Canon Legria HF20

Handling & Use Summary
• Slim, light design still isn't small enough to fit in your pocket • Large, comfortable hand strap • Grip isn't the best, but overall handling was decent • Average battery life for a camcorder in its class
	Still Features	(Page 9 of 17)	Playback & Connectivity

The navigation joystick

Canon switched a few things around on the HF20, effectively making the camcorder more difficult for beginners than last year's HF11. Gone is the novice-friendly 'Easy' button that used to be located inside the LCD cavity. This large, prominent button on the HF11 has been replaced with the insignificant Video Snap button on the HF20 (the HF S100, HF S10 and HF200 also follow this design). The Easy button represented the go-to choice for greenhorn videographers, as it put the camcorder into an entirely automatic mode—going so far as locking the user out from accessing menus and other manual controls.

The HF20 still has an auto mode, but it's just labelled differently (and more confusingly). On the mode dial, there's a setting called 'Dual Shot,' which is marked with two green icons of a camera and camcorder. This, essentially, is the HF20's easy mode. Why Canon called it Dual Shot rather than auto, simple, or easy is a mystery to us. In Dual Shot mode Canon still locks you out from accessing menus or from making any manual adjustments (other than zoom), with an annoying 'not available in dual shot mode' message popping up on the LCD screen when you try pressing the function button or moving the joystick.

The HF20 is slimmer and lighter than last year's Canon HF11, so the two camcorders don't offer the exact same handling experience. That being said, the two models still offer a very similar design and most casual users probably wouldn't notice much of a difference. Overall, we like the balance and feel of the HF20, but it has its fair share of handling difficulties. The design of the right side is a bit clumpy, with its base being thicker than its top. This makes the camcorder feel a bit awkward in your palm and means you have to keep a tighter hold with your fingertips. There also isn't much grip on the top of the camcorder, which makes it easy for your fingers to slip while you are shooting. The hand strap feels good, however, and it is large and comfortable.

The Canon HF20 is smaller than last year's HF11.

Along with holding the camcorder in your right hand, you're going to be spending a good deal of time using the joystick control with your left hand. The joystick isn't perfect—it's no good for making precise adjustments and it's too small—but it has a good design and it feels better than the joystick on the Sanyo VPC-HD2000. The Canon HF20 does not have a lens ring or control dial, which is one of the significant upgrades featured on the Canon HF S100. A joystick, no matter how well designed it is, will never offer the smooth feel of a ring or dial. 

The hand strap is large, comfortable, and can be adjusted.

For the most part, we like the button layout and organization of the Canon HF20. The camcorder is sparse and simple, featuring only a smattering of buttons on its body. In fact, we could have done with a few more buttons (additional VCR controls), but we like the simplicity so we can't really complain.

The right side of the HF20 felt a bit awkward and loose in our hand.

The Canon HF20 is equipped with optical image stabilisation (OIS). Despite this, the HF20 didn't do well in our stabilisation testing. With our low shake test, the camcorder reduced just 5% of the shake. In our high shake test, the camcorder limited the shake by 9%. These numbers are simply not good, and the Panasonic HDC-SD20 managed much better results. The Canon HF S100 also had a more effective OIS. The Sanyo VPC-HD2000, however, was actually worse than the HF20 in this test (it also uses a digital stabilisation system instead of OIS).(More on how we test stabilisation.)

Portability (8.32)

At roughly 400g (including the supplied battery), the Canon HF20 is a fairly small camcorder for its class. It is slightly lighter and slimmer than last year's Canon HF11 (which also featured 32GB of internal flash memory). Its traditional boxy design is unfit for pocket transportation, but you could easily stuff the HF20 in your purse or small handbag. The camcorder's 32GB of internal memory definitely enhances the portability of the device. If you're in a hurry, there's no need to seek SD/SDHC cards at the last minute, nor do you have to worry about running out of storage space on a short vacation. The camcorder, of course, doesn't offer the record times of larger, internal hard drive-based models, but 32GB of memory is enough to capture just under 3 hours of footage at the highest quality setting.

Both the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 and Panasonic HDC-HS20 are significantly lighter than the HF20, but in total volume they all take up about the same amount of space. The upright design of the VPC-HD2000 may appear more portable, but it really is not—its large, thick lens makes the camcorder very difficult to fit in your pocket. Another perk of the Canon HF20 is the fact that all its ports are located on the body of the camcorder, which means you don't have to bring along a bulky docking station (a requirement of the Sanyo VPC-HD2000) whenever you want to connect to a computer or television.

Battery Life (4.9)

The Canon HF20 uses a BP-809 rechargeable battery pack, which loads in an open compartment on the back side of the camcorder. Since the battery compartment isn't concealed, you have the option of purchasing larger, longer-lasting batteries if you desire. In our battery life test, the HF20 ran out of juice in just under 98 minutes (1 hour and 38 minutes). (More on how we test battery life.)

Battery Life Comparisons

This 98 minute performance isn't anything grand, but it's average for a compact HD camcorder. It is slightly lower than the 108-minute performance by the Canon HF11 (which ships with the same battery) and it's essentially identical to what we timed on the Canon HF S100. The Sanyo VPC-HD2000 offered nearly 15 extra minutes of recording time with its supplied battery, but it utilizes an enclosed battery compartment, which means you're at a loss if you wan to upgrade to a larger battery.

The HF20 uses the BP-09 rechargeable battery pack.

LCD & Viewfinder (7.88)

The HF20 has a relatively standard 2.7-inch, 211,000-pixel LCD screen. The screen should be large enough for most users and its rotating swivel design allows for easy shooting at odd angles. The screen offers a whopping 45 brightness increments and features a greyscale bar along the bottom so you can calibrate the brightness to the lighting situation you're shooting under. There's also an LCD dimmer mode that can be engaged to save power.

The 2.7-inch LCD screen

The HF20 does not include an electronic viewfinder, which really isn't at all surprising. None of the camcorders we're using as comparisons throughout this review feature viewfinders and Canon only includes them on its tape and DVD-based consumer camcorders. As for other manufacturers, both Sony and Panasonic feature electronic viewfinders on their high-end, flagship HD models.

Menus (3.0)

The Canon HF20 has some problems with menu layout and design. On one hand, we love the way many of the menus look—they're sleek and easy to navigate. Unfortunately, Canon didn't take the same care with organization. Settings are spread out amongst three different menus, each of which contain a seemingly random collection of options and features. This makes finding specific items difficult and tedious, especially if you're new to the camcorder.

Pressing the function button on the left side of the LCD brings up a short column of menu options, all of which deal with image quality and adjustment (i.e. exposure mode, white balance, digital effects, etc.). This column of options doesn't take up the whole screen, so you can easily adjust settings while still looking at your framed image. These settings are quick and easy to access, but they only represent a fraction of the HF20's features.

The function menu in video mode		The function menu in still mod

The full screen menu in video mode		The full screen menu in still mode

Ah, but there's also a third collection of options under yet another menu. Pressing up or down on the navigation joystick brings up the 'joystick guide' menu, which is a collection of 8 settings, all of which directly effect the shooting settings on the camcorder. Here's where you'll find things like manual focus, audio level control, and exposure adjustment. The problem is, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to what settings are located in the joystick menu and what are placed in the function menu. Why are face detection and pre-record in the joystick guide? Why isn't exposure adjustment located with aperture and shutter speed control? It is confusing organization on Canon's part.

The joystick guide menu in video mode		The joystick guide menu in still mode