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More…The Canon Vixia HF10 ($1000 as of September 28, 2008) has a lot going for it. It's light and compact, it generates fine images without much effort, it offers good control over look and frame rate, it carries a reasonable price, and it works well with both Windows and Mac software. But one thing holds this model back: Its video bit rate is set to run substantially below the AVCHD format's maximum of 24 mbps. The HF10 maxes out at 17 mbps, which is the bit rate we used for our testing. Three subsequent Canon models--the Vixia HF11, the Vixia HG20, and the Vixia HG21--support 24-mbps capture.
Canon Vixia HF10
3
6 User Reviews Add your own »
$499.99
From 1 Vendor
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Pros
Compact size
Good video quality, optical zoom, and stabilizatio
Cons
LCD is the only viewfinder
Lower bit rate than newer Vixia models have
Bottom Line
This compact camcorder combines sharp AVCHD video, flash memory, easy and flexible operation, and a reasonable price.
Canon Vixia HF10 High-Definition Camcorder
Vixia HF10 Review, by Jim Feeley October 26, 2008
The Vixia HF10 captures images with a 0.31-inch CMOS sensor, and it can compress video at four quality settings, ranging from 5 mbps to 17 mbps. At the highest bit rate, the camera encodes AVCHD video to a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels, and at lower bit rates to 1440 by 1080 pixels.
Video produced at the 17-mbps bit rate held up well against the output of other camcorders in our recent "Camcorders: High-Def, No Tape" roundup. Overall, our subjective testers rated the images almost as highly as they did the images from the tape-based Canon Vixia HV30 and from the hard-drive-based Sony Handycam HDR-SR12, noting in particular very good resolution and smooth movement.
In the PC World Test Center's evaluation, the HF10's images showed a bit of oversaturation, but the HF10 doesn't pump up colors nearly as much as the salespeople do at your local HDTV emporium. In low light, the video showed a touch of gain noise, but that was evenly distributed and not too distracting. Still images were good but not great, essentially equivalent to those of other HD camcorders (i.e., not as good as stills from $150 digital still cameras).
The HF10 makes capturing those images easy, with a 12X optical zoom lens, fast and accurate automatic focusing, a great optical stabilizer, and a simple and effective automatic mode. The eight special scene modes--ranging from sports and night to beach and sunset settings--work well. The camcorder's lack of a viewfinder is a minor drawback amplified somewhat by the HF10's fleeting battery life (average for a tapeless HD camcorder) of about 90 minutes.
You can use the joystick provided next to the outer edge of the bright 2.7-inch LCD to navigate the well-organized menus. The joystick's position works well for adjusting camera settings, but it can induce unwanted camera movement during handheld manual focusing. Playback controls are situated conveniently, right under the LCD.
This lightweight (about 15 ounces with battery) camcorder is about the size of a can of energy drink; but despite its compactness (2.5 by 2.9 by 5.1 inches), it comesequipped with mic and headphone jacks, and a hot shoe mount. Alas, the hot shoe is of a proprietary size that doesn't allow you to mount many common third-party microphones in it.
The HF10 can record video at any of three frame rates optimized for standard video, Web-bound content, or a more filmlike feel: 60 interlaced fields per second (60i); 30 progressive frames per second (30p); and 24 progressive frames per second.
The camcorder's 16GB internal flash memory holds just over 2 hours of video at the device's highest quality setting; users can add an SDHC card to extend the available recording time. You can connect the camera to an HDTV via a mini-HDMI connector or to a computer via the USB connector. Editing video requires a fast CPU, as is the case with all AVCHD camcorders. The footage is compatible with various types of AVCHD-friendly editing software for Windows or Mac, and Canon bundles the basic Windows-based Image Mixer 3 SE.
The Canon Vixia HF10 isn't perfect, but its balance of benefits and shortcomings tilts heavily toward benefits, helping it to a third-place finish on our comparison chart. The Sony Handycam HDR-SR12 beats this model on image quality, but the Canon Vixia HF10 gives you more options for the look of your video. At this point, however, that says more about the promise of the HF10's higher-bit-rate successors than about the HF10 itself.
