Canon Vixia HF10 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Mar 11, 2008 3:14 PM
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Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (6.75)
The Canon HF10 has a new feature lifted straight from Sony – a big, fat Easy button in the LCD cavity. It’s hard to criticize companies stealing from Sony. For as large a market share as it has, it’s only right to piggyback on its more popular features. Easy mode on the Canon HF10 is no different than Auto mode is or was on any previous Canon. It’s merely a matter of perception meant to soothe the anxieties of the novice camcorder buyer.
The automatic responses on the HF20 are identical to all of last year's HD camcorders. There are two autofocus methods. The factory default setting is called Instant AF. This uses an external sensor on the front of the body that performs the gross focus adjustment, leaving only the fine focal adjustments for the internal sensor. The system works well. It speeds up the adjustment time, but gives the focal adjustments a “snap-to” effect. Some people like this, and some people don't. If you want a smoother transition, turn the Instant AF off. It’s important to note that the Instant AF does not improve focal accuracy, just the speed. The frame rate has an effect on focal times. It’s fastest in 60i, then 30P, and slowest in 24P.
The automatic exposure adjustments take about 2 to 3 seconds, regardless of frame rate. The white balance is the same. Our shooting experience indicated that the white balance may not look correct in the LCD, but is fine once you review the footage on a better playback device.
The HF10 has an Auto Slow Shutter feature that, when engaged, allows the auto shutter to drop as low as 1/30, rather than the standard 1/60.
There are several Scene modes for one-touch corrections: Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, and Fireworks. The rest of the controls are described below.
Overall Manual Control (6.5)
The HF10 has almost all the manual control features of Canon’s best consumer HD camcorders, but not nearly the same accessibility. While the HV20 and HV30 offer the side-mounted dial, and the HG10 has a scroll wheel on the LCD panel, the HF10’s joystick is a painfully basic method for tools like manual focus. Canon will take the simplest and most logical plea – physical elements were cut to reduce size. If it’s a cop-out, it’s a good one because Sony used the same defense with the HDR-CX7 and Panasonic with the HDC-SD9 – all of which are darn small.
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The joystick |
The mode dial |
People operating from a primarily point-and-shoot basis won’t mind the lack of a more advanced control than the joystick. Located on the outer-edge of the LCD panel, it’s far better placed than the Panasonic HDC-SD9, which reassigned the joystick to the LCD cavity, hidden from sight while shooting.
The manual control set on Canon HD camcorders has been very good so far: Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, exposure, focus, white balance, a large selection of Scene modes, Cine mode, and all the Image Effects for controlling color. We wish the peaking and zebra functions from the Canon HV30 had been ferried over to this, the company’s premiere HD consumer camcorder for 2008.
Zoom (6.0)
The zoom toggle is among the weaker aspects of the camcorder. It feels loose and cheap. Once you get used to the looseness, it will do the job. One great thing about Canons is their ability to produce very slow crawls throughout the zoom range. Many camcorders speed up their crawl as the zoom progresses.
When zooming, a scale appears in the upper right corner. Unfortunately, there is no numerical value given as to the exact zoom, which makes it difficult to duplicate a shot later.
Zoom Power Ratio (12.0)
The optical zoom extends to 12x, larger than the average consumer HD camcorder, which typically stops at 10x. The larger zoom is possible without substantially increasing the lens barrel because the imaging chip is reduced in size.
The camcorder, of course, also offers a digital zoom, which can be capped at 40x, or extended all the way out to 200x. Digital zoom is a distortion of the pixels after the optical zoom has expended itself. There’s almost no reason to use it, and certainly not at excesses of 200x.
Focus (5.0)
The HF10 has the weakest manual focus of all Canon HD camcorders, tied with the DVD-based HR10. Both camcorders rely solely on the joystick for adjustments. It’s better than Sony’s touch-screen operation, but underwhelming compared to the dial on the Canon HV20 and HV30, and the scroll wheel on the Canon HG10.
