Camcorder News

Canon Japan announced two new camcorders today, the iVIS HF 21 and the iVIS HF S11, both AVCHD models filling out its HD line as mid-year updates.

The HF S11, presumably the new flagship camcorder from Canon, features 64GB of internal flash memory, doubling that of the previously released HF S10. It allows for up to 5 hours and 55 minutes of recording in the highest quality setting. The memory can also be expanded with SD/SDHC cards. Inside, many of the components are the same as the HF S10:  a 1/2.6-inch CMOS sensor with a 8.59-megapixel gross pixel count, a Digic DVIII processor, and AVCHD recording up to 24Mbps. In still shooting mode, the HF S11 can capture photos up to 3264 x 2456. It also has the same f/1.8 - f/3.0, 10x optical zoom lens.

Two of the new features on the HF S11 are a night shooting mode, called Night Scene (translated), and an additional stabilization mode called Dynamic mode. The latter sounds similar to what Sony just announced last week – a more active stabilization system meant to correct particularly shaky footage, like walking or running.

The new Canon iVis HF 21 camcorder

The Canon HF 21 is also a relatively minor upgrade. Like the new HF S11, it too offers 64GB internal flash memory. The optical zoom is extended to 15x, but the CMOS is smaller, measuring 1/4-inch with a  gross pixel count of 3.89-megapixels. These are all the same specs as the current HF20 camcorder.

The new camcorders have so far only been announced for the Japanese market, though history dictates that we can expect similar or identical models in Europe (in the Legria series of Canon HD camcorders)  and the Americas (in the Vixia series) soon. As is typical with announcements in Japan, the iVIS HF S21 and HF 21 do not have officially named prices. They are, however, confirmed for an early August ship date.

This is an US announcement!