Canon Vixia HF S11

Motion (10.80)

For the most part, the Canon HF S11 captured motion extremely well, and we didn’t notice any difference between it and the previous Canons we’ve tested this year (the HF S100, HF S10, and Canon HF20). Artifacting was very minimal in our test footage and the moving objects retained a strong amount of detail and looked very sharp. While the footage was smooth, it wasn’t as consistently fluid as the JVC GZ-HM400’s moving image. More on how we test motion.

The Canon HF S11 can shoot video in three different frame rates: 60i, 24p, and 30p. The 60i frame rate is the default setting and it will capture motion that looks like normal HD video footage. The 24p and 30p modes are lower rates and they produce an entirely different aesthetic. 24p was designed to create a cinematic look, which it does do to an extent. Footage moves a bit slower, things look a bit dreamier, and the captured motion can appear somewhat jerky. The Canon’s 24p and 30p modes are not natively progressive and are instead converted using a 2:3 pulldown. This pulldown system removes certain frames from 60i footage in order to create a clip that runs at 24 frames per second (24p) or 30 frames per second (30p).

While all the high-end camcorders we’ve tested have captured motion very well, the JVC GZ-HM400 is probably the best—along with its cousin model, the JVC GZ-X900. Motion captured by the GZ-HM400 is impeccably smooth, amazingly crisp, and has very little noticeable artifacting. Our only complaint is that the camcorder doesn’t have any alternate frame rate options for HD video. JVC does include three slow motion options that record at very high frame rates, but the quality and resolution of these shooting modes is extremely limited.

The Panasonic HDC-TM300 is a small step below the Canon and JVC when it comes to motion rendering. It still captured a very good moving image, but there was a bit more artifacting. The Panasonic also offers a 24p Digital Cinema mode.

The motion recorded by the Sony HDR-XR520V looked quite similar to the Panasonic TM300. Both rendered smooth, sharp motion, but had a bit more artifacting than the JVC and Canon models. Like the JVC GZ-HM400, the Sony does not include any alternate frame rates other than its regular 60i mode for HD recording. There is also a limited slow motion option, but the high-speed frame rate produces very low quality footage.