Introduction
Update: The Canon HF S11 was our 2009 runner-up for Camcorder of the Year (behind the Panasonic HDC-TM300). To see why we selected it and read about our other awards, check out the 2009 CamcorderInfo.com Select Awards.
Product Tour
The Canon HF S10 has the same lens and sensor as its sister models, the HF S100 and HF S11. In fact, the lens has the same filter diameter as the GL2—a professional camcorder from Canon. Fortunately, both lens and sensor offered excellent performance on the models we tested earlier this year.
The automatic lens enclosure opens whenever you power on the camcorder.
Color & Noise Performance
The color performance of the Canon HF S10 was almost identical to that produced by the HF S100. This is exactly what we expected, considering the two models are employing the same lens, sensor, and processing. (More on how we test color.)
Below, you can see crops of the various color modes available on the HF S10. To read more about how Canon's top-of-the-line models performed in our bright light color testing, read the Color sections of the HF S100 and HF S11 reviews.
For the HF S10, we selected some different comparison models, including the Sony HDR-CX500V. The toughest competition in color performance came from the JVC GZ-HM400. As we discovered when we reviewed this model, the 2009 JVC camcorders are turning in unprecedented color performance. Neither the HF S10 nor its sister models can quite keep up in this department. Of course, the HM400 also lacks any kind of custom color controls, but we don't mind being 'stuck' with such excellent colors.
As for the others, Sanyo turns in virtually identical performance with its VPC-HD2000 and Sony is really the weakest link in this test. The manufacturer's HDR-CX500V had only mediocre color accuracy when compared to the other high-end camcorders.
The HF S10 had excellent noise results, just like the HF S100 and HF S11. In bright light, nearly every top-of-the-line camcorder aces this test. However, competition is stiff. You may not see much noise in the crops below, but the HF S10 registered 0.78% noise—more than was measured in the JVC GZ-HM400 or the Sony HDR-CX500V. (More on how we test noise.)
To read more about the noise performance of the HF S10's sister models, see the Noise sections of the HF S100 and HF S11 reviews.
Motion & Sharpness Performance
Low Light Performance
**Low Light Sensitivity***(3.77)*
The Canon HF S10 required 15 lux to reach 50 IRE in our low light sensitivity test. These are essentially the same results we recorded in the HF S10's sister models. That's not a terrible performance, but it's also not exactly the best either. Many of last year's camcorders performed better than this and models from Panasonic, Sanyo, and Sony all surpassed the Canons on this test. (More on how we test low light sensitivity.)
The good news is that the HF S10 offers 30p and 24p frame rate options, which improve sensitivity significantly. To read more about how the HF S10 and its sister models performed in this test (including results at the alternate frame rates), see the Low Light Sensitivity sections of the HF S100 and HF S11 reviews.
Low light color performance for the HF S10 is just about average for a high-end consumer camcorder. Its color error measured 5.20 and the saturation was just 58.57%. These results are significantly worse than those produced by the camcorder in bright light. (More on how we test low light color.)
We also tested the HF S10 in its alternate frame rates (30p and 24p) and achieved slightly better results. Even these scores can't compete with the excellent numbers produced by the Sanyo VPC-HD2000, which had excellent low light performance across the board. To read more about Canon's low light color performance this year, see the Low Light Color sections of the HF S100 and HF S11 reviews.
There weren't a lot of surprises among the competition for the HF S10. The HM400, with its incredibly high resolution sensor, has a darker image than many camcorders and its low light color accuracy and saturation suffer as a result. The Sony HDR-CX500V performed about the same as its hard drive equivalent, the HDR-XR520V. Both Sony models produce results similar to those of the Canon lineup. And, as mentioned previously, the Sanyo HD2000 simply outperforms all the rest when it comes to most of our low light tests.
