In summary
An ultra-compact high-definition camcorder that records to SDHC memory cards and features a 12x optical zoom lens.Weighing less than 500 grams and small enough to slip into a jacket pocket, Canon’s HF10 is the first HD camcorder from the company that records video on removable flash memory. Previous models have been based on MiniDV, hard disk and DVD media. Significantly smaller and lighter than its ‘cousins’, the HF10 comes with 16GB of internal memory that can store up to six hours of video recorded at the highest quality setting. So purchasers can start recording video clips without having to buy a memory card. . . [more]
Full review
Weighing less than 500 grams and small enough to slip into a jacket pocket, Canon’s HF10 is the first HD camcorder from the company that records video on removable flash memory. Previous models have been based on MiniDV, hard disk and DVD media. Significantly smaller and lighter than its ‘cousins’, the HF10 comes with 16GB of internal memory that can store up to six hours of video recorded at the highest quality setting. So purchasers can start recording video clips without having to buy a memory card.
Like the HR10 and HG10 models (which we have also reviewed), the HF10 uses the AVCHD codec for video recordings. This has become the standard format for HD camcorders and can be viewed on HD TV sets with computer inputs as well as Blu-ray players. However, you’ll need an HDMI cable (which is not supplied with the HF10) to connect the camcorder to the TV. Otherwise video clips can be converted into MPEG2 format for transfer to a DVD.
The image sensor on the HF10 is a single chip with a slightly smaller area than the imager in the HR10 model. Widescreen HD video is output at a full 1920 x 1080 pixels with a bit rate of 17 Mbps. Standard definition recording is not supported. Details of the recording options for the HF10 are provided in the Memory Capacity section below.
The most significant features that distinguish the HF10 from its other H-series cousins are its slightly longer zoom range and lack of a viewfinder. The zoom lever is well located and reasonably comfortable to operate. However, it’s difficult to adjust with high precision. A second set of controls can be found in the buttons below the LCD. Digital zoom of up to 200x is provided but only for video and it visibly reduces picture quality.
With no viewfinder, all viewing must be done with the LCD. The 2.7-inch widescreen LCD is the same as Canon’s other HD models, so its resolution is not particularly high (211,000 pixels). However, its anti-reflection coating and brightness and backlight adjustments make it usable in bright conditions.
The main differences between the H-series models are shown in the table below. Otherwise, the three cameras have the same shooting modes, shutter speed ranges and low-light limitations (0.2 lux in night mode minimum).
|
|
HF10 |
HG10 |
HR10 |
|
Recording media |
16GB internal + SDHC card slot, usable for stills and video |
40GB internal + Mini SD for still images only |
8cm DVD disk + Mini SD for still images only |
|
Lens zoom ratio |
12x optical |
10x optical |
10x optical |
|
Max. still resolution |
3.1 megapixels |
3.15 megapixels |
3.1 megapixels |
|
Viewfinder |
No |
0.27 inch Widescreen colour (123,000 pixels) |
0.27 inch Widescreen colour (123,000 pixels) |
|
Battery |
BP-809 7.4V DC lithium-ion |
BP-2L13 lithium-ion |
BP-214 lithium-ion |
|
Dimensions (wxhxd) |
73 x 64 x 129 mm |
81 x 75 x 129 mm |
65 x 93 x 133 mm |
|
Weight |
430 grams (incl. Battery) |
505 g (body only) |
530 g (body only) |
|
Current RRP |
$1699 |
$1399 |
$1099 |
Aside from a mode dial on the right hand side of the HF10’s body, most of the controls lie on or under the LCD panel on the left side. Lined up along the lower edge of the LCD panel are five buttons: the Function button plus buttons for play/pause, zoom/fast forward and reverse and stop/backlight correction.
On the left side of the panel is a small joystick, which is used for selecting settings. Selectable functions vary, depending on the operating mode. A remote sensor is located just above the joystick. This sensor is used in conjunction with the wireless (remote) controller, which is supplied with the HF10.
Underneath the LCD panel on the camera’s body we find the SDHC card slot, the Easy button for fully-automated shooting and a Display button, which switches on-screen displays on and off. Also on this panel are a speaker grille and a component-out terminal.
