Canon Legria HF M31

The HF M31 and the HF S21 certainly aren't in the same league—the HF S21 is Canon's flagship model for 2010 and it costs around £450 more than the HF M31. So, what is it about the HF S21 that justifies this much higher price tag? For starters, it's CMOS sensor is much larger, which translates into stronger low light performance and a somewhat sharper image. Still, we were soundly impressed by the HF M31's bright light testing, and it's results really weren't much different than the HF S21. In low light sensitivity, however, the HF S21 has a clear advantage.

There's also the matter of features and handling advantages. The HF S21 has a larger LCD (3.5-inches), a fantastic control dial for making manual adjustments, and a small electronic viewfinder. The two camcorders have a similar amount of manual controls, but the HF S21 adds an additional SD/SDHC memory card slot (for a total of two). The HF S21 also has double the internal memory of the HF M31, and it has a much larger lens—which effectively makes it a much larger camcorder as well.

The HF S21 is the better camcorder here, and we don't think anyone would argue otherwise. But we're not quite sure its improved performance and enhanced features are really worth the extra cash. Canon does have some cheaper flagship models—the HF S20 (£999) and HF S200 (£899)—that are much better values than the HF S21 (the main difference with these cams is less internal memory and they don't have viewfinders). Still, if all you're concerned about performance we think the HF M31 is a fine option. Its the added features, adjustment dial, and larger LCD that make the HF S21 the more impressive product. And those are things that many consumers may not care about.

	Comparison Specs
	Canon HF M31	Canon HF S21
Price	£755	£1199
Primary Recording Media	32GB internal flash memory	64GB internal flash memory
Secondary Recording Media	SD/SDHC memory card	2x SD/SDHC memory card slots
Image Sensor	1/4-inch CMOS	1/2.6-inch CMOS
Effective Pixel Count	2.99 megapixels	6.01 megapixels
Mic Input	Yes	Yes
LCD	2.7 inches with 211,000 pixels	3.5-inch with 922,000 pixels
Viewfinder	None	Yes
Weight	380g	520g
Dimensions	68 x 60 x 123mm	75 x 74 x 148mm
HD	Yes	Yes
Frame Rates	50i, PF25, PF30	50i, PF30, PF25, 24p (native)
Compression	AVCHD	AVCHD
Maximum Bitrate	24Mbps	24Mbps
Optical Zoom	15x	10x
Stabilisation	Optical with Dynamic and Powered IS settings	Optical with Dynamic and Powered IS settings

	Scores
	Canon HF M31	Canon HF S21
Colour	9.67	8.05
Noise	8.78	7.28
Video Sharpness	11.66	11.97
Low Light Sensitivity	2.77	4.96
Low Light Colour	7.91	6.55
Low Light Noise	9.31	6.02

Bright Light Noise Comparisons
Canon HF M31 100% Crop	Canon HF S21 100% Crop

Low Light Colour Score Comparison