The Canon HF S10 fared very well in our low light noise test, measuring just 0.98% noise at 60 lux. These are better results than those from most of the Canon's competitors. Despite these noise scores, we have to say the CX500V looks the best in low light. Its footage is brighter, clearer, and sharper, as you can see in the crops below. The Canon lineup may be without noise, but you can see discolored compression artifacts marring the image that are all but absent in the CX500V footage. (More on how we test low light noise.)
Compression & Media
The Canon HF S10 records video in the standard MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression codec. This is the same codec used by nearly every high definition camcorder these days. (Tape-based camcorders still use HDV compression.) However, Canon packs this compression codec into AVCHD, a format that puts some extra information—and constraints—into the files.
AVCHD files are a little more complicated to use than generic MPEG-4 files, and they can be more demanding on your computer's processing power. You can't simply drag and drop the files onto your desktop, but AVCHD files are compatible with most editing software these days. Just make sure your computer can handle the large files.
Canon is one of the handful of manufacturers that has reached the 24Mbps bitrate ceiling of AVCHD. Tech savvy videophiles are lamenting the fact that Panasonic and Sony have yet to make the jump to 24Mbps, while Canon introduced its first 24Mbps camcorder last year. The HF S10 has two 1920 x 1080 recording modes: one at 24Mbps and one at 17Mbps.
The Canon HF S10 records primarily to 32GB of internal flash memory. We love flash memory, especially when it's embedded into the body of a camcorder. The HF S100 records only to SD/SDHC memory cards, while the newer HF S11 has a total of 64GB of internal memory. All three camcorders have a memory card slot, though many owners of the HF S10 and HF S11 will likely use this as their secondary recording destination. Flash memory, in general, is more durable than hard drives and tapes, but memory cards do experience a small amount of wear every time you insert, eject, or throw the card into your camera bag.
Like its sister models, the Canon HF S10 simply comes with too many software discs. There's the 'transfer utility' disc, the 'video tools' disc, the 'video software' disc, and the instruction manual. Four discs is enough to make you pull out your hair, even if you aren't easily intimidated by technology. The instruction manual disc might be self-explanatory, but you'll probably spend too much time figuring out what the other three discs are.
Our suggestion is to slog through installing all three—even if you don't think you'll need the software. When you first plug the HF S10 into your computer, you'll probably also have to install a driver. Windows will hopefully help you do this; otherwise, you'll need to get it from one of these discs. (Probably video tools?)
Once you install all three discs, you'll have access to the transfer utility, as well as software for editing both photos and videos from the HF S10.
ImageMixer 3 SE is the heart of the software. The most important task handled by the program is transferring your files from the camcorder to your computer. You can't simply drag and drop AVCHD files. This program, however, makes the transfer process very easy. This is especially important when you're working with internal memory camcorders that should be backed up from time to time. ImageMixer also allows you to transfer footage from your computer back onto your camcorder.
The Editing/Authoring portion of ImageMixer is a little more complicated to use, but it has several options that intermediate video editors will welcome. You can adjust the volume of your video, add your own audio files, add text/titles, or do some basic splicing and trimming.
Though ImageMixer is at the heart of the HF S11's software, it also comes with a separate photo viewer/editor and a program for transferring your own audio files onto the camcorder (for use with playlists and Video Snap).
Manual Controls
For most consumer camcorders, auto mode is the most commonly used operational style. Even though the Canon HF S10 is a high-end product, people will still end up shooting a great deal of their footage with automatic controls.
Dual Shot mode, which is the camcorder's dedicated auto mode, is Canon's new version of easy mode. We don't particularly like the confusing naming convention of 'Dual Shot' mode. On last year's models, Canon called this same setting 'Easy' mode, which is a lot simpler for a new user to comprehend and find. Despite the name, Dual Shot mode is not the only setting for capturing video and stills simultaneously. You can do that in video mode too.
