Canon Legria HF M31

Motion (10.8)

The HF M31 captures a very sharp image for a mid-range HD camcorder, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the model showed minimal artefacting in our motion test. Overall, it was tough to really see a difference between the HF M31 and its big sister, the HF S21, when it came to motion. The HF M31 captured smooth video, had some noticeable trailing and some minor colour bleeding, but rendered motion very well in the end. (More on how we test motion.)

	Canon HF M31	Panasonic HDC-HS60	JVC GZ-HD620	Canon HF S21
Frame Rate(s)	50i, PF25	50i	50i	50i, PF25
Artefacting	Very little artefacting—similar to what we saw with the HF S21.	Very low artefacting for a mid-range camcorder, but slightly more than the two Canon models.	More noticeable artefacting than the Canon camcorders, but still very low for a mid-range camcorder.	Minimal artefacting; one of the best consumer camcorders in this category
Smoothness	Very smooth motion, but other camcorders were stronger in this category.	Good smoothness in our test video.	Very smooth motion—one of the best camcorders out there.	Motion video is very smooth, although there are some camcorders that did better.
Trailing	Noticeable trailing on the train in our test footage, but overall this wasn't an issue.	Trailing was noticeable in various parts of our test video.	Blur and trailing was low; on par with the Canon models	Some trailing was present, but it wasn't a major problem.
Frequency Interference	Some slight bleeding with horizontal lines on our pin-wheel, but not a big problem.	Frequency interference was relatively low throughout our test video.	No major frequency interference issues.	Some minor interference with tight vertical and horizontal lines.
Slow Motion Mode(s)	None	None	Time Lapse Record	None

The HF M31 has no slow motion options, but it does have one alternate frame rate: PF25. This frame rate is not native, which means the camcorder converts them to 50i during recording. Still, the PF25 mode produces an entirely different look for your recorded video. This mode offers slower, choppier video that are meant to evoke a film-like aesthetic. Whether you prefer the look created by these frame rates is very much a personal preference.

Canon HF M31 click here for large HD version		Panasonic HDC-HS60 click here for large HD version
JVC GZ-HD620 click here for large HD version		Canon HF S21 click here for large HD version

Video Sharpness (11.66)

The HF M31 measured a horizontal sharpness of 900 lw/ph in our video testing, which is a very strong score. The camcorder managed a more disappointing 600 lw/ph in vertical sharpness, which is a surprise considering last year's HF20 measured at 900 lw/ph vertically (but only 800 lw/ph horizontally). We're not quite sure why this discrepancy occurred, but we assume Canon must have tweaked the processing slightly on its new camcorder. A vertical sharpness of 600 lw/ph isn't bad, though, as most consumer HD camcorders top out with a vertical sharpness around 600 lw/ph. Overall, the HF M31 captured one of the sharpest images we've seen from a mid-range HD camcorder, although the Panasonic HDC-HS60 wasn't far behind. (More on how we test video sharpness.)

Video Sharpness Score Comparison		Compare the Canon HF M31 to the Panasonic HDC-HS60
		Compare the Canon HF M31 to the JVC GZ-HD620
		Compare the Canon HF M31 to the Canon HF S21