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User Reviews
Average User Reviews for Canon Vixia HF10
1 Review Add your own »
- Latest User Reviews 1 review
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Reviewed by: WayneSmith
Duration of ownership: 2 Months
Strengths: Video quality obviously, controls handy, easy to understand for the most part. Battery life appears adequate so far.
Weaknesses: Had to buy charger extra. Software is very limited, have to download, edit and reload to camera before you can burn to DVD. Had to upgrade my Adobe Premiere Element to 7.0 to download through USB for the HD video. Light shoe is too narrow for normal brackets, is sized for Canon's minilight (extra).
Overall: Great camera for the money.
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User Reviews From Around the Web
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Reviewed by: jghfjghf
Strengths: Hi definition video quality, easy to use, flash memory, fast transfer of video, easily expandable
Weaknesses: Not much vertical space
Overall: This is an excellent flash memory based camcorder. Amazing video quality and very easy to operate. It's flash memory based and it's very easy to expand the memory by adding SDHC cards. Video transfer is as easy as drag and drop in Windows. The only weakness is it doesn't give much vertical space due to it's widerscreen aspect ratio. Overall, would highly recommend this camcorder to anyone.
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Reviewed by: netprofits
Strengths: Small and compact, lightweight, HD, interal storage, SD storage
Weaknesses: Stock battery won't last long enough to fill up internal storage capacity, have to charge battery in the camera.
Overall: This is my first camcorder. We have a baby on the way so I thought it was time to get one. After reading all the professional reviews online, I came to the conclusion that this was the best consumer level HD camcorder to be had. I am very impressed with the picture quality, as well as the camera functions. I plan to purchase the higher capacity battery and an external battery charger. The included movie software can be taxing on lesser computer systems. Fast SD cards can be had on the cheap if you keep your eyes on the deal forums.
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Reviewed by: vickuo
Strengths: Very good quality video, small and light weight can hold on one hand, support multi-language menu and an external large SDHC memory card.
Weaknesses: None up to now.
Overall: The camera can run about 90 minutes on a full charged battery. I need a backup battery for a long time shot and an external large size SDHC memory (32GB) is need for backup.
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Reviewed by: baboo1976
Strengths: Nice camera for the money. Video looks great! I think the indoor performance is very adequate.
Weaknesses: To charge the battery it nees to be plugged into the camera and the camera plugged into the wall. No seperate battery charger. Battery that comes with camera only lasts a little over an hour.
Overall: I have had the camera for 2 weeks. First I want to say that I'm an average user when it come to shooting video, I'm not an expert in filming. With that being said, here's my thoughts. Nice camera for the money. Video looks great! I think the indoor performance is very adequate. Don't care for the fact that you have to plug in the camera to an electrical outlet in order to transfer video from camera to computer. Also, to charge the battery it nees to be plugged into the camera and the camera plugged into the wall. No seperate battery charger. Battery that comes with camera only lasts a little over an hour, you'll want to buy an extended battery (which obviously won't sit "flush" with the camcorder, but it doesn't stick out too far and costs around $115). I haven't tried taking a still photo since I have a good digital SLR. I bought a video camera for video and not photos. Quick start mode is great! Overall I think it's worth the money I paid for it. Would recommend to my friends.
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Reviewed by: whitfordg
Strengths: Size, picture quality, ease of use, battery life.
Weaknesses: Size(takes some getting used to, it is so small), no viewfinder, software package that comes with it is weak.
Overall: I bought this to replace my aging Samsung MiniDV camera and the differences are staggering. The clarity (obviously) is head and shoulders above the old camera. No viewfinder makes it difficult to see in bright light, but that is a small drawback. The battery life is great as there are no moving parts to draw power. This is my first HD camera and I am glad I made this choice!
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