Dual Shot mode is simply a poorly named easy mode, where all menus and manual settings are hidden away to make operation simpler. The only thing you can do with the camcorder is zoom, record, and press the shutter button to take photos. Switching over to regular video mode allows you to manipulate any of the camcorder's settings. You can, however, let any setting be handled automatically if you only need access to one or two options.
As for how the HF S10 handles specific functions automatically, let's begin with focus. The HF S10, like many Canons, has two autofocus modes. The first is called instant AF: a secondary autofocus sensor (located beneath the lens) provides an immediate, snap-like focus. We found the instant AF to work well in most cases, but it can be problematic if you're dealing with lots of motion. If you prefer a more traditional autofocus style, the normal AF system on the HF S10 provides a gradual focus adjustment.
The HF S10 also has face detection, which is a new feature this year for Canon. With the setting activated, the camcorder will automatically detect faces within the video frame and adjust focus and exposure accordingly. During playback, any clips shot using face detection can also be organized and sorted based on whose face is in the clip. Canon claims the HF S10 can detect up to 9 faces at once and 35 faces in all, but we couldn't get the camcorder to pick up more than a few faces at any given time.
The auto exposure worked great, adjusting to various light sources with gradual ease. The camcorder offers alternate metering methods in still mode, but only one auto exposure setting is present for videos. There are a number of white balance presents on the camcorder, which we discuss in more detail in the white balance portion of the review. Auto white balance was quite effective, although not perfect, and we saw consistently better results when using a manual white balance.
Rounding out the auto controls is an auto slow shutter feature that can be turned on and off in the camcorder's menu. Turning the feature on allows the camcorder to use shutter speeds down to 1/30 of a second, which will produce a blurry, trailing effect in low light. With auto slow shutter off, the HF S10 won't drop below 1/60 of a second shutter speed.
Low Light Modes
There aren't any dedicated low light modes on the Canon HF S10, although there is a night scene mode that drops the shutter speed to as low as 1/2 of a second. The camcorder also has a built-in video light that will help a little if you need to film in the dark. The more recently released HF S11 has two low light modes: one that increases gain but keeps the shutter speed high, and one that drops the shutter significantly. Footage in these modes is either too noisy or too blurry, so we don't think you're missing much by sticking with the HF S10.
Scene Modes
The HF S10 has the same set of scene modes as the Canon HF20 and HF S100: Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, and Fireworks. This is a decent amount of scene modes, and competing models have a similar amount.
The Canon HF S10 has a relatively standard zoom toggle/slider. The switch rests easily under the right index finger and gives the user good control over variable zoom speeds. It's larger and more robust than the toggle on last year's models and has a raised lip on each end to give you even more control. The switch is nearly flush with the surface of the camcorder, instead of the thinner, raised toggles more commonly found on consumer camcorders. Still, the architecture of the toggle makes it responsive and easy to handle. As on previous Canon models, there is a secondary zoom control on the LCD panel, but these buttons do not allow you to alter zoom speed.
In addition to the variable zoom speed that can be achieved by changing finger pressure on the zoom switch, Canon offers three set zoom speeds that can be selected from within the administrative menu. Using the slowest zoom speed setting, it takes roughly 22 seconds to go from wide angle to a full 15x zoom. With the fastest speed setting, the same zoom takes roughly 6 seconds.
Unfortunately, all of the consumer-level Canon camcorders have one considerable deficiency in zoom control: the scale is not numbered to give you a precise measure of your current zoom ratio.
The Canon HF S10 has a 10x optical zoom, which is about average for a high-end consumer camcorder. Last year's Canon HF11 and top-of-the-line models from Sony and Panasonic have 12x optical zoom. The JVC GZ-HM400 is also 10x.
As on most camcorders, the HF S10 also has a digital zoom option, which can be capped off at 0x, 40x, or 200x. Using digital zoom will severely decrease image quality, so we recommend leaving that cap at 0x.
