Canon Legria HF20

Still Features (11.56)

The built-in flash with the video light beneath it.

With the new camcorders that came out in 2009 there seemed to be a push to improve the still image capabilities amongst HD models. The Canon HF20 definitely reflects this, although it can't take photos at the resolution of, say, the Sanyo VPC-HD2000, Canon HF S100, Samsung HMX-R10, JVC GZ-X900, or the Sony HDR-XR520V. Still, the little HF20 packs in 3.31 megapixels to its still photos and has a maximum image size of 2304 x 1296. It also has a number of still features, including a built-in flash and extra shutter speed options that aren't available in video mode. There's also a self-timer option, but it can only be set to have a 10-second trigger.

You can take photos with the HF20 in any of the camcorder's three shooting modes: photo mode, movie mode, and dual shot mode. Dual shot mode isn't aptly named, as it is essentially an easy or auto mode—not something that is relegated for simultaneous video/photo capturing. Photo mode is where you have the most control over your still images. Here you can select from a range of image sizes, the largest being 2304 x 1296 and the smallest going down to 640 x 480. You can also choose to take photos in the 4:3 aspect ratio using the 2100 x 1575 and 1600 x 1200 settings.

In photo mode you can select light metering modes with choices of evaluative, centre-weighted average, and spot. There are 4 shooting modes as well—single, continuous, hi-speed continuous, and auto exposure bracketing. The two continuous modes will repeatedly snap photos for as long as you hold down the shutter button (hi-speed continuous simply goes faster). Auto exposure bracketing, a feature often found digital cameras, can be a useful tool. It takes three photos when you press down the shutter, automatically pushing the exposure up and down one stop to give you a range of light levels.

You can also take photos while you're in regular old movie mode. Of course, you don't have access to all the special controls (like continuous shooting and flash) and photo sizes are limited to 2304 x 1296 or 848 x 480. You can, however, take photos while you are recording, which is something we like. There is also the option of capturing still images from videos in playback mode. Here, your photo will be limited to only one size option, 1920 x 1080.

The still mode menu		The function menu in still mode

The joystick guide menu in still mode

Still Colour (6.53)

The Canon HF20 didn't produce very accurate colours in our still image testing. Its still colour error of 5.36 is worse than the numbers it put up in our video colour test. The camcorder did measure 104.9% saturation in its still images, which is a bit higher than what we saw in our video testing. Considering all the still image capabilities on the HF20, this is a disappointing score. (More on how we test still colour.)

The HF20 measured a still colour error of 5.36.

The photos captured by the HF20 are quite vivid, which probably has something to do with its low colour accuracy. Blues were particularly quite deep and yellows appeared to pop more so than usual. Looking at the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 you can see a strong difference between the two camcorders. The Sanyo has a much cooler tone here, with a blueish hue in its still image. The Panasonic HDC-HS20 has the weakest still image features in this set of camcorders—it can only take photos in one size (1920 x 1080).

Canon HF20 Still Colour Comparisons
Canon HF20	Sanyo VPC-HD2000
The Panasonic HDC-HS20 records still photos in 16:9 only
Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF S100

Still Noise (1.64)

Even in its still photos, the HF20 continued to show high levels of noise. In our still image testing, we measured approximately 1.15% noise, a score that is close to, but actually higher than what we measured in the HF20's bright light video test. This isn't a terrible amount of noise, and it certainly wasn't too noticeable in images shot under bright light, but it is significantly higher than the noise levels we measured on both the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 and Panasonic HDC-HS20. (More on how we test still noise.)

Still Resolution (4.21)

At best, the Canon HF20 measured a still image resolution of 1565 lw/ph horizontal and 1514 lw/ph vertical. The horizontal resolution had approximately 2.6% undersharpening, and the vertical measurement registered roughly 2.7% undersharpening. For a camcorder that takes still images at a maximum size of 2304 x 1296, these are decent resolution scores. The fact that the image is undersharpened is also a strong point and it means you should have a good deal of flexibility if you want to edit the images in Photoshop later. Camcorders like the Canon HF S100 and Sanyo VPC-HD2000, however, put up far better still resolution measurements—mainly because they have nearly double the effective pixel count of the HF20. (More on how we test still resolution.)