The main terminal bank is on the rear panel, where ports for a microphone, AV out and DC-in (for charging the battery) sit beside a recess, which accepts the rechargeable battery. The camera’s serial number (which is required to activate the Pixela software, can be found in this recess. Right of the battery chamber is the Quick Start button – a standard feature on consumer camcorders.
The HDMI and USB terminals lie under a cover on the right side of the camera body, which also carries the mode dial. Four mode settings are provided, two covering movie capture and playback and two for stills (capture and playback). The menu must be used to determine whether the movie clips or still images will be recorded to the built-in memory or a memory card – and you can record video clips to one and stills to the other.
The lens occupies roughly 40% of the front panel and has a built-in cover that closes when power is switched off. Beside it are an AF sensor and tiny electronic flash. Below in a line are two stereo microphones and a mini LED video light. On the top panel are the zoom lever, the Photo button and a ‘mini advanced’ accessory shoe for fitting microphones (but not, it seems, video lights).
Don’t be fooled by the ‘advanced’ label; in this case it appeared to mean ‘non-standard’; i.e. only compatible with a limited range of accessories – all from Canon. A tripod socket and battery release lock are located on the base panel.
Menu Controls
Before you can start shooting, you must ‘initialise’ the memory card or internal memory. This function, which is accessed in the Memory Oper. Section of the menu, is similar to formatting the memory and is also used to permanently delete recorded data. Both memories should be initialised periodically to eliminate fragments of recordings that may remain in memory and could affect subsequent recordings.
Because the HF10 is designed primarily for point-and-shoot users, its more accessible controls are very basic and easy to use. Pressing the Easy button sets everything to automatic, leaving only the zoom lever and start/stop button free. To return to the ‘flexible recording’ mode – in which you can change other settings – you simply press the Easy button a second time.
If you wish to adjust the more sophisticated camera settings – which are reasonably generous for a consumer camcorder – you must press the Function button on the LCD bezel then select the icon representing the item you wish to change. The menu layout is similar to Canon’s Ixus digicams, with functions lined up along the left side of the screen. But the HF 10 includes settings for P, Av and Tv shooting modes plus the Scene menu selections as part of this suite of controls.
Unfortunately, the only way to adjust colour saturation levels (which are frequently too high), is via the Image Effects the Function menu, which accesses six pre-sets: Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Soft Skin Detail and Custom – as well as an Off setting. In the Custom mode, you can adjust Colour Depth (saturation), Brightness, Contrast and Sharpness – but only by +/- one step (which isn’t much). None of these adjustments appears to have much effect, as you can see in the illustrations below.
Image Effect set to Off.
Image Effect set to Vivid.
Image Effect set on Neutral.
Image Effect set on Custom and Colour Depth set to Low.
The joystick accesses the same range of functions as in the HG 10 but there’s no dial wheel around it for selecting individual settings. Instead, you have to push the joystick left or right and then engage them by pressing the joystick in. It’s easy to jiggle the camcorder when doing this so changes are best left until breaks between clips.
Pressing on the joystick also displays or hides a ‘joystick guide’ icon, which accesses functions not accessed via the Function button. These vary with different operating modes but include turning the video light on and off, using the self-timer, manual focus and exposure adjustments, setting audio recording levels, adjusting headphone volume and jumping through still images in playback mode. Flash mode selection, erasing single images and reviewing and deleting the last video clip recorded are also handled through the joystick guide.
Manual focusing requires the use of the joystick to adjust sharpness, which can be tricky. As in the HG 10, you can set Focus Assist to engage automatically so it zooms in on the LCD to allow you to check sharpness. An AF assist light can be activated when shooting stills.
When shooting in P or Tv modes, you can adjust exposure levels via the joystick guide, with +/- 11 settings provided. In Av mode, the lens apertures can be adjusted in half-stop increments from f/1.8 to f/8. Shutter speeds can only be adjusted in Tv mode and you can’t adjust aperture and shutter speed settings at the same time. White balance pre-sets include daylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten, warm white and daylight fluorescent and a manual mode.
The main problem with using the joystick is its inconvenient location on the bezel of the LCD. We would prefer to have had it on the camera body.