New this year to the Vixia series is a tele-converter option, which magnifies your image an additional 1.7x—an effect similar to that of a tele-converter lens. This feature, however, is a digital image effect, which lowers the effective pixel count from 6.01 megapixels to 2.07 megapixels. The minimum zoom with tele-converter on is 1.7x, while the maximum is 17x.
One of the most alluring features on the top-of-the-line Canons is the swanky custom control dial, a smooth, easy interface for adjusting manual focus. This dial is very similar to what you'll find on the Sony HDR-XR520V, but it's much better than the slimmed down dial of the Sony HDR-CX500V. Technically, you can assign on of five different functions to the dial, but you have to delve into the menus to do so. Besides, we found that focus was easily the best tool handled by the dial.
Not only do you have the great dial for precision focus adjustment, but you have a number of tools to help achieve the most accurate focus. The focus assist tool does a simple zoom on your image, which you can pair with the camcorder's peaking tool for the ultimate in focus control.Peaking is available in three different colors (red, blue, and yellow) and can be displayed with a color image or in black and white.
The HF S10 offers the same exposure tool as the rest of the Canon line-up. There are twenty-three increments, from -11 to +11. You can control exposure through the joystick guide or assign this as your option of choice for the custom control dial.
The exposure tool is easier to access than the shutter speed and aperture adjustments. And since you don't have independent control over shutter and aperture, exposure may be a good way to keep shutter speed and image brightness high simultaneously.
Aperture adjustment must be done in Canon's Aperture Priority mode. This means that as you change aperture, the shutter speed will be automatically adjusted to accommodate your selected aperture. Aperture and shutter speed cannot be controlled independently. Fortunately, the HF S10 does include a wide range of possible apertures and an excellent display mechanism (see animation below).
The lack of independent aperture control is disappointing, but so is the inaccessibility of Aperture Priority mode. Having aperture located in an entirely separate mode means that you can't change aperture from within Cine Mode or any of the scene modes. It also means it's not grouped with other manual controls.
As you might imagine from the description above, shutter speed is adjusted in Shutter Priority mode. Again, this means that you don't have independent control over aperture and shutter speed. The wide range of shutter speeds extends down to 1/8 (or 1/6 in 24p mode). When adjusting shutter speed, remember that slow shutter speeds can really change the way motion looks, adding a lot of trailing and blurring. If you're shooting in low light, you may want to keep it in Shutter Priority mode to keep the camcorder from automatically selecting a very low speed. If the automatic aperture adjustment doesn't get you enough brightness, you can always use exposure and gain to accommodate.
Many camcorders don't allow you to select a shutter speed below 1/30 of a second, but the Canon HF S10 offers two very slow shutter options (1/8 and 1/15 of a second). The shutter on the HF S10 can actually go all the way down to 1/2 of a second, but this option only exists on the Night scene mode and it cannot be selected manually. In 24p mode, a different set of manual shutter speeds become available, to match the different frame rate.
The white balance options are exactly the same as what we've seen on every consumer Canon this year. You can select from one of the presets or perform a manual white balance. Canon always offers a good range of presets: auto, daylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, and fluorescent H. This is a decent number, especially compared to camcorders from Sony or Sanyo. The manual white balance is easy to perform and usually does a good job of compensating for different color temperatures.
2009 saw the introduction of a new feature for Canon's consumer lineup: AGC Limit (auto gain control limit). The feature is quite limited, but it does give the user some control over the amount of gain automatically selected by the camcorder's internal processing. You can't select a specific gain level, but you can limit the maximum gain. If you're shooting in bright light, AGC Limit is unlikely to impact your image at all. In low light, you can use this option to decrease noise. A 0dB or 6dB max will mean that little or no gain is used, but it could also result in a very dark image. Sometimes aperture/shutter and gain can only do so much.
The AGC Limit control is buried fairly deep in the administrative menu, but it is also one of the five options you can assign to the custom control dial. If you want to change the AGC Limit quickly and often, this may be a good idea. Most of the other manual controls can be accessed more easily in the Function and Joystick menus.
