Convergence

In Canon's new HG10 digital video camera we see many of the components of the HV20 camcorder, which we reviewed in May. Both models use the same high definition camera system, which combines a 1920 x 1080 True Progressive HD CMOS sensor with an optically-stabilised 10x optical zoom lens. Instead of recording to tape, however, the HG10 has a 40GB internal hard disk drive (HDD) and offers AVCHD format, direct-to-HDD recording.

Despite being significantly smaller than the HV20, the HG10 is not much lighter and it costs $400 more. Otherwise the two cameras are remarkably similar. The 2.7-inch widescreen LCD is the same as the HV20's and has a resolution of 211,000 pixels plus anti-reflection coating. Brightness and backlight adjustments are provided. Although relatively small, it's usable in direct sunlight and can be adjusted through a wide range of angles. In contrast, the electronic viewfinder is rather cramped and its hard plastic eyecup is uncomfortable to use, particularly if you're wearing glasses.

Like the HV20, the HG10 includes a PF25 mode that can shoot progressively-scanned frames at 25 fps. When combined with the Cine Mode setting, this gives a 'cinematic' look to video recordings. (The normal frame rate for both camcorders is 50 frames/second.)

Controls
Because the HG10 is designed primarily for point-and-shoot users, its more accessible controls are fairly basic and easy to use. If you wish to adjust the more sophisticated camera settings, prepare yourself for a challenge as the menu can be difficult to use and the instruction manual neither comprehensive nor user-friendly. Many settings are hidden away in sub-menus, which can only be accessed in the Program mode and some only appear when video capture is set while others are specific to still recording.

Mastering the menu system depends on locating two button controls. The first is the small button just above the indicator light that lets you select between video and still recording.  The second is the mode switch, which is located in front of the zoom rocker. This switch has two positions: Auto and P. To adjust most camera settings, this switch must be set to the P position.

Beside the video/still switch is the start/stop button for shooting video clips. Above these buttons lies the main on/off switch, which doubles as a mode selector for choosing between camera and play modes.  A push-in button allows it to be rotated to select the shooting and play modes. On the top panel are the Photo button for recording still shots and a long zoom rocker, which is remarkably easy to operate – and quite sensitive.

Between the top panel and the LCD screen are three buttons covering quick start, display and direct printing modes. Pressing the quick start button toggles the standby mode on and off. You can start recording from standby in approximately one second, which is much faster than cold starting the camera. (Focus and exposure settings default back to automatic and the lens re-sets to the wide position.) The camcorder will remain in standby mode for up to 10 minutes before shutting down.

The remaining controls are located on the adjustable widescreen LCD and consist of an arrow pad with rotating ring on the outer side of the LCD bezel plus five soft-touch buttons below the screen. Pressing the Set button on the arrow pad accesses shooting controls for backlight, exposure compensation, focus, and quick review. In camera mode it also provides flash controls. Although the rotating selector works well on some of the digicams we've reviewed, we found it rather clumsy on this camcorder and would have preferred a joystick like the HV20's.

Pressing the Set button displays an icon-based menu that accesses the scene modes, exposure adjustments, focus pre-sets (macro and infinity) and the video light. In P mode pressing the Func. Button below the screen opens a sub-menu with seven icons. Rotating the control dial moves you through the vertical menu, covering shooting mode (P, Tv, Av, Cine and Scene), white balance, special effects, colour, video quality and still image compression settings. The horizontal buttons on the arrow pad select individual options in each parameter.

At the bottom of the page is a Menu icon that opens the camera menu pages. You have to dig deep into the menu system to locate the focus mode and zoom speed settings. Focus modes include Instant and Normal, the first using infrared ranging to lock on. It's slightly better in dim lighting. Focus Priority settings include centre focus and Canon's AiAF. Focusing and metering patterns can only be changed in P mode and some manual focus adjustments are provided, along with an infinity focus setting.

