Canon Legria HF S100

Colour (8.91)

Being a high-end HD camcorder, it should come as no surprise that the Canon HF S100 delivers a sharp, pristine image in bright light. Its captured colours are also very accurate, measuring a colour error of just 3.49 in our testing. This is not as good as the JVC GZ-HD320, which had some of the most accurate colours we have seen this year, but it's still a very good performance for the HF S100. The camcorder also had a saturation level of 90.82% in our bright light testing. (More on how we test colour.)

colour Accuracy Performance
Colour Test Chart (above), Colour Error Map (right)
The Canon Legria HF S100 produced a colour error of 3.49 and a saturation level of 90.82% in our bright light colour testing. (The map on the right is a diagram of the colour error. The length and direction of each line indicates how the camcorder processed each particular colour.)

Looking at the colour error map above, you can see the Canon HF S100 was particularly off on some reds and purples in our colour tests. Blues, greens, yellows, and skin tones were rendered quite well by the camcorder, and its overall colour accuracy was strong. The HF S100 offers a number of colour modes, or image effects as Canon calls them, that allow you to enhance certain aspects of your video image. The colour modes on the HF S100 are identical to the options on the HF_S100, HF11and the rest of Canon's HD line-up. Below are test images of each pre-set colour mode on the HF S100—vivid, neutral, low sharpening, and soft skin detail.

Canon Legria HF S100 colour Modes
Auto	100% Crop
Image Effect Vivid	100% Crop
Image Effect Neutral	100% Crop
Image Effect Low Sharpening	100% Crop
Image Effect Soft Skin Detail	100% Crop

The colour modes don't alter the image dramatically, but you should be able to see a difference in the saturation levels between the vivid (boosted saturation) and neutral mode (decreased saturation. Low sharpening does exactly what it sounds like, it lowers the sharpness of the image. Soft Skin Detail enhances skin tones by smoothing-out certain colours.

Canon Legria HF S100 colour Comparisons
Canon Legria HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520
Panasonic HDC-HS300	JVC GZ-HD320

As we said before, the four camcorders in this set all look very good under bright light. Each had above-average colour accuracy, although the JVC GZ-HD320 is the runaway winner in this category. Looking at the colour chip chart below, you can see the Canon Legria HF S100 has a slightly brighter image in auto mode than the Sony HDR-XR520. The Canon also shows a bit more artefacting and noise in the colour patches compared to the Sony and Panasonic.

	Close-Up colour Comparisons
	Ideal	Canon HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520	Panasonic HDC-HS300	JVC GZ-HD320
Red
	Ideal	Canon HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520	Panasonic HDC-HS300	JVC GZ-HD320
Green
	Ideal	Canon HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520	Panasonic HDC-HS300	JVC GZ-HD320
Blue
	Ideal	Canon HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520	Panasonic HDC-HS300	JVC GZ-HD320
Skin Tone 1
	Ideal	Canon HF S100	Sony HDR-XR520	Panasonic HDC-HS300	JVC GZ-HD320
Skin Tone 2

Colour Performance Scores

Noise (4.64)

Various Canon camcorders, including the HF_S100 this year, have had trouble with high levels of noise. The HF S100 average 1.02% noise in our bright light tests, which is certainly is not terrific. All the other camcorders we tested in the set below measured lower levels of noise in bright light, with the Panasonic HDC-HS300 leading the way with only 0.40% noise. (More on how we test noise.)

Noise Comparisons
Canon Legria HF S100 100% Crop	Sony HDR-XR520 100% Crop	Panasonic HDC-HS300 100% Crop	JVC GZ-HD320 100% Crop

The crops above should also give you a good look at each camcorders sharpness, which is something we'll go into further detail in the video sharpness section of this review. While the HF S100 has a very crisp, sharp image, it is definitely rivalled by the Sony HDR-XR520 and the Panasonic HDC-HS300. The JVC GZ-HD320 is clearly a notch below the other three camcorders in terms of sharpness. Keep in mind though that it also retails for hundreds of Pounds less than the other camcorders in this set.

Noise Score Comparisons