**Color & Image Controls***(9.0)*
The Canon HF S10's Image Effects feature in the Function menu allows you to select from one of four preset options that tweak your image: vivid, neutral, low sharpening, and soft skin detail.
A fifth image effect option is Custom, which gives you manual control over color depth, sharpness, contrast, and brightness. This amount of image control sounds great in theory, but it's nearly useless in practice. The range for each option is only +/- 1, with each shift resulting in only a minor picture change. Canon already provides such a robust manual control experience in the HF S10, but this seems like an unnecessary deficiency. Why not increase the increments so that we can have more control over these features?
**Other Manual Controls***(3.0)*
The HF S10 includes a number of professional-level controls that are rarely found on consumer camcorders. It can display color bars and an audio reference tone, has a couple of overexposure warnings (zebra settings), and contains numerous onscreen markers for assisting with framing.
Still Features
The Canon HF S10 has a wealth of photographic features and, as we found out in our still testing, it can function rather decently as a still camera. The camcorder can take photos in any mode: dual shot, photo mode, movie mode, and even during video playback. Full photo options, however, are only available in dedicated photo mode. Here, you can adjust image size with options ranging from 3264 x 2456 to 640 x 480, choose an image quality setting, or select a metering mode from evaluative, center-weighted average, or spot.
In addition to the extra metering mode, photo mode gives you access to the same shutter-priority and aperture-priority modes that you find in video mode. Most manual controls that work in video mode are also applicable with photos. There's a continuous shooting mode that will keep taking photos for as long as you keep the shutter button pressed (a hi-speed continuous feature does the same thing, only with a faster shutter), and an auto exposure bracketing option that takes three sequential photos, each with varying adjustments to exposure. Rounding out the HF S10's still features are a self-timer and an auto rotate feature, which will display correctly any images that were captured with the camcorder on its side.
Even though you may not be able to spot it at first, the camcorder does have a built-in flash. It's embedded inside the body of the camcorder, in the portion just above the lens. When you activate the flash, it automatically pops up out of its compartment. The flash can be set to auto, red-eye reduction, always on, and always off. Behind the flash is a hot accessory shoe that can be used to attach an external flash or video light.
In movie mode, you can turn on an option for simultaneous recording. With this option activated, photos can be captured while you record video (with photo size options of 3264 x 1840 or 1920 x 1080). In dual shot mode, simultaneous recording is automatically engaged, with the photo size always set to 1920 x 1080. In playback mode, the HF S10 has an option for capturing a still image from a recorded video. All you need to do is pause the video and hold down the shutter button to take the photo. In the camcorder's playback menu, you can set the quality of these captured images (from super fine, fine, or normal), but the image size must be set to 1920 x 1080.
The still playback screen looks just like the video playback screen. Photos are arranged as thumbnails and selecting an image brings up a full-screen view of the photo. Also displayed on the LCD screen is a large blue histogram and an information box with details about the photograph: shutter speed, aperture setting, image size, etc. Using the zoom toggle during still image playback allows you to digitally magnify a 3264 x 2456 photo up to five times.
The Canon HF S10 measured a color error of 4.22 in its still photos, which is close to the 3.42 it scored in our regular video color testing. The saturation level was recorded as 96.85%. This is a decent score for still images, but not quite as good as the superb color performance evidenced in the still photos of the Sony HDR-CX500V (2.80 color error) or the JVC GZ-HM400 (3.08 color error). (More on how we test still color.)
The Canon HF S10 had difficulty with dark blues and some yellows and oranges in our still color test. This is not the same trouble that we observed in the camcorder's video color testing. Video footage recorded less accurate reds, while it performed quite well with blue hues. These discrepancies aren't troubling, since the camcorder uses different processing for still and video mode. However, that may be something to look out for if you're concerned about the colors matching up on videos and photos.
