Canon Legria HF G10

Low Light Sensitivity (10.76)

No consumer camcorder has done as well on our low light sensitivity test as the Canon HF G10. It seems Canon was absolutely correct in their tinkering with the sensor system on the G10—the smaller amount of pixels vastly improved low light performance over last year's HF S21. In our testing, the HF G10 needed just 4 lux of light to hit 50 IRE on our waveform monitor. This is an improvement of 9 lux over the HF S21 and it is 6 lux better than the Panasonic HDC-TM700, which we consider to be an excellent low light model. (More on how we test low light sensitivity.)

Required Illumination *

* the lower the lux required, the better the performance

Using the HF G10's alternate frame rate (PF25) enables the camcorder to produce a viable image with even less light – it needed just 2 lux of light to hit 50 IRE on our waveform monitor. These are unprecedented and impressive results. We also tested the Canon HF G10 using its widest aperture setting to see how much this improved low light sensitivity (this required using no optical zoom with the camcorder). Using its f/1.8 aperture, the HF G10 needed 3 lux of light to reach our testing benchmark. Needless to say, the HF G10 fared exceedingly well in all shooting modes with our sensitivity test, which is something we cannot say about many high-end HD camcorders.

Low Light Colour (9.13)

Continuing with its strong low light performance, the Canon HF G10 produced colours in our low light test with very good accuracy. The camcorder managed a color error of 3,48 and a saturation level of 77,99%. Both of these numbers are a bit worse than the G10's bright light performance, but they are still well ahead of the competition (particularly last year's HF S21). (More on how we test low light color.)

Auto Low Light Colour Performance
Colour Test Chart (above), Colour Error Map (right)
The Canon HF G10 produced a color error of 3.48 and a saturation level of 77,99% in our low light color testing. (The map on the right is a diagram of the color error. The length and direction of each line indicates how the camcorder processed each particular color.)

As we did with our low light sensitivity test, we also tested the HF G10 in color accuracy using its alternate frame rate. The alternate frame rate did allow the camcorder to produce a brighter image, which resulted in higher saturation level, but the color accuracy didn't increase significantly (as you can see from the chart below). We saw the same amount of improvement when we shot with the camcorder using less zoom and an aperture of around f/2.

Low Light Colour Across Frame Rates

As you can see from the images below, the HF G10 doesn't have a much brighter image than the competition, but its colours are very strong (and it is a bit brighter than the HF S21 overall). What the camcorder's excellent sensitivity score tells us is that its image doesn't get much darker than what you see below—until the light levels get extremely dim. Essentially, the HF G10 is able to produce a usable, consistent image until there is very little light in your shooting environment.

Low Light Comparison
Canon HF G10	Canon HF S21
Panasonic HDC-TM700	Sony HDR-CX550V

Low Light Colour Score Comparison		Compare the Canon HF G10 to the Canon HF S21
		Compare the Canon HF G10 to the Panasonic HDC-TM700
		Compare the Canon HF G10 to the Sony HDR-CX550V

Low Light Noise (11.37)

Honestly, we expected the HF G10 to do poorly in this test, but the camcorder surprised us with another impeccable performance. In its regular shooting mode, the HF G10 averaged 0.81% noise. This is a whole lot less noise than the Canon HF S21 produced in low light, and it is consistent with some of the best low light noise scores we've seen on a consumer camcorder. (More on how we test low light noise.)

Noise at 60 lux Auto
Canon HF G10 100% Crop	Canon HF S21 100% Crop	Panasonic HDC-TM700 100% Crop	Sony HDR-CX550V 100% Crop

Strangely, the PF25 frame rate option on the HF G10 did not help the camcorder in this test. We measured a slightly higher noise level on the G10 when recording with its 25p mode (around 1.0%), and we saw a similar amount of noise when we opened the aperture up a bit on the camcorder (to around f/2.0). As you can see from the crops above, the HF G10 doesn't have the sharpest image in low light, but it sure isn't bad (we'd say its at least as sharp as the Sony CX550V). Besides, the lack of noise and overall clean image from the HF G10 is enough to overlook a slightly diminished sharpness.

Low Light Noise Score Comparison		Compare the Canon HF G10 to the Canon HF S21
		Compare the Canon HF G10 to the Panasonic HDC-TM700
		Compare the Canon HF G10 to the Sony HDR-CX550V