Review: Canon Legria HF-S10 (AVCHD)

Canon pulled out all the solid-state stops with a high definition camcorder that offers non-stop recording and playback using up to 64GB flash memory. It promises much – but does it deliver?

Canon Legria HF-S10 AVCHD Camcorder

If you’ve been studying the camcorder market for any length of time you’ll be aware that traditional recording media such as DVD and tape are dying fast.

Even HDD (hard disc drive) is singing its swansong as a recording/playback medium, so if you’re keen to acquire a camcorder which is more future-proof than others you need to be looking at the likes of the Legria HF S10 or its sister product, the HF S100.

Both products, it should be noted, herald the introduction of a new generic label for Canon – namely the Legria sub-brand which is intended to identify its AVCHD high definition camcorders.

First impressions

Canon’s design engineers again demonstrated their ingenuity by squeezing an unbelievable level of functionality into such a small body without compromising accessibility or user-friendliness. At 450g (including battery) it’s quite weighty, but as any serious user knows that’s a help rather than a hindrance – especially when working with a tripod.

There’s no viewfinder on this model, and where you’d normally find the Viewfinder you’ll find instead the main Power Dial. The Li-Ion rechargeable battery sits flush into the back of the body, whilst the stereo microphone pickups are now located on the left and right of the main lens barrel respectively. An intelligent accessory Mini Advanced Shoe resides under a slide-away door on the roof of the black body, with the Zoom Toggle, Photo and Power On/Off button all situated at the rear of the upper body.

At the front and to the lower left of the zoom barrel (as the user sees it) there’s a manual Custom Control Dial which is used to take manual control of a range of functions, including Focus, Aperture, Audio Input level, etc.

Front of the HF-S10's body showing the Custom Control dial

The 2.7” Multi-Angle Vivid Colour LCD has a plastic protecting layer over the whole face of the frame, with record/playback controls occupying the bottom (together with a media record/playback switch), a FUNC menu access button and a mini-joystick with which to navigate menus and make selections.

It’s good to have a completely separate Power On/Off switch, too; now you can leave settings as they were and return to them later.

The camera powers up pretty quickly, and within a second of switching on you’re seeing the newly-designed graphical menu display in the LCD screen, accompanied by a cute little musical chime (which can be user enabled/disabled). Unlike some competing models, Canon doesn’t employ touch-screen technology on its LCD but instead relies on physical buttons and controls.

Features

The HF S10 bears many of the characteristics of previous models like the HF10 and HF11 with the inclusion of a few new ones. The most important new feature is the incorporation of 32GB of flash memory that’s embedded into the body. When used in combination with a 32GB SDHC memory card (currently the highest capacity available) it’s possible to have 64GB of memory on which to record. Note, also, that if you’re shooting and saving to one medium (eg: internal memory) and it fills up in the middle of a sequence, the user is required to switch to the other in order to continue recording.

In keeping with other camcorders in the Canon HD family (2008 models included) the camcorder offers five recording modes. They are:

• MXP (High Quality, 24 Mbps)
• FXP (High Quality, 17 Mbps)
• XP+ (High Quality, 12 Mbps)
• SP (Standard Play, 7 Mbps)
• LP (Long Play, 5 Mbps)

Using the maximum amount of memory (64GB) on the lowest quality setting (LP, 5Mbps) it’s possible to store 24 hours of video with this camcorder without needing to swap the SDHC card.

Other features worthy of note are 1/2.6” CMOS image sensor (total 8.59 MegaPixels resolution, effective 6.01MP), new DIGICDV III image processing for better clarity and colour definition, Face Detection technology, Pre REC (it caches 3-seconds of video before hitting the Record button such that you won’t miss something unexpected), Colour Bars generator (for lining up output on external devices) and Zebra Pattern Generator (onscreen indication of areas of the image which are at, or nearing, their brightness peak on White, Red, Green and Blue channels selectively).

Front-end detail of the Legria HF-S10

The HF S10 has another new feature that many will enjoy, that being Video Snapshot. This is a system which is the result of Canon’s engineers offering a choice of shooting a collection of scenes as a 4-second burst in each case. Simply hit the Record button and the cam will record 4 seconds of a scene.

It sounds restrictive until you realise that many news and documentary camera operators grab shots on the hoof in pretty much this way (using what’s known as the 3 elephants principle – if you want to know more ask in the forums). It’s very effective, and we like it because it disciplines newbies into thinking about framing and recording short, sharp descriptive clips as opposed to rambling sequences which achieve nothing in particular.