The Canon HF S10 measured high noise levels in its still photos, averaging 1.23% noise in our tests. This isn't terrible, but it's too high for a still image recorded in bright light. It's higher than any of the camcorders we selected for comparison, including the Sanyo VPC-HD2000, which came in at just 0.77% noise. Fortunately for the Canon lineup, noise is really the Achilles heel of an otherwise solid still performance on the HF S10.(More on how we test still noise.)
The Canon HF S10 has a big, high resolution CMOS sensor—something that really comes in handy for taking large, sharp photos. The camcorder recorded an excellent horizontal sharpness of 3146 lw/ph with 6.10% oversharpening. Things didn't fare as well with vertical resolution, which measured 1909 lw/ph with 1.2% oversharpening from the same image in our test. This discrepancy between horizontal and vertical matches the results we got in our video sharpness test, which also showed the camcorder performing better on its horizontal measurement. Still, these are both very good scores overall, and the Canon HF S10 has one of the strongest still sharpness measurements we've seen. The JVC GZ-HM400 also put up good numbers here, with 2329 lw/ph horizontal and 1800 lw/ph vertical.(More on how we test still sharpness.)
Handling & Use
Playback & Connectivity
The HF S10 has the same basic playback interface as the rest of Canon's 2009 high definition lineup. You access a dedicated playback mode by pushing a button on the LCD panel (above). This will give you a typical thumbnail view of your recorded videos—or still images, if you're in photo mode. The zoom toggle allows you to select either 15 or 6 thumbnails to be visible at once. Select a thumbnail, and that video will play at full-screen.
The HF S10's playback controls are split between two locations: hard VCR buttons on the LCD panel, and a handful of controls mapped to the joystick. Those on the LCD panel (play/pause, stop, and playlist) are large, responsive, and easy to use—a major upgrade from the cheap membrane buttons on last year's models. The joystick controls, however, are counterintuitive and awkward to use. This makes it a chore to adjust fast-forward, slow-motion, or playback volume.
The playback menu offers a few organization and simple editing features. Clips can be divided, organized by date, or grouped according to people's faces that are located in the videos themselves (if footage was recorded using the face detection feature). You can also capture still photos from your recorded video by pressing the shutter button when your video is paused. The still image playback menu offers options for rotating, printing, organizing, and deleting your photos.
The HF S10 also has a playlist function, which lets you group a selection of videos or images to be played back in a particular order. This is a pretty standard feature on consumer camcorders, similar to making a mix CD or slideshow: clips can be arranged and organized without regard to the date they were captured or the order in which they were filmed. You can even add background music to your playlists by importing your own tunes onto the camcorder or using the Music CD provided by Canon.
This can also be done when using the special Video Snap feature. Video Snap is essentially the same as a music-accompanied playlist, but videos are constrained to four seconds each, making for a sort of manic flurry of short clips.
The HF S10 has all the most important connectivity options, providing the user with nearly everything he/she would find on most consumer camcorders. On the downside, many of the ports are poorly placed. To start, there's the port collection on the right side, which is stuffed underneath the hand strap. On the one hand, the door is cleverly hidden from view; on the other hand, the ports are very difficult to access. Also on the right side of the camcorder is a completely exposed microphone input. Without any kind of cover or door, this connection is dangerously vulnerable to dust, dirt, and water.
On the back of the HF S10 (just above the battery pack) are two more ports: the DC input on the left and the AV-output on the right. Both are protected by their own flexible plastic coverings that remained tethered to the camcorder when you pull them out. These ports are well located and the covers provide decent protection—at first. We noticed that these covers stopped making tight seals around the ports as they got more wear and tear.
The AV-output doubles as a headphone jack: you can select its function by visiting the appropriate tab of the camcorder's administrative menu.
