Commentary on photos and frame grabs taken from the Canon Vixia HF10 camcorder.
Lori Grunin
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
The HF10's lens delivers extremely sharp video, and it focuses more quickly and holds a lock better than previous Canon models we've seen. (Crop from video grab with deinterlacing, shown at 100 percent.)
Overall, the HF10 renders nicely saturated, pleasing colors. Like most consumer camcorders, the HF10's automatic white balance tends to be a little off: greenish in fluorescent light, pinkish under tungsten, and overly cool (bluish) outdoors. It falls within what we think is an acceptable range, however. (Crop from video grab with deinterlacing.)
The HF10's still photos are passable; they're relatively low resolution, but deliver good color and tonal range. The white balance for stills also seems to be different than that for video. (Inset shown at 100 percent.)
The HF10's lens is excellent overall, but it does exhibit a bit more fringing on occasion than we're used to seeing. (Frame grab with deinterlacing; inset at actual size.)
The HF10 has much better low-light focus capability than other Canons we've seen. Though a bit noisy, the video is still quite usable. (The inset is from a more zoomed-in portion of the video. Frame grab with deinterlacing.)
In frame grabs of the noisier areas of the HF10's video you can see compression artifacts--the blocks of pixels. (Scaled-down frame grab with deinterlacing; inset shown at 100 percent.)