Four zoom speeds are selectable in the Zoom Speed sub-menu: variable, Speed 1, Speed 2 and Speed 3. Speed 1 is the slowest.  Digital zoom is also available with up to 200x magnification. The image stabilisation system had difficulties steadying the camera at 40x magnification and a tripod was essential for magnifications above that level. Image quality deteriorates as magnification was increased.
The 40GB hard disk drive can hold up to 5.5 hours of video in the highest quality HD recording mode (XHP),  9.5 hours in XP mode, 11.5 hours in SP Mode or up to 15 hours in LP Mode (although not continuously). However, it's a waste of the camcorder's capabilities to record at anything but the highest resolution – especially if you plan to edit your footage.

Preparing the HG10 for use is straightforward; you simply attach the battery, connect the power adapter to the camcorder, plug it into the mains and charge the battery. This takes a couple of hours and an indicator LED shines steadily when the battery is fully charged. Both the HDD and memory card must be 'initialised' before you can record on them. This process, which takes a couple of minutes, erases any data on the disk or card and prepares it for recording.

The HG10 comes with a SafeDisk system for protect the HDD so no footage is lost. The HDD itself is encased in a shock-absorbing housing, while the magnetic read head is automatically 'parked' to prevent damage when a built-in sensor detects a dropping motion. Footage is also buffered automatically in memory before it is written to the disk to ensure no data is lost.

Recording Stills
Still pictures can be recorded at five image sizes with three selectable compression levels and there's a built-in flash to assist low-light shooting. Top resolution is equivalent to 3.1 megapixels – which involves a small amount of interpolation. You can choose between 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratio for high and low resolution shots. Continuous shooting and exposure bracketing are available in still capture mode with two continuous shooting speeds: normal at 2.5 fps and high-speed at 4.1 fps. With flash, frame rates drop to 1.7 fps.
Still images can also be 'grabbed' from video recordings in playback mode but the size of the image is locked at 1920 x 1080 pixels, although you can pre-set the compression ratio. Interestingly, you can only record still images on a memory card (MiniSD); not on the hard drive, regardless of how much space remains on it. However, you can capture still shots while recording video clips at any of the resolution settings.  Typical file sizes are shown in the table below.

Software
The HG10 is supplied with three software disks: Canon's Digital Video Solution Disk V27.0 for Windows and Mac, Canon's Backup Utility V. 1.0 for Windows and a Corel Application Disc v2.0 with InterVideo WinDVD SE, Ulead DVD Movie Factory SE and DVD Movie Writer SE. A separate instruction manual is provided for the Corel applications, which are Windows only.
The Digital Video Solution Disk contains ZoomBrowser EX v. 5.8, DV TWAIN Driver v. 6.6 and Apple Quick Time for Windows plus ImageBrowser v. 5.8 for Macintosh. The Backup Utility disk is used when you wish to transfer recorded footage from the camcorder's HDD to your computer. Easy to use and quite highly automated it makes backing up recordings quick and easy.

Ulead's DVD Movie Factory can be used to create and edit video movies and download them to a DVD disk. It contains basic editing controls plus facilities for converting the AVCHD video into a format that will record and play on DVDs. The conversion process is slow; it took two hours and 48 minutes to convert 2.63GB of AVCHD footage then another eight minutes to burn it to a DVD. The resulting DVD quality was excellent – although transitions between clips were obvious in unedited footage.

Performance
Video footage recorded with the test camera was very impressive. Colour reproduction was natural looking under natural lighting and acceptable with most artificial light sources. We found little evidence of glitches or compression artefacts in the test footage we recorded.

Audio quality was not quite up to the video standard, although still acceptable most of the time. However, when the Wind Screen filter was set to auto, recordings became very directional and favoured sounds coming from the rear of the camera. With it off, it captured sounds from the front much better but anything beyond about two metres became subdued and outdoor shots in windy conditions had unusable soundtracks.

Canon's image stabilisation system proved effective for video capture, even at the 10x zoom setting. However, for still shots, the AiAF focusing system, which works well in Canon's still cameras, proved flaky in the HG10 from about 7x zoom on making accurate focusing difficult. We obtained better focusing accuracy when we switched to centre focusing. Sample images are shown below.