Over on the left side of the camcorder you will find a few more quirky design issues inside the LCD cavity. The most glaring is the camcorder's battery release switch, which is located here, rather than anywhere near the actual battery. Its placement above the card slot makes it seem like a switch for opening that hatch, instead of the releasing the distant battery. In fact, the flip down door protecting the SD/SDHC card slot requires no switch to open and—annoyingly—cannot be opened when the camcorder is attached to a tripod or if the LCD screen is closed. This is a minor nuisance, however, and at least Canon provided a good cover to protect the slot.
Finally, there is the hot accessory shoe that is covered by a sliding shield of plastic on the top of the camcorder. The shoe is powered, but it's only compatible with Canon's proprietary mini-shoe accessories; it won't work with traditional shoe-fit devices without a third-party adapter.
Audio & Other Features
The Canon HF S10 has more audio controls than your average consumer camcorder. Unfortunately, the most basic audio feature, the on-board microphone, is not one of the camcorder's strengths. The microphone is a Dolby Digital 2-channel, where many high-end camcorders feature 5-channel sound. The is also poorly placed, flanking the camcorder's lens on both the left and right side. The mic on the right side is easily scuffed by the hand gripping the camcorder; the mic on the left side is just asking to be hit every time you operate the custom control dial.
Near the very front of the HF S10 is a 1/8-inch external microphone jack. This is an adequate position for the jack, but the port itself has no covering or protection of any kind. We're surprised Canon would leave this important port completely exposed, particularly when the Canon mid-range HF20 offers much better port protection. The audio levels can be manually adjusted for both the built-in and external microphone, which is a good feature to have if you're planning on using the HF S10 to shoot concerts, plays, or any event where good sound recording is vital.
When adjusting audio, the camcorder doesn't display any hard numbers or actual decibel gain levels. Instead, you are provided with a long bar that can be raised or lowered, almost like you're adjusting a volume knob on a radio. While this is still a useful feature, it can be a hassle if you're trying to adjust audio to a specific gain level. The HF S10 does have an audio level display, however, with markers set at -40dB, -12dB, and 0dB—so you can still get an idea of where your audio levels are peaking. If you plan to spend a lot of time adjusting audio levels, you can assign audio levels to the custom control dial and use the dial for finer control. (Just beware that your finger isn't scuffing the microphone in the process.)
Digital Effects
The HF S10 has the most basic digital effects: black & white, sepia, and art. The camcorder also has a regular fade feature and a wipe fade. All these effects are found in the function menu and can be activated using the joystick menu once they're selected.
Video Light
The video light is tucked away inside the top of the HF S10. When you turn on the light from the joystick menu (or activate the flash, which is located in the same spot), it pops up from its underground lair to provide you with a little illuminating aid. The light isn't fantastic and it will eat up your battery life, but its good to have if you do lots of filming in the dark.
Pre-Record
Pre-record is a useful new feature on this year's Canons. When the setting is turned on, the camcorder will constantly record footage in a 3-second memory buffer. So, whenever you press record you've already captured three seconds of video. That's very useful if you're trying to capture an unpredictable event—like the winning soccer goal or baby's first steps. (Of course, you still have to be pointing the camcorder in the right direction.) Like the video light, pre-record does use up a lot of battery power, so don't turn it on if you're going to be away from a power source for a long time.
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Video Snapshot*
Video Snapshot is also new to this year's Canons, but it's pretty unimpressive. When you press the Video Snap button, a blue border appears around the LCD screen that will begin to illuminate when you press the record button. After roughly 4 seconds, the blue border will have made its way around the entirety of the LCD screen and recording will automatically cease. Essentially, the video snapshot feature is useful for making short 4-second clips one at a time. These clips can then be organized in a playlist, have music added to them, and viewed as a short little film on the camcorder.
JVC GZ-HM400 Comparison
The JVC GZ-HM400 is an interesting foil to the Canon lineup. It offers significantly better video performance than the HD300, which we reviewed earlier this year, and has a lot more bells and whistles than the GZ-X900. This is JVC's offering for more serious videophiles and it is definitely tough competition for the HF S10.In fact, the HM400 proved itself to be a powerhouse of color accuracy and sharp, smooth footage—outpacing the HF S10 in all the bright light testing.
