Canon HD Camcorder

jerryr

Hi - not sure if this question should go into Gear or Video.

I am looking to purchase a high-end HD Canon Camcorder.

1. Does anyone have any recommendations or comments regarding
the Canon VIXIA HF S21 or VIXIA HF S20 ?

2. Is there any website (besides Canon) that does a rating of camcorders ?

3. Any other Canon HD camcorder recommendations ?

* Main use will be simple indoor video and youth sports video (soccer, football). Some of the sports video could be during the evening.

Appreciate any information - Thanks - jerryr

ziggy53

I like www.camcorderinfo.com as a primary source of camcorder reviews:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-Vixia-HF-S21-Camcorder-Review-37609.htm

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Student-Filmmaker-Buying-Guide-Consumer-Camcorders-37674/Canon-HF-S21.htm

The following is a summary from the link above:

"The HF S21 is part of a series from Canon that also includes the HF S20 and HF S200. The HF S21 is the only camcorder in this series to include an electronic viewfinder, but the only other differences between the three camcorders is price and internal memory (the HF S20 has 32GB of internal memory and the HF S200 records to memory cards only)"

For High Definition camcorders and their use in indoor sports pay special attention to:

1) Low light sensitivity. A conventional DV camcorder may actually wind up with more usable detail than an HD camcorder in low light if it has better low light sensitivity. HD camcorders often have very small photosites making them very noisy at low light levels, resulting in noisy images or heavy noise reduction, either of which can obscure scene detail.

The most sensitive camcorders have either large imagers or 3-chips, but either design can be expensive.

2) Rolling shutter. The combination of imager type and compression type can yield a fairly strong "jello" and "skew" effect, mostly visible on fast moving subjects of high contrast and/or fast pans of the camera.

See some examples and explanations here:

http://dvxuser.com/jason/CMOS-CCD/

jerryr

Hi Ziggy - thank you very much for the information. I will review as well as probably head up to the local camera shop for some testing.
This is excellent information !! thank you -

smcintosh

Last year's models
You may wish to consider last year's models (HF S10, HF S11, HF S100). As far as I could tell the internals that matter (sensor, lens) are identical to the new models. The big difference is that last years models are currently discounted by $3-400 at most online dealers. I just bought an HF S10 for $799 from B&H compared to $1099 for an HF S20.

The display screen is a smaller and doesn't do touch but it's not going to influence video. I could live without for $300!

You can compare them directly on the Canon website http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=173

tomlavelle

smcintosh wrote:

You may wish to consider last year's models (HF S10, HF S11, HF S100). As far as I could tell the internals that matter (sensor, lens) are identical to the new models. The big difference is that last years models are currently discounted by $3-400 at most online dealers. I just bought an HF S10 for $799 from B&H compared to $1099 for an HF S20.

The display screen is a smaller and doesn't do touch but it's not going to influence video. I could live without for $300!

You can compare them directly on the Canon website http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=173

I bought the HFS100 when it was brand new ($1050) and am still very happy with it. My only disappointment is its low light capability which can be compensated for if you shoot at 24p. camcorderinfo.com is a great review site. Panasonic leads the current shootout this year and won last year, whereas the Canon HF10 won the year prior. I bought a Canon wide angle lens for it and wouldn't shoot without it. Not cheap (>$300) due to the large lens barrel on the HFS10-21. Wide angle lenses for lesser Canons are half the price. The new Panasonic goes pretty wide out of the box, which would weigh heavily in my decision if I was in the market for a flagship camera right now.