The Vixia HF S21 was
built like a brick house, all mighty mighty, letting it all hang out, but the
Panny’s manual controls and overall image quality bopped the Vixia HF S21 down
to second place.
The year 2011 is an
entirely different game of hockey, however. Canon’s game-winning slapshot is
called the Vixia HF G10, and it will go on to win the camcorder Stanley Cup
this year, hands down. Even Panasonic’s new HDC-HS900 could not put up the
defense necessary to prevent the Vixia HF G10 from busting into the crease and
dekeing its way past the goalie. A new bar has been raised within the consumer
camcorder market, and it’s called the Canon Vixia HF G10. Perhaps it was the
beast’s giant focus ring, 8-bladed iris, ample manual controls, or improved
built-in microphone.
Those high-end
features were certainly welcomed, but in the end, it was the Canon Vixia HF
G10’s supersonic image quality and exceptional low light sensitivity (courtesy
of its brand new HD CMOS Pro sensor) that made it the optimal choice for the
budget filmmaker or high-end enthusiast.
Design
Dual
SDXC card slot
Like last year’s
Canon Vixia HF S21, the HF G10 flaunts a top-notch build. The Panasonic
HDC-HS900 is more like a pimped out Geo Metro compared to the Rolls Royce Canon
Vixia HF G10.
Although the Focus
ring’s only task was to alter the focal length of the beautiful Canon HD video
lens, Canon gave us a custom dial along the backside of the camcorder that
controlled shutter/aperture, manual exposure, gain or exposure compensation. Canon also spruced
up the zoom rocker, widening it and refining its smoothness.
The dual
SD/SDHC/SDXC card slots were carried over from last year, enabling us to throw
in cards with up to 64GB capacities and continuously record via Canon’s relay
technology. Inside, the HF G10 has 32GB of Flash memory, which is on the light
side compared to the Panasonic HDC-HS900’s 220GB HDD. The Vixia HF G10’s
battery resided on the small side and did not provide an adequate life, so
backup packs are a must buy.
On the monitor end
of the spectrum, the Canon Vixia HF G10 has a 3.5-inch touchscreen display with
a 922,000-pixel resolution. The camcorder
also rocks an extendable 0.24-inch 260,000-pixel color viewfinder for those
blazing days, and the LCD panel features two customizable button controls that
default to AF/MF and Powered IS.
For connectivity,
the Canon Vixia HF G10 offered a component, AV Out/headphone, remote, HDMI Out,
USB and a mic jack, which is what we got on the Vixia HF S21. On top was
Canon’s proprietary hot shoe, along with a set of stereo microphones. The Canon
Vixia HF G10 bridges the prosumer gap with its advanced design.
Shooting Features
This section is
always an endless playground for me, and the Canon Vixia HF G10 cranked out
plenty of monkey bars when it came to manual controls. We’ll start with manual
exposure, which not only gave us 70% or 100% Zebra patterns for blown
highlights, but the HF G10 featured a waveform monitor that was more advanced
than anything I’ve seen on a consumer camcorder, rivaling Navy SEAL technology.
We could also adjust the gain up to 24dB, which surpassed the old 18dB standard
offered by Panasonic. The focus assist magnification was also actually useful,
thanks to an improved resolution while magnified, and we even got color peaking
as a focus assist alternative.
But the waveform
monitor also showed up in the Manual Focus arena, allowing us to use peaking
and Focus Assist in conjunction with it.
There was also a
digital Level Meter for leveling shots, SMPTE standard color bars and test
tones, 2,000K to 15000K range White Balance adjustment, and a slew of in-camera
filters like Vivid, Dream, Nostalgia, and Old Movies. Although I could add
filters in Premiere Pro, it was nice to have the option for those who are
devoid of a quality NLE program.
Like the Canon Vixia
HF S21, the Canon Vixia HF G10 was equipped with four different frame rates.
There’s native 24p, meaning the camcorder captures every single frame without
the process of interlacing.
Of course the Vixia
HF G10 had 60i and a simulated 24p and 30p recorded at 60i, but I found that
the best results resided within native 24p shooting. Simulated progressive
frame rates are only useful for down-converting to standard definition or
working with other simulated framerates on a 60i timeline.
Regardless, if you
want your work to have an unmistakably film-like look, then the Canon Vixia HF
G10 is the answer. Image stabilization on the HF G10 was great, especially when
pressing and holding the Powered IS button to minimize shake even more.
Image
Quality
This is where the
Canon Vixia HF G10 brought home the bacon. The camcorder has Canon’s new single
1/3-inch HD CMOS Pro chip with 2.07 effective megapixels. Video can be captured
at an impressive 24Mbps in the highest quality (MXP) via the AVCHD format.
For glass, the Vixia
HF G10 has a 10x optical zoom Canon HD video lens with an 8-bladed iris that
allowed us to capture smooth bokeh effects. The lens had an f/1.8 aperture for
20mm macro shooting, and its overall quality trumped many camcorders in its class.
Canon is always known for its quality glass.
So, those are a
bunch of fancy-sounding specs and all, but how did the Canon Vixia HF G10
perform? In our tests, color, detail and resolution were off the charts for a
consumer camcorder. Noise levels were also lower than I had ever seen,
especially in low light.
The HF G10 flaunts a
minimum illumination of 1.5 lux with auto slow shutter on at 1/30 shutter
speed, and 0.1 lux in the low light scene mode. I kept searching for rabid blue
noise, but came up empty in most of my tests with the lights down.
Shooting in 24p mode
yielded the most optimal results, thanks to the lower shutter speed, which
inevitably lured more light through the lens and whittled noise down
significantly. 60i looked fantastic for motion, thanks to the heightened
framerate, though low light sensitivity took a minor dive for that same reason.
Keep in mind that in extremely low lighting conditions, the Vixia HF G10
exhibited a moderate amount of noise, but it was the camcorder’s overall
sensitivity that trumped its competitors.
The bottom line with
the Canon Vixia HF G10 is that if you’re looking for a camcorder to shoot short
films or commercials with, you can finally do it in the consumer market and
feel confident about it. The Vixia HF G10 is an imaging powerhouse that rivals
prosumer models when it comes to image quality.
The Canon Vixia HF G10 is currently the greatest consumer HD camcorder
ever produced. Its topnotch build, prosumer-esque manual controls, and stellar
image quality put it numerous car lengths ahead of the competition. Last year,
Panasonic had won me over with the HDC-HS700, but this is Canon’s year, and
it’s going to require one hell of a machine to take the HF G10 down to
Chinatown.
Pros
- Class leading image quality
in bright and low light
- Native 24p
- Bountiful manual controls
- High quality glass
- Exceptional build and design,
including dual SD card slots and focus ring
- Improved built-in microphone
- Gaggle of in-camera
customizable shooting filters available
- Mini HDMI cable included in
the box
Cons
- Limited battery life requires
the purchase of additional packs
- Basic editing software
included
- Powerhouse computer and
software needed to handle large video files
- Touchscreen LCD is stubborn
at times
Best For: Budget Filmmakers and High-End
Enthusiasts
Suggested Retail Price: $1,499.99
