/// HD Camcorder Comparison

Picture ?

Manufacturer

Canon

Panasonic

Name

HF S21

HDC-HS100

European name ?

Legria HF S21

HDC-HS100EG

US name ?

VIXIA HF S21

HDC-HS100

lowest US price

1189 $

1060 $

On the market since

April 2010

September 2008

Manufacturers URL

Test preview

slashCAM rating ?

Good

test picture 1200 Lux

Test image 12 lux auto-mode

Video

Video formats ?

AVCHD

Recording Medium

SDHC card
built-in flash memory

Built-in hard disk
SDHC card

video resolutions EU ?

AVCHD 1440 x 1080/50i
AVCHD 1920 x 1080/50i
AVCHD 1920 x 1080/25p
AVCHD 1440 x 1080/25p

AVCHD 1440 x 1080/50i
AVCHD 1920 x 1080/50i
AVCHD 1920 x 1080/25p

video resolutions US ?

AVCHD 1920 x 1080/60i
AVCHD 1920 x 1080/24p
AVCHD 1440 x 1080/60i
AVCHD 1440 x 1080/24p
AVCHD 1920 x 1080/30p

AVCHD 1920 x 1080/60i
AVCHD 1920 x 1080/24p
AVCHD 1440 x 1080/60i
AVCHD 1440 x 1080/24p

Max Bitrate ?

24 Mbit/s

17 Mbit/s

Compression format ?

MPEG4

on-board memory ?

64 GB

60 GB

Optics

Optics Manufacturer ?

Canon

Leica

Optical Zoom ?

10 x

12 x

Wide Angle 16:9 ?

43,6 mm

42 mm

Filter diameter ?

58 mm

37 mm

Image Stabilization ?

optically and electronically

optical

ND Filter ?

Exchangable optics ?

Image Sensor

Number of sensors ?

Size of image sensor ?

1/2,6 inch

1/6 inch

image sensor effective pixel count 16:9 ?

6010000 Pixel

520000 Pixel

Image Sensor Type ?

CMOS

Controls

White Balance ?

auto
manual
presets

Focus ?

auto
manual

Minimum shutter time ?

1/2.000

1/8.000

Maximum shutter time ?

1/6

1/25

Apperture control ?

auto
manual

Infrared recording ?

Expanded Focus ?

Yes

Peaking ?

Yes

Signal Processing

Zebra ?

70%
100%

Off
100%

Histogram ?

Yes

adjustable sharpness ?

Yes

Adjustable color ?

Yes

Cinegamma ?

Yes

Black Strech ?

Knee ?

Colorbars ?

Yes

Misc.

Shot Transition ?

Custom Presets ?

Yes

Set Time Code ?

Configuration

Connections

FBAS ?
synonymous: RCA, composite

Out

YC ?
synonymous: S-Video

YUV ?
synonymous: Component Signal

Out

HDMI ?

Out

DV / HDV (FireWire) ?
synonymous: ILink / IEEE-1394

USB ?

USB 2.0

Microphone / Audio input ?

Mini-jack

Yes

Headphones ?

also AV-output

3.5 mm mini-jack

Lanc ?

Yes

Time-code interface ?

Genlock ?

Accessory shoe ?

Advanced Mini

Standard

HD-SDI ?

Misc.

Weight (without battery)

470 g

420 g

Weight (with battery)

520 g

482 g

Battery type

Canon BP-807

Panasonic VW-VBG130-K

Battery capacity

890 mAh

Charger ?

internal

external

Remote control

Yes

Size

Height

75 mm

74 mm

Width

74 mm

138 mm

Depth

140 mm

76 mm

Relative Size ?

Viewfinder

Viewfinder available ?

Yes

Color Viewfinder ?

Color

Viewfinder format ?

16:9

Viewfinder pixels ?

123000 Pixel

183000 Pixel

Display

Display available ?

Yes

Color display ?

Color

Display size

3,5 Inch

2,7 Inch

Display format ?

16:9

Display pixels ?

922000 Pixel

300000 Pixel

Touch Screen ?

Yes

External controls

Manual Zoom ?

Rocker

Rocker
Zoom ring multi-assigned

Manual Focus ?

Menu
bi-functional focus or aperture wheel

Ring
bi-functional focus or aperture wheel

Manual Aperture ?

Menu
bi-functional focus or aperture wheel

bi-functional focus or aperture wheel

Focus switcher ?

Yes

ND Filter ?

Exp Lock ?

Gain ?

White balance ?

Push AF ?

Audio Levels ?

Custom Keys ?
synonymous: User buttons

Audio

Audio Formats ?

Dolby AC-3 Digital 2 channel 48 KHz

AC-3 Dolby Digital 5.1 640 kbit max.

Microphone ?

Stereo internal
Mini-jack external

Mini-jack external
5.1 Internal

Audio Control ?

auