Which Vixia: HF100 / HF10 / HF11 or HG10?

You are looking for a digital camcorder. You don't want to rush things, you can linger another two-three months. Should you wait for the new solid-state series from Canon or should you go with a proven HDD-based model?

Obviously, if you are choosing between these two fine lineups, you hate the very idea of messing with tapes, otherwise you would be choosing between the HV20 and the HV30. You want to go tapeless, enough of this old-fashioned forward/rewind nonsense and realtime capture. You want it fast from the camera on your computer, and with no drop-outs.

Canon Vixia HG10

The HG10 has established itself as the leader of HDD-based high definition consumer video. It has the best combination of features, image quality and price, compared to what other leading manufacturers can offer. Yet, the HG10 is not the smallest AVCHD camcorder, Panasonic has smaller ones. Also, the HG10 is not the sexiest camcorder. Compared to the HV20, the HG10 looks like a luxury item, but Sony still beats Canon in feel and style.

The HG10 is an HDD-based camcorder. How reliable an HDD would be in a handheld device? HDDs are known to work well in desktop computers, but also in laptops, PDAs, and personal media players.

The smaller physical size and weight of the HDD, the less it is prone to bumps and drops. Larger, run-of-the-mill laptop disk drives may not be as reliable as tiny iPod drives. When a hard drive crashes, it may bury all its content, in case of the HG10 it is 5 hours of video. Are you willing to take this bet?

Even if the hard drive does not crash during normal usage, it may crash when air pressure gets low. Do you like alpine skiing? Depending on location of your resort, you may be unable to record your adventures with the HG10.

Here comes the second issue with the HG10, it does not record video onto a memory card. This is a glaring omission, even less forgivable, considering that JVC had been making hybrid camcorders for at least a year before the HG10 came out. Do manufacturers spy on each other? Why Canon could not copy a winning feature? If you had a JVC hybrid camcorder, you could use HDD recording in normal conditions, and recording to a memory card when air pressure is too low or vibration is too high. This is not possible with the HG10, it records video to hard disk only.

Adding insult to injury, Canon decided to use miniSD card instead of full-size SD/SDHC card. What should I do with my three full-size cards, that I got for my still camera, a PDA and a GPS? Cut them with scissors? Also, largers cards are often cheaper, easier to find, and whenever a leap to the next capacity occurs, the larger cards get there first. I will not believe that Canon could not accomodate a larger card in the substantial HG10 body.

Do not forget about noise. While the hard disk drives are generally queiter than tapes, they still emit noise. This is not constant humming of tape mechanism, but rather periodical clicking, which occurs when data is written to disk. Depending on make and model of the drive, clicking may be clearly audible.

Let me balance negatives with couple of positives. The HG10 has a viewfinder, an increasingly rare feature on consumer camcorders. Even more, the viewfinder is retractable. An accessory shoe is present, too, and thankfully, it is non-proprieatary, so you can use any attachments you want. Another nice touch is a multi-function dial, that can stand in for a focus ring.

Now let me switch back to ranting. I am thankful for a retractable viewfinder, but why does not it flip up? If I shoot from a tripod in a bright day, a viewfinder that flips up is more useful. Not incidentally, Sony prefers flip-up viewfinder type to retractable type. Sony is used to catering to professionals, who shoot video from a tripod. Canon iis used to catering to amateurs, who shoot photos handheld. The legacy still shows.

The multi-fuction dial. It is cool, and it is pretty usable. But I cannot use it together with the viewfinder! Whenever the LCD is opened, the viewfinder is turned off, and there is no option in the menu to keep it turned on. I am lying, there is one option: to rotate LCD 180 degrees forward, in this case LCD and viewfinder will function simultaneously, but I would look really dorky. If I don't open the LCD, I cannot use the dial.

Ok, I cannot use the viewfinder, how about using an LCD hood? Cannot do this either, because the joystick and the dial are located on the edge of the LCD. Do these people even try themselves things they design? Bottom line: to have any bit of manual control I have to use the dial, to use the dial I must use the LCD screen, when LCD is flipped out, the viewfinder goes dark, end of story. Which means, you got it, the viewfinder is useless for all but full auto modes.

Focus Assist is another pain in the neck. The only thing it does is magnifying the frame, so sometimes I cannot see what I am focusing into, if I focus on the edge of the frame. There is no peaking, no distance indication, so I have to trust my eyes when focusing. And now the worst part: Focus Assist works on pause only, it cancels when video starts rolling! What is up with that? Also, Focus Assist does not work with the viewfinder, pause or not.

The whole point of having a smooth focus wheel and a Focus Assist feature is to rack focus between front and back planes, which is done while video is being recorded. If I need to refocus on pause, I would use autofocus, it is instanteneous and more precise. The above means, that focus dial and Focus Assist are another two barely usable features.

I don't even mention little things, like there are no zebra lines, or audio from external microphone cannot be adjusted.

Canon Vixia HF10 / HF11 / HF100

This should be harder, as I have not yet laid my hands onto the new HF cameras, I was too lazy to go to Las Vegas, where 2008 CES was held. But there is enough to think about by looking at the photos and reading specifications.

First, the HF series are fully solid-state camcorders. Even the HF10 and the HF11 models, which have built-in non-removable memory, still rely on flash memory, not on a hard disk drive. Therefore the camera will not crash from vibration or from low air pressure, this is a definite plus.

The HG10 has one 40GB HDD, good for 5 hours of video. It is more than enough for many, but when the disk is full, you have to download video to a computer. You cannot record video to memory cards, neither you can transfer video from hard drive to a memory card. With the HF, all you need is more memory cards. One 8GB card is good for one hour of video, and you don't even need to connect the camera to a computer, all you need is to pull the card out and insert in a card reader. Or, imagine shooting videos in a remote location. How would you deliver your video? Easy, send the memory card via air mail, and continue shooting using another card.

The sensor size, 1/3.2" (HF) vs. 1/2.7" (HG10). The larger the better, but Canon claims that it improved noise filtering, so it might be a draw. The largest sensor Sony uses in consumer camcorders has 1/3" size. JVC uses 1/5" sensors in its HD models, Panasonic routinely uses 1/6" sensors in its Full HD model, so 1/3.2" is still quite respectable.

The viewfinder, there is none. But as it has been established, an HG10 owner would not find a lot of help from the viewfinder, so you would be trading a useless feature for the absense of the useless feature. Don't get me started on implementing the feature properly.

The focus wheel, there is none either. This is a real loss. The HF camcorders have the same stupid joystick that my $300 Elura has. This is just silly. While the HG10 does not assist you when you pull focus, at least it allows to do it rather smoothly. These cinematic tricks will not be possible With the HF, you will be constantly overshooting, because Canon's joysticks are twitchy.

The accessory shoe, Canon switched to a proprietary shoe. Shame on Canon, it got greedy like Sony. But this would not stop me, after all, I can make or buy a "shoe converter" to use with standard accessories.

30p, this is a good one. Canon says that 30p is good for fast-action sports and for the Internet. First, the only chance when the words "sports" and "30p" should be seen in one sentence is when you are analyzing golf club motion, this kind of sports. In all other cases good old 60i works better. In regards to the Net, you can upload and play clips with any rate you want, unlike television, computers are not locked onto a particular frame rate or size. Not all video hosting sites downconvert frame rate to 15fps as some claim. What you may in fact need 30p for, is adding cinematic flair to production that does not have to be 24p. 30p is easy to edit on a 60i timeline, and easy to distibute using regular 60i channels.

In regards to which HF model to get, you can read my arguments here. In short, get the cheapest one, the HF100 with no built-in memory, buy a couple of 16GB cards, and you are golden.

Almost forgot, the issue of Full HD vs. not-so-Full HD. The HG10 shoots 1440x1080 video in 15Mbps, while the HF shoots 1920x1080 in 17Mbps. So what? The difference will not be dramatic enough to prefer the HF. Even more, I think that with just two more megabits per second, the much higher resolution on the HF might look more pixelated, especially when a scene has lots of detail. This is a moot point, and I am not hung up onto "True HD" craze. Don't forget, that most professional HD formats still use 1440x1080 anamorphic frame. If it is good for pros, it will definitely work for you.

So, which one to get?

As it turns out, the viewfinder and Focus Assist are barely usable on the HG10. Canon went one step further and got rid of them in the HF series, so you can buy a camcorder that is lighter, and still has nearly the same functionality as the HG10. How quaint, Canon profits by stripping features from new models, while customers don't have to lug these useless features around (not that the HG10 is heavy).

If you feel like a cinematographer, then the HG10 is a better choice. Its multifuction wheel is no replacement for a true focus wheel, but works much better than a joystick. Pulling focus is doable even without Focus Assist, especially if you serious about what you are doing, and have an external monitor. For everything else, the HF seems worth the wait. It is small, stylish, has no moving parts, and judging by previous models, will shoot terrific video. I wish the HF had the multifunction wheel, this is my biggest turnoff. Why does Canon always shuffle features, why it can stick to more or less universal layout on all its models, like Sony does?

If you factor in price, then the HG10 looks much prettier. The HG10 is routinely sold for ~$700 on the Net, the HF100 list price is $900, no built-in memory, and no memory cards included. I can only hope that street price of the HF100 will drop to at least HG10 level or lower, but when will it happen, and will it happen at all?