Unfortunately, the HM400 couldn't keep up with the excellent performance in dimmer lighting conditions. Footage was incredibly dark and there are no alternate frame rates to help boost sensitivity. If you plan to do a lot of shooting in darker environments, the HF S10 isn't exactly a champion, but it's a better choice than the HM400.
The HF S10 also excels in manual controls. Aperture and shutter speed cannot be controlled independently, but there is a wealth of extra color and image controls.
Where the HM400 does come out on top is in the stabilization department. Even the HF S11's new Dynamic stabilization mode can't match the testing results of the HM400, which showed significant improvement with its single optical stabilization level activated. If stabilization is important to you, the HM400 is certainly an interesting model to consider.
And, of course, there's one thing that will really compel users to select the top-of-the-line JVC over its Canon counterpart: price. You get a lot of camcorder for just $1000 (or less, if you shop around). This is why we awarded the HM400 our runner-up for A savings of $200 is considerable in this day and age. For people less interested in the bells and whistles offered by the HF S10, that may be $200 you can't turn down.
Sony HDR-CX500V Comparison
In bright lighting conditions, the HF S10 and CX500V are very similar camcorders; both record sharp, clear, vivid footage and have lots of manual controls to keep enthusiasts happy. The HF S10, however, edges out the CX500V in a lot of key areas. Its sensor resolution is higher, resulting in sharper video and still photos, and it's even a hair better than the CX500V in low light. (That doesn't speak well to the Sony's low light performance, since the Canon isn't very impressive in that arena.)
The HF S10 also has a couple key features that experienced users will value highly: a smoother, more maneuverable custom control dial, external microphone input, and multiple frame rates.
There are a couple reasons to favor the Sony. Its 3-inch touch screen LCD is an improvement over the HF S10's smaller, non-touch offering and the optical image stabilization on the Sony model is much more effective. It's also a smaller, more compact camcorder and $100 cheaper than the HF S10 and offers one thing the Canon doesn't: a standard definition recording option.
Advanced users may want the flexibility and HD options of the Canon HF S10, but intermediate users or those transitioning from standard definition to HD may want to save $100 and go with the HDR-CX500V.
Sanyo VPC-HD2000 Comparison
The Canon HF S10 is one of Canon's top-of-the-line consumer HD camcorders—and comes with a price tag to match. The HF S10 goes for approximately $1200, which is double the street price of the VPC-HD2000. It's true that in a lot of ways, you get what you pay for. The HF S10 has a better body design, including a smooth manual control dial and sturdier components. It also has more flexibility in color and image controls, focus assistance, and audio controls. And though there's a lot packed into the multi-tier menu system of the HF S10, the organization of these menus is cleaner and more intuitive than the unimpressive menu system on the HD2000.
In terms of performance, however, the gap is not wide. The optical image stabilization of the HF S10 far outstrips the digital stabilization offered on the Sanyo and the Canon's high resolution sensor produces remarkable sharpness results. The HD2000, however, blows the Canon out of the water with its impressive low light performance. The Xacti may not have a 24p frame rate, but it does offer 30p, 60i, and—remarkably—native 60p recording. The HD2000 also sheds the unwieldy AVCHD compression for a simple MPEG-4 format, which can simply be dragged, dropped, and played on most computers.
The HD2000 may not be a conventional choice (or a wise one, for manual control enthusiasts), but it's an incredible bargain for just $600. It's for this reason that we named the HD2000 our 2009 Best Value of the Year.
Conclusion
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Specs and Ratings
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Meet the tester
Vice President of Editorial Management, Kaitlyn oversees the editorial departments of Reviewed.com’s various sites. She has been writing about technology since the turn of the century. Outside of her Reviewed.com home, Kaitlyn is also a theatre director and avid gamer.
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