The Cine Mode is the same as on Canon’s other HD camcorders and records with progressive scanning at 25 frames/second. Continuous shooting and auto 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. Up to 60 shots can be recorded in a sequence. These functions work with all shooting modes except the Fireworks scene mode.
You can capture a still image while shooting a video clip by pressing the Photo button. The image file will be recorded to the memory you have chosen for still pictures and it will be captured with the same aspect ratio as you have set for movies. The image size and quality are separately adjustable.
Evaluative, centre-weighted average and spot metering are supported and you can display a small live histogram on the screen to help with exposure determination. You can also capture a still image from a scene in playback mode. Still images can also be protected, copied and tagged for printing.
Memory Capacity
The amount of video or number of still shots depends on the quality (and for stills, size) settings used for shooting. For video, the HF 10 offers four recording modes: FXP (1920 x 1080), XP, SP and LP. The XP, SP and LP settings record at 1440 x 1080 resolution (4:3 aspect ratio). The XP drops the bit rate to 12 Mbps, the SP setting reduces it to 7 Mbps and the LP setting takes it down to 5 Mbps.
|
|
FXP |
XP |
SP |
LP |
|
HF10 built-in memory |
2 hr. 5 min |
2 hr. 50 min |
4 hr. 45 min. |
6 hr. 5 min. |
|
4GB memory card |
30 min. |
40 min. |
1 hr. 10 min. |
1 hr. 30 min. |
Still pictures can be recorded by pressing the Photo button on the top panel. For still image capture, the HF10 offers five image size settings (two with 16:9 aspect ratio) and three compression ratios. Typical file sizes are shown in the table below.
|
Image size |
Resolution |
Superfine |
Fine |
Normal |
|
LW |
1920 x 1080 |
1.51MB |
0.98MB |
0.49MB |
|
L |
2048 x 1536 |
2.33MB |
1.51MB |
0.73MB |
|
M |
1440 x 1080 |
1.11MB |
0.73MB |
0.37MB |
|
SW |
848 x 480 |
0.28MB |
0.20MB |
0.10MB |
|
S |
640 x 480 |
0.22MB |
0.15MB |
0.08MB |
Playback
Playback facilities are similar to Canon’s other HD camcorders, although using the fast forward and rewind buttons can be tricky as the footage is usually scanned very quickly (up to 60x) and it can be difficult to locate the section you want. Frame-by-frame playback requires the camera to be set in Pause mode first. Then the arrow buttons can be used to step forwards or backwards.
Locating recorded clips is easy.
The left/right arrows on the joystick can be used to skip between clips, while pressing the joystick twice takes you to the previous scene. The up/down arrows can be used for volume control – although you have to push the joystick in to access it.
The joystick guide in the lower right corner controls audio volume adjustments.
Pressing the Function button in playback mode accesses controls for the display and date-time settings. Display options include a calendar screen and you can search for scenes by recording date or a movie timeline. Individual scenes can also be deleted in playback mode.
Software
The HF10 is supplied with two software disks: Canon’s Digital Video Solution Disk Ver. 30.0 for Windows and Mac and Pixela ImageMixer 3 SE Ver. 1.0. 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.
Pixela ImageMixer is bundled with camcorders from several manufacturers. It’s a very basic application that offers simple cataloguing facilities, along with the ability to view, trim and join video clips. Basic titling facilities’ are provided, along with a limited range of transition effects. It also enables users to burn movies to DVD.
Pixela’s downloading facilities are basic but easy to use.
Editing controls are basic but suitable for novices.
A limited range of transition effects is provided.
Basic titling is also supported.
You can’t grab individual frames from video clips and it takes ages to burn a DVD with this application. But it should provide an adequate jumping off point for most users.
Performance
Video quality from the test camcorder was slightly better than the recordings we made with the HG10 and HR10 and it was hard to find fault with any of the available settings. The difference between the highest and lowest bit rates was only marginal when footage was played on an HDTV set. Aside from elevated saturation levels in overcast conditions, colour reproduction appeared natural-looking under most light sources. No glitches or compression artefacts were found in the test footage we recorded.
