Canon Vixia HG20 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Sep 24, 2008 3:45 PM
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The Canon Vixia HG20 ($949 MSRP) is a worthy follow-up to last year's HG10. With a slight body redesign, a new paint job, and some improvements under the hood (including a 60GB internal hard drive), Canon is once again a leader in whatever camcorder category it enters. The HG20 isn't perfect – the construction quality feels less than top-notch and the zoom motor is noisy. However, the excellent video performance, powerful manual controls, and choice of 1080/60i, 30P, or 24P frame rates make it one of the strongest choices in hard drive camcorders, even against the excellent Sony HDR-SR11 and HDR-SR12. (Note: the Canon HG21 is nearly identical to the Canon HG20, but includes a viewfinder, upgraded LCD, and larger 120GB hard drive. All performance results should be identical.)The Front (7.0)
Overall, the Canon HG20 looks a little chunky, and it feels that way in the hand. It's quite a bit larger than its sister model, the Canon HF11, presumably to make room for the HG20's internal hard drive. That's not to say that the size is a bad thing. In fact, many users will likely prefer the additional surface area for gripping. The overall design is one we've seen before, in which the body is "bisected" between a large, rectangular area on the right side and rounded shape on the left side influenced by the lens barrel.
The front of the camcorder is pretty active. The lens itself is the dominant feature – an f/1.8-3.0 lens with a focal range of 4.8 - 57mm. Next to the lens is a flash, and above that is the external sensor for the Instant AF system, a Canon specialty feature. Below the lens is a stereo microphone, which is well placed and unlikely to pick up all the noise from your hands scraping the camcorder.
The front of the Canon HG20 lacks the video light
found on the Canon HF11
The Right Side (5.75)
The right side of the Canon HG20 is a large, flat swath of plastic, arching high above the lens barrel and curving steeply back down on top to provide a solid finger grip. The hand grip is thick and well-padded, and also smartly placed so the natural balance of the camcorder is centered, rather than tipping away from the hand like so many camcorders do.
There are two sets of ports on the right side. Towards the front of the body, a hard plastic port cover opens to reveal three jacks: an AV/headphone-out, component-out, and a mini microphone jack. The ports are well-positioned so that cords will not get in the way of the lens. Towards the back of the right side, another hard plastic port cover reveals a mini-HDMI connection.
The right side of the Canon HG20 offers a good grip
The Back (6.0)
The back of the Canon HG20 is fairly simple. A mode dial is located here to switch between Video Record, Video Playback, Still Record, and Still Playback modes. In the center is the record on/off button. Below the dial is a hard plastic port cover concealing the DC-in power jack. Above the mode dial is an indicator light that blinks when the HDD is busy.
The rear of the camcorder is also where the battery is located. The battery chamber is open, meaning that you can use extended life batteries that will jut out from the body a little further. The included BP-807 battery sits flush against the surface of the back.
The back of the Canon HG20 is well balanced and
not too bad looking either
The Left Side (5.5)
The left side of the Canon HG20 will see a lot of action. This is where you'll find the 2.7-inch, 211,000-pixel LCD screen, which is the camcorder's only viewing device (there is no viewfinder). To the left of the screen, on the edge of the LCD panel, is the joystick, used for nearly all interface with the menu and manual controls. A joystick certainly suffices for most purposes, but lacks the elegance and precision of the Cam Control dial found on the Sony HDR-SR11 / HDR-SR12, or the full ring on the Panasonic HDC-HS100 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $0.00).
Below the screen, also on the LCD panel, are a set of VCR controls (start, stop, rewind, etc.), and a button labeled "Function" that activates the menu. Across from the LCD panel is the area we call the LCD cavity. Here's where you'll find the Easy button to put the camcorder in Easy mode. Next to that is a button labeled Disp/Batt Info, which alternately turns the onscreen data on and off, as well as displaying battery information.
Also in the LCD cavity is an unprotected USB port and a flip-out plastic door revealing the SDHC card slot. You'll also find the little playback speaker here in the LCD cavity.
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| The left side of the Canon HG20 from the outside |
... and the LCD cavity |
The Top (5.0)
The top of the Canon HG20 has a lot of surface space, but only a few notable features. Fortunately, Canon chose not to place the built-in microphone here, and instead put it under the lens in the front. Top-mounted mics frequently pick up sound from your hands. Towards the rear of the body, there's a hot accessory shoe. This year Canon chose the dark side and decided to start implementing proprietary shoes that only work with Canon brand products. Lame City. Also, the tether on the accessory shoe cover is confusing. It's incredibly short and we nearly ripped it clean off the body before we realized that the port cover is supposed to swivel around towards the front. Sonys like the HDR-SR12 have a much better design, in which the port cover cleverly recesses back into the body.
To the left of the shoe is the power on/off button. Most camcorders don't have a little power button like this, and instead power on with a dial of some kind. Canon is trying to creating a digital still camera feel to its camcorders.
To the right of the accessory shoe are the zoom toggle and photo shutter button.
The top of the Canon HG20 and
the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad proprietary accessory shoe.
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