-827 battery packs, both of which are compatible with the HF S11. Find out how the HF S11 performed in our battery life test.

Media (9.42)

The HF S11 offers very few upgrades over the HF S10 released earlier this year. One of those upgrades is recording media: the HF S11 has 64GB of internal flash memory—twice that offered by the HF S10. With 64GB of internal memory, you can record about six hours of the maximum quality footage. If you buy some SD/SDHC memory cards, you can extend that to about three additional hours per 32GB card. That’s a lot of footage, even for a long vacation or a wedding.

We like flash memory a lot, especially when it’s built into the camcorder. Flash memory has no moving parts, so it’s a bit more rugged than hard drives. It’s also more reliable than memory cards, which take a beating every time they’re swapped in and out of the camcorder or thrown in a camera bag. Flash memory might not be up to the huge capacities offered by some hard drives, but you can fit an awful lot of footage on the HF S11. Read more about the advantages and disadvantages of various media types.