Audio quality was better than the HG 10, largely because the HF 10’s stereo microphones are in a better location (just below the lens). The zoom functions worked well but the test camera was slightly susceptible to wind noise with the wind filter on.
Imatest showed still image resolution to be high for the sensor’s photosite count but saturation was also well above the level we usually find for compact digicams. However, it also confirmed our subjective assessment that saturation in still shots was a tad too high to be natural – particularly with primary colours. An example is shown below.
Low-light performance was better than expected, given the smaller sensor in the HF 10. However, still shots were relatively dark and noise was visible. Video was slightly better – but equally noisy. Auto white balance performance was mixed, with only a slight blue cast under fluorescent lighting and failure to eliminate the orange cast of incandescent lights. However, the manual measurement system delivered the goods with both lighting types.
Auto white balance with fluorescent lighting.
Auto white balance with incandescent lighting.
The test camera took just over three seconds to power-up ready for shooting. We measured an average capture lag of 1.1 seconds, which was mostly due to autofocus lag. With pre-focusing, lag time dropped to 0.4 seconds on average. Shot-to-shot times in still mode averaged 2.9 seconds and it took three seconds to process and store each image file.
In the continuous shooting mode, the test camera recorded a burst of five images at 0.35 second intervals with the standard mode and 0.25 second intervals with the high-speed mode. It took 36 seconds to process and store each of these bursts.
Conclusion
The RRPs for high-definition camcorders have come down substantially since we reviewed the HG 10 and HR 10 models late last year. This has made Canon’s HD models competitive with those of rival manufacturers. The HF 10 strikes a good balance between price, portability and performance and offers a worthwhile suite of functions and controls for the video hobbyist.
IMATEST GRAPHS
SAMPLE STILL IMAGES
Close-up shot with aperture priority mode, using an aperture of f/2.8.
Night mode shot; exposure time of 2 seconds at f/4.8. No flash.
Specifications
Image sensor: 4.54 x 3.42 mm True Progressive HD CMOS sensor (1920 x 1080) with 3.31 million photosites
Sensor Resolution: 2.07MP for HD/DV 16:9 video; 1.55MP for 4:3 video; 3.1 MP for 4:3 stills
Lens: 4.8 – 57.6mm f/1.8 Canon High Definition Video lens
Zoom ratio: 12x optical. 200x digital
Video System: HDV 1080i/DV AVCHD compliant
Recording Modes: AVCHD 1080/50i, 1080/25P; FXP 17Mpbs, XP 12Mbps , SP 7Mbps, LP 5Mbps
Sound recording: Dolby Digital AC-3 (2ch)
Still Image Sizes/ file format: 2048 x 1536-pixel JPEG; 3.1 MP (4:3) and 2.07MP (16:9)
Shutter speed range: 1/50 – 1/2,000 sec.; 1/6 second in Night Mode
Image Stabilisation: Super Range OIS (optical shift system)
Focus system/range: TTL Hi-Speed Instant Auto Focus plus manual and infinity focusing; minimum focusing distance ““ 1 cm at full wide angle
Exposure metering: Evaluative, Centre-weighted average and Spot metering
Exposure Compensation: 11 steps via joystick
Shooting modes: Auto, P, Av, Tv, 8 Scene modes, CINE progressive 25P
Minimum illumination: 0.2 lux (Night Mode); 2.5 lux auto
White balance: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent (x2)
Flash: Yes – with red eye reduction
Video Light: LED Video Light
Storage Media: 16GB Built In memory plus SD/SDHC card slot
Viewfinder: No
LCD monitor: 2.7-inch Widescreen LCD with 211,000 pixels and AR coating
Interface terminals: USB 2.0 Hi Speed, mini HDMI, Component output, AV output, Microphone, Headphone
Power supply: BP-809 7.4V DC lithium-ion battery pack; 8.4V DC-in
Dimensions (wxhxd): 73 x 64 x 129 mm
Weight: 430 grams (incl. Battery)
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Rating
RRP: $1699
Rating (out of 10):
- Build: 9.0
- Ease of use: 8.5
- Still image quality: 8.5
- Video quality: 8.8
- OVERALL: 9.0