Canon Vixia HF S10 is one of the best High definition camcorders released by Canon this year. It is very comfortable to use, offers good capacity, image stabilization and most importantly great video quality.
Canon Vixia HF S10 pros:
+ 32GB of built in memory
+ Excellent sharpness
+ Plenty of color modes
+ Good still photo mode
+ Simultaneous video and photo mode
+ Good playback mode
+ 2.7-inch Multi-Angle Vivid widescreen color LCD
Canon Vixia HF S10 cons:
- No viewfinder
- Slightly too high noise
- Low light performance worse than in competing camcorders
- Inconvenient port location
- Poor battery life
The design:
Canon Vixia HF S10 measures 2.8 x 2.7 x 5.4in. And weighs 15.9 oz. On the front of the camcorder you can see the f/1.8 lens with 10x zoom and below it the AF sensor. The right side of the Canon Vixia HF S10 houses the hand strap and the microphone jack, whereas the left side features the 2.7-inch LCD chamber with plenty of controls and the SDHC memory card slot. The back of the camcorder houses the mode dial, record on/off button, battery pack and the DC power port. On the top of the Canon Vixia HF S10 there’s the zoom toggle and with it the proprietary accessory shoe and the pop up flash. Also the power on/off button and the photo button are on the top of the camcorder. The bottom is quite plain and houses only the tripod mount.
Performance:
The camcorder can record videos in two frame rates: 24p and 30p which is up to the latest standards. Not only does it make the videos smooth, but it also improves the overall image quality in poor light. The Canon Vixia HF S10 records the videos using the AVCHD codec so the files tend to be quite large. The camcorder is capable of recording almost three hours of videos in 1920 x 1080 at 24 Mbps on the built-in memory.
The large mode dial is perfect for manual adjustments, but quite surprisingly the easy mode is rather hard to find in the menus. The Canon Vixia HF S10 has plenty of features such as focus assist, image stabilization, zebra striping and auto gain control making recording videos not only pleasant, but also quite easy.
Video quality:
In bright light the Canon Vixia HF S10 has very good color which should be enough for less professional users. You can try to achieve even better results with the several color modes. The images are full of detail and very sharp although somewhat too noisy. The motion produced by the Canon Vixia HF S10 is smooth and sharp and there is little artifacting. In poor light the Canon Vixia HF S10 produces a lot of noise and the color error is a bit worse than in the competition so if you are planning on shooting plenty do low light videos have a look at the Canon FS200, or the Sony HDR-CX500V.
Still photo quality:
The Canon Vixia HF S10 is capable of taking up to 8 megapixel still photos. The photo quality is more than decent with the accurate colors, plenty of detail and good sharpness. Only the noise is sometimes an issue, but the Canon Vixia HF S10 can easily substitute a digital camera on a day to day basis.
Selected Canon Vixia HF S10 features and specifications:
- Standard Definition or High Definition
High Definition
- Television System
NTSC
- Video Recording system
MPEG4-AVC / H.264
- Image Sensor
1/2.6-inch CMOS, RGB Prmary Color Filter
- Total Pixels
Approx. 8.59 Megapixels
- Effective Pixels
Video: Approx. 6.01 Megapixels
(3264 x 1840) / Still Image: 16:9: Approx. 6.01 Megapixels
(3264 x 1840), 4:3 Approx. 8.02 Megapixels (3264 x 2456)
- Maximum recording time
32GB internal Flash drive
FXP (17 Mbps) 4 hours 10 minutes – Allows 1920 x 1080 Full HD Recording
MXP (24 Mbps) 2 hours 55 minutes – Allows 1920 x 1080 Full HD Recording
- Lens
Zoom Ratio 10x Optical/200x Digital
Focal Length f=6.4- 64mm (35mm equivalent: 43.5 – 435mm)
Zoom Speed Variable / 3 Fixed Zoom Speeds
Max. F/Stop f/1.8-3.0
- Focusing System
Instant AF, Face Priority AF, TTL (through the lens)
- Manual Exposure
Yes
- Programmed AE
AUTO, P, Av, Tv, Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach,Sunset, Spotlight, Fireworks
- Max Shutter Speed
Movie: 1/2000, Still image: 1/500
- Minimum Focusing Distance
10mm (wide) / 1m (tele)
- White Balance
Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Manual
- Frame Rate
60i, 24p Progressive (records at 60i), 30p Progressive (records at 60i)
- Minimum Illumination
0.3 lx (Night mode)
- Image Stabilization
SuperRange Optical (lens shift)
- Filter Diameter
58mm
- Flash
Built-in
- Recording Media
Internal Flash Drive (32GB) or SDHC Memory Card
- USB Terminal
USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
- Video Terminal
component (output), composite (output)
- Audio
Dolby Digital 2 channels (AC-3 2 ch)
- Accessory Shoe
mini Advanced
- Supplied Video Editing Software
Pixela ImageMixer 3SE
- HDMI Terminal
HDMI Mini Connector (output), CEC and x.v. Color
- Microphone Terminal
3.5 mm stereo mini-jack
- AV Mini Terminal/Headphone Terminal
3.5 mm 4 pole mini-jack
Other recently reviewed camcorders:
Canon Vixia HF S11, JVC Everio GZ-HM400, Sony HDR-TG5V, JVC Picsio GC-FM1, JVC Everio GZ-HM200, Sony HDR-CX500V, Canon FS200
