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Introduction
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01.Product Tour
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02.Colour & Noise Performance
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03.Motion & Resolution Performance
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04.Low Light Performance
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05.Compression & Media
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06.Manual Controls
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07.Still Features
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08.Handling & Use
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09.Playback & Connectivity
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10.Audio & Other Features
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11.Sanyo VPC-HD2000 Comparison
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12.Panasonic HDC-HS20 Comparison
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13.Canon HF S100 Comparison
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14.Conclusion
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15.Photo Gallery
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16.Specs and Ratings
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17.Comments
Canon Legria HF20
Previous: Part 2
Colour & Noise PerformanceNext: Part 4
Low Light Performance
Motion & Resolution Performance Summary
• Very strong video resolution—amongst the best we've ever seen
• Good motion capabilities, although 50i mode displayed some trailing and blur
• 25p and 30p mode look good and offer a different aesthetic than 50i
Motion (10.8)
The motion on the Canon HF20 looks quite good. Shooting at 50i there was definitely some noticeable blur in our motion test, but we have seen that in every camcorder when recording at 50i. The alternate frame rate on the HF20 (25p) had significantly less ghosting and trailing in the video image, but you should only shoot with it if you want the slower, film-like aesthetic. The strong video resolution on the HF20 came into play in our motion tests. The camcorder produced very detailed video with distinct lines and strong colours. We also noticed the HF20 handled changes in exposure very well, which is something you can notice as you watch the train make its way around the track in our test—it remains well lit and even throughout the voyage. (More on how we test motion.)
Canon HF20
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The embedded videos here have been heavily compressed by YouTube, so they are only meant to give you a general idea of the motion produced by each camcorder. Check out the links to HD versions of the video if you want to get a better idea of how the camcorders truly capture motion—although even the HD versions have been scaled down and compressed for YouTube.
Sanyo VPC-HD2000
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The VPC-HD2000 is an interesting case because it shoots natively progressive video and it offers a 1080/60p record mode. In 60p, the Sanyo's video looked splendid and smooth. It is safe to say it looked better than the Canon HF20's 50i footage. Sanyo's other frame rates, however, didn't look as great, which may be a result of the lower bit rates utilized by the camcorder's alternate frame rates. Also, the VPC-HD2000 does not include a 25p mode.
Panasonic HDC-HS20
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The Panasonic HDC-SD has more problems with motion than the rest of the camcorders we tested in this group. It didn't look terrible, but it had a blurrier image, more artefacting, and more exposure errors than the rest of the models. The colours also didn't appear as strong and its overall image had a washed-out appearance, although this isn't really a factor in our motion examination.
Canon HF S100
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Even though there is a lot of differences between the two under the hood, the Canon HF S100 rendered very similar motion to what we saw from the HF20. The fact that very little disparity exists between the two camcorders says strong things about the HF20, as it is significantly cheaper than its high-end big brother.
Video Resolution (12.78)
The Canon HF20 has the best video resolution we have ever recorded on a consumer camcorder and its scores are comparable to some of the professional models we've tested (like the Sony HDR-FX1000 and Canon XL H1A). The camcorder measured an approximate video resolution of 800 line widths per picture height (lw/ph) horizontal and 900 lw/ph vertical. This is a huge bump up from the 675 lw/ph horizontal and 600 lw/ph vertical recorded by last year's Canon HF11. The HF20 is not alone with this increase in performance, it seems most manufacturers are really starting to improve the video resolution capabilities on new camcorders this year. (More on how we test video resolution.)
| Video Resolution Score Comparisons |
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One surprising note from our testing was the disparity between the Canon HF20 performance and the Canon HF S100. Both camcorders had identical horizontal resolutions (800 lw/ph), but the HF S100 ran into some early trouble with the vertical lines on our resolution chart and recorded a significantly lower vertical resolution. This disparity is strange because the HF S100 has a roughly 50% higher effective pixel count than the HF20 (6.01-megapixels versus 3.89-megapixels). Still, pixel counts are only one aspect for determining video resolution, and other things like processing and lens quality also come into play.
The lower vertical resolution on the HF S100 is not a fluke—we noticed it in all our video testing and you can even see a difference in the close-ups we pulled for our noise comparisons. The HF20 clearly shows finer detail near the bottom of the vertical trumpet in those frames.
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