Autofocusing with the AiAF system.


Autofocusing with the centre focusing system.
 
We observed some image softening and pattern noise in dimly-lit video sequences when we recorded with the built-in video light switched off. Blown-out highlights were common in bright and contrasty subjects. Neither problem would be classed as unusual on a small-sensor digicam and neither interfered with video quality to a significant degree. Both the video light and built-in flash were only usable for subjects within about two metres of the camera.

Still pictures were very good for the available resolution, although saturation was elevated in reds, greens and blues and suppressed in yellows. Skin hues, however, were close to the mark. Imatest showed lateral chromatic aberration to be low and we found little evidence of coloured fringing in outdoor shots. Imatest also confirmed resolution was good for the camera's capabilities.

The auto white balance produced almost neutral colours with fluorescent lighting but failed to counteract the orange cast of incandescent lights. Video recorded under artificial lighting in a school hall had a distinct purple tinge but skin hues were acceptable looking.

It took just over five seconds to power-up the HG10 and we measured an average capture lag for still shots of 1.1 seconds, which reduced to 0.4 seconds with pre-focusing. The continuous shooting mode recorded shots at 0.4 second intervals. Up to 60 still pictures can be recorded at this rate.

Conclusion
Aside from a slightly frustrating user interface, there's little to complain about on the HG10 and much to praise. Both video and still image quality are above average for this type of camera and transfer of stills and video to a computer was straightforward. Battery capacity appeared to be very good in our tests.

The asking price of the HG10 is high compared with similarly-featured models from rival manufacturers. But Canon's reputation for excellent optics goes a long way to justify spending more on this capable camcorder.

IMATEST GRAPHS









SAMPLE IMAGES


Auto white balance with incandescent lighting.


Auto white balance with fluorescent lighting.


Close-up.


Digital zoom.






Frame grabs from video footage.

Image sensor: 5.27 x 3.96 mm CMOS with approx. 2.96 million photosites, RGB Bayer filter
Effective Pixels: Movies/Stills (LW)  – 2.07 megapixels, Stills (L, M, S) – 2.76 megapixels
Lens: 6.1-61mm f/1.8-3.0 (Equivalent to 43.6-436mm for movies or 40-400mm for stills)
Zoom ratio: 10x optical, 200x digital
Video System: AVCHD
Still Image Sizes/ file format: 1920 x 1080, 2048 x 1536, 1440 x 1080, 640 x 480 pixels/JPEG (Exif 2.2), Super Fine, Fine, Normal
Shutter speed range: ½ to 1/2000 second
Image Stabilisation: Optical-shift
Focus system/range: TTL AF with 9 AF points plus manual focus; range 1 metre to infinity; close up to 1cm at wide angle setting
Shooting modes: Video: HXP, XP, SP, LP; stills – digital photo mode
Shooting programs: Snow, Beach, Sunset, Fireworks, Spotlight, Night mode, Sports mode, Portrait mode
Minimum illumination: 0.2 lux
White balance: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent (x2), manual Set
Flash: Built-in auto flash with red-eye reduction
Video Light: Built-in video light
Sound recording: stereo electret condenser microphone; Dolby Digital 2-channel audio
Additional features: Progressive scanning, widescreen support, simultaneous still & video capture, backlight compensation, night mode, self-time (2 and 10 sec. delay) direct print & PictBridge support, histogram display, accessories hot shoe,
Storage Media: 40GB HDD plus MiniSD card
Viewfinder: 0.27-inch wide TFT; approx 123,000 pixels
LCD monitor:  2.7-inch widescreen TFT, approx. 211,000 pixels; anti-reflection coated
Terminals: Composite A/V-out (3.5mm minijack); USB 2.0 (mini-B), Component out, HDMI out, Mic (3.5mm minijack)
Power supply: BP-2L13 7.4V DC battery pack (approx 70 minutes recording per charge)
Dimensions (wxhxd): 81 x 75 x 129 mm (excluding grip belt)
Weight: 505 grams (without battery and memory card)