Canon HG10 Camcorder Review
By David Kender
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
August 27, 2007
The Canon HG10 is perhaps the most compelling of a new format of camcorders, called AVCHD. Simply put, AVCHD has freed high definition video from tape-based media, allowing it to be captured to DVD, hard disk drive (HDD), and flash memory – all formats that consumers prefer to tape. Like most first generation technology, the original AVCHD camcorders suffered from disappointing quality. Canon wisely sat back and let others make the earliest mistakes, waiting a full year after the format’s release before announcing the HG10, a 40 GB HDD camcorder.
The video performance is by far the best AVCHD camcorder has produced to date. Built on the same imaging system as Canon's stellar HDV camcorder, the HV20, the Canon HG10 has a large 1/2.7-inch CMOS sensor with 2,960,000 pixels. The resulting video yielded excellent color performance and crisp lines. The AVCHD compression is not quite as kind to quality as HDV, which becomes most apparent when shooting finely detailed textures or fast moving subjects. This is far better than previous AVCHD camcorders, however, which sometimes created motion trails. Low light results for the Canon HG10 were great, too. The sizeable CMOS chip helped produce some impressive color retention.
One of the best features of the Canon HG10 is the manual control suite and handling. While certainly not a professional camcorder, it’s among the best in the consumer class. Canon implemented a new control interface this time around - a freely-rotating dial around a raised joystick. Used together, they make for adept menu navigation. The zoom control was also revised, and now functions as a scaled-down version of the rocker-type control found on pro camcorders.
In addition to the already impressive listing of aperture, shutter speed, white balance, focus, and exposure compensation, Canon packs in additional controls for color, contrast, sharpness, and the Cine Mode setting, which emulates the color behavior of film. There was one major disappointment, however. One of the HV20’s great strengths was its 24P mode, a coveted feature that mimics the way motion appears in film. Yet somehow, the AVCHD format does not seem to sit well with 24P. The resultant video from the HG10 creates a stuttering effect that looks abhorrent and renders the 24P setting all but useless.
Should the owner of a Canon HG10 wish to ignore the host of controls and spend a carefree day of point-and-shoot recording at the beach, they will be pleased to find the automatic responses are excellent. Exposure, white balance, and the rest are all quite accurate, and the auto focus is exceptionally fast thanks to the Instant AF system.
The Canon HG10 records video to a 40 GB non-removable, internal hard drive. In the highest quality setting, this will hold approximately 5.5 hours of footage. That should suffice for most types of shooting. Long term vacations may require a laptop or stand-alone DVD burner to dump the video onto.
Video is recorded in the AVCHD format, which is still remarkably frustrating to work with. Whether editing or simply playing back on another device, workaround solutions must often be researched ahead of time. This is the curse of early adopters. Editing software that can read these file types is gradually being released, but the complexity of the files is processor intensive and slow-going. For now, the best bet may just be plugging into a TV with the composite or mini-HDMI cable and watching it straight off the camcorder.
If jumping into a new format is not too frightening, the Canon HG10 is the best camcorder to date in the AVCHD format. It has its flaws, and the cost is still prohibitive, but the HG10 is hard to top. The best strategy may be to wait until the next generation replacement models come out from Sony and Panasonic, likely in early-to-mid 2008, then snatch up a Canon HG10 for a lower price. In the time between, one can only hope the supporting technology will catch up to make the editing process less painful.
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