Canon Legria HF G10

Playback (7.25)

One small update that should please consumers is Canon's decision to provide HDMI cables free with the HF G10 (and a number of the company's 2011 Legria camcorders). HDMI cables can be pricey—especially if you buy them at a retail store—so this inclusion will save you some cash (and it lets you to connect the G10 to your HDTV right away). The HF G10 also comes with a wireless remote control that can be used to fast-forward, rewind, etc. during playback.
 

Connectivity (7.88)

Being a flagship camcorder and a borderline-professional product, Canon smartly protects the ports and inputs on the HF G10 with strong covers and doors. Unfortunately, Canon did leave one important input uncovered—its 3.5mm external mic jack. The mic jack is located up front, on the right of the camcorder and just behind the lens. We like this placement, but we wish the port was better protected. Mic jacks like these are often vital for professional videographers.

The unprotected external mic jack.		Left to right: wired remote (LANC), HDMI, and USB.

Further back on the right side is a well-protected collection of ports that are located behind a hard plastic cover. Here you'll find the wired remote (LANC) port, an HDMI output, and a USB terminal. All three are labelled well, but they can be difficult to access due to their location behind the G10's large, plush hand strap (their location also prohibits you from being able to hold the camcorder comfortably while you have a cable running to any of these ports). On the upside, the wired remote port is an excellent addition, and its presence on consumer camcorders is rare these days. Another new perk is that Canon ships an HDMI cable with the HF G10, so you don't have to go out and buy an overpriced one from Best Buy.

Component and AV-out port (AV jack also doubles as a headphone output)		The dual card slots accept SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards.

Turning around to the left side of the camcorder you'll find a number of other ports inside the LCD cavity. A small slide-up door reveals the Component-out port and the AV-out terminal (which also doubles as a headphone output). To the upper right of these two video outputs are the dual memory card slots labelled "A" and "B". Both slots work with SD, SDHC, and SDXC memory cards, which means you can expand the recording capacity for the G10 quite a bit.

The DC-input is located on the back of the camcorder.		The mini accessory shoe is hot, but only works with Canon accessories.

Probably the most important connectivity feature on the HF G10 is the camcorder's DC-input, which is aptly located right by the battery compartment on the back. This position keeps the plug cord mostly out of the way if you ever need to wield the camcorder while it is plugged into a wall socket. The HF G10 also has a Canon-proprietary mini accessory shoe on the top (behind the zoom toggle). It's the same shoe Canon has used on its consumer camcorders for years.

Canon HF G10 Comparisons
Canon HF S21	Panasonic HDC-TM700	Sony HDR-CX550V