Canon Vixia HF S21 First Impressions Camcorder Review

Compression

Just like with last year's models, the HF S21 uses AVCHD compression. The camcorder even has the same quality options (topping out with a 24Mbps bitrate) as last year's HF S11. Only the MXP and FXP record settings allow you to capture Full HD video, while the other quality settings capture 1440 x 1080 HD video.

The HF S21 is also the first AVCHD camcorder to offer a native 24p recording option (this feature is on all of Canon's HF S series of camcorders in 2010). Previous Canon models included 24p and 30p settings that did not record progressive video natively (the video was recorded at 60i instead, but converted to 24p/30p using a pulldown system). In a somewhat confusing move, the Canon HF S21 includes its native 24p option along with its non-native 24p and 30p settings (that are both recorded to 60i). The non-native 24p mode is called 24p Cinema Mode, while the native mode is called Native 24p mode by Canon. Of course, Canon also includes its regular 60i record mode as well.

Media

Here's an area where Canon made some significant updates in 2010. The HF S21 has the same amount of internal flash memory as last year's HF S11 (64GB), but Canon threw in a second SD/SDHC card slot on its S series camcorders this year. This means the HF S21 has three media recording options in total (two card slots and the 64GB of internal flash memory).

The HF S21 has two SD/SDHC memory card sots.

We really like the idea of including multiple card slots on the HF S21. All this does is increase the media capacity of the camcorder to even greater heights. You could, theoretically, load the camcorder with two 32GB SDHC cards, which would then put its total capacity to 128GB (2x 32GB cards plus the 64GB of internal memory). That is a ton of space for a flash memory camcorder. One neat addition with the HF S21 this year is a capacity indicator that appears on the menu screen when you are selecting what quality you want to record with. This way you can quickly see how much more record time each quality will give you (based on the amount of space remaining on your recording media).

There's also a cool relay record feature that lets the camcorder automatically continue recording to the next media once the first one fills up. Relay record will go from internal memory, to card slot A, and onto card slot B as each media fills up during recording—with no stoppage in recording as it continues to the next media.

Editing

The Canon HF S21 comes with Pixela ImageMixer 3SE video editing software, which is the same software that came with last year's Canons. We can't tell if the software has been updated or anything, but once we get the camcorder into our labs we'll have a full description of any new features the program may have.