The other feature that people will like involves the use of the Music Transfer Utility that comes on the applications disc in the box. With a sequence (or a playlist) having been put together in the camcorder, you can now select a piece of music on your PC and upload it into the camcorder in order that it might be used as an accompaniment to the clips in the sequence. Will the serious users take advance of this? Probably not – but lots of others will for sure. (We weren’t able to test this as the software wasn’t ready for us at the time of review but we’ve seen it working at Canon UK and it’s good fun).

Specifications

The HF S10 employs a large (by consumer video standards) 1/2.6” CMOS imaging device to generate its true high definition images at a maximum of 1920×1080 pixels when using the highest resolution setting and writing data to/reading data memory at 24Mbps, the highest possible under the current AVCHD specification. The Canon HD Video Lens offers a 10x optical zoom ratio together with a further 40x and 200x zoom when relying on electronic (digital zoom) processing to increase the magnification beyond the optical capability. Super Range Optical Image Stabiliser (OIS) is also a feature of this model as with others in the range.

The lens filter diameter is 58mm and can accept Canon’s optional WD-H58 wide-angle lens attachment.

Progressive Shooting mode (25P in PAL-land, 24P in NTSC-land) is a user-selectable feature, although 50i (60i) is the default setting. Nestled in with the Program AE and Shutter-Priority AE menus in a CINE Mode filter which, when used in conjunction with the 25P option, really does give a nice mellow look to image sequences to the point of being (dare I say it) that “film look”. Lots of White Balance and Image Effects are present in the menu options as is the ability to simultaneously shoot movies and digital stills to either of the recording media. The maximum JPEG stills capture size is 3264 x 2456 pixels, by the way – and the number of stills that can be saved to both media is, er, huge.

A number of Auto Assist functions exist, too; you can control focus, exposure and white balance as well as the audio input level by select this mode and then flicking the mini-joystick to the right or left to select which function you require. Changes to pre-selected values are made by rotating the large Custom thumbwheel that sits in front of the LCD screen on the lower side. There’s not only a Flashlight utility but also a Movie Light for instances where users are recording at night or in dark environments.

Movies recorded onto one medium, whether internal memory or SDHC card, can be transferred to the other to assist file management and backup, and Canon provides the Pixela Imagemixer 3SE software to enable simple backup and archiving to a Windows or Vista computer for simple editing and onward sharing via disc, online or hard disc. No software is provided for Mac users, but Intel Mac users will have iMovie 7 at the very least so there’s no real problem.

Connectivity

There’s the whole range of connections to the outside world as you’ll need with this camcorder. For a start, it can be connected to a HDTV via mini-HDMI (cable not supplied) or Component cable (for which the sockets exist under a body-formed panel under the hand-strap on the right). A component cable is supplied, as is a USB cable which will normally be used to transfer movie clips (from both media) and images to either a PC or Apple Mac.

If that’s not enough, the Canon also provides the facility to connect an external microphone in order to gather more directional sound (from either a third-party microphone or from Canon’s optional range of Intelligent Shoe-mounted mics). This can be monitored using headphones connected to the switchable AV / Mic output (cable supplied). The AV cable will enable viewing on standard definition TVs or copying to standard video recorders.

The audio input level – whether coming from the built-in or external mic – can be manually adjusted using the Custom dial, with a level indication appearing in the LCD screen (this is a menu-selectable option). The Custom dial, it should be noted, is a little difficult to operate properly when the camera is seated on a tripod and not that easy to use even when hand-held.

Conclusion

It’s a fabulous camcorder to pick up and use – and even a relative beginner won’t have trouble switching it on for the first time and making superb quality HD video recordings. When played back via HDMi or even Component digital connections, the pictures and sound are remarkable for a camcorder of this size. Picture clarity and colour reproduction is astoundingly good when recording and playing back video sequences at the highest (MXP) bit-rate. Having taken control of all manual functions – including focus, exposure, white balance and audio input – and having also taken advantage of other functionality like 25P, Zebra guides and CINE mode – the resulting images were excellent.

One nagging problem is the ease with which even the slightest amount of wind noise can affect the recorded sound quality. Given that the two microphones are positioned either side of the lens barrel and, therefore, facing sideways, they’re prone to pick up lateral wind noise which was recorded too easily.

However, the overall impression of the Legria HF S10 is overwhelmingly positive. It’s great to handle, has a fabulous new menu system of very high visual quality in addition to usability and it makes life very easy for even the most apprehensive first-time user and is a creditable addition to an already excellent line of AVCHD products. We like it a lot.

Originally Reviewed by: Colin Barrett. January 2009. Canon Legria HF-S10 images courtesy of Canon UK. This edited version uploaded Dec 2009.