To engage manual focus, push in on the joystick and toggle through the options until you get to focus. To shift the focus, push left or right on the joystick. Look at the LCD to decide if it’s in focus or not. Fortunately, there’s one feature that raises this from the level of complete uselessness – the Focus Assist. This feature, which can be turned on and off in the menu, instantly creates a 2x digital zoom when you hit the focus shift, allowing you to get a closer look at your subject. The zoom is not recorded to the final footage, so you can operate safely behind the scenes. There is a much better version of this on the new Canon HV30 that incorporates the digital zoom plus a peaking tool that creates colored noise along the edges of the subjects in focus. Peaking does a far better job helping with manual focus than an instant zoom, and we’re hoping Canon rolls this feature over to more camcorders in the future.
Exposure & Aperture (7.6)
The Canon HF10 offers both a simple exposure tool and an Aperture Priority mode. The exposure tool is accessed just like manual focus. Push in on the joystick, then toggle through the options until you reach “EXP.” Once engaged, a scale appears in the upper right corner. At most, the scale ranges from -11 to +11. However, that scale can shrink or expand depending on the given exposure at the time you engage it. For instance, if you’re pointing into a dark corner, the auto exposure has already done its best to brighten the image. If you engage manual exposure at that moment, the scale will run from -11 to ±0, meaning the camcorder just can’t make it any brighter. The reverse might happen if you point it toward something very bright.
The Aperture Priority mode is accessed via the top level of the Function menu. Shift the camcorder from “P” mode to “Av.” In this mode, you select the aperture and the camcorder automatically corrects for exposure by altering the shutter speed. 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. It’s strange that Canon does not offer the option to close the aperture all the way. Even in moderate lighting, f/8.0 leaves a lot of light. Panasonics typically close all the way to f/16.
Shutter Speed (6.95)
The Canon HF10 offers a Shutter Priority mode, which allows you to dictate shutter speed while the camcorder automatically adjusts the aperture. In 60i and 30P modes, the shutter speeds include: 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, and 1/2000.
In 24P mode, the slower shutter options change: 1/6, 1/12, 1/24, and 1/48. From 1/60 and up, they are the same. Having shutter speed control is a huge benefit for shooting in low light, particularly given the fact that the HF10 allows you to shoot well below 1/60.
White Balance (7.5)
The white balance options are located in the Function menu. Canon includes more presets than most manufacturers. Options include Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, and Set (Manual). To make a manual adjustment, toggle over to the Set option and push in on the joystick. The icon blinks for a few seconds, then the picture adjusts.
Gain (0.0)
There is no manual gain option on the Canon HF10, or any consumer Canon. Only Panasonic offers manual gain in this price range.
Other Manual Controls (2.0)
Cine Mode - The Cine mode on the Canon HF10 is an alternate gamma curve for color reproduction, meant to emulate something closer to film. It corresponds to the Cine 1 setting on the professional Canon XL A1 and G1 (see chart). In essence, this setting expands dynamic range in the mid-tones, while suppressing the shadows and highlights. It can make your video look great if you’ve lit the scene properly, but this is precisely the problem. Most consumers don’t shoot in the right kind of light, and the Cine mode loses details in the shadows. It’s a great tool, but use with caution.
Image Effects - The Image Effects are a great set of simple tools for controlling color and sharpness. Though this is a but a watered-down version of the My Colors feature on Canon’s still camera line, it’s better than you’ll find on most camcorders. There are four one-touch options: Vivid (boosts saturation), Neutral (lowers saturation), Low-Sharpening (decreases sharpening, or contrast along edges), and Soft Skin (improves skin tones). A fifth setting, Custom, allows you to create a custom setting along four parameters: Color Depth, Brightness, Contrast, and Sharpness. Each parameter has a -1 to +1 value.
Markers - The Markers feature creates lines on the LCD to help you set up your shots. There are options for a single horizontal line in the middle or two vertical and two horizontal lines to make a 9-sector grid. Either of these options can be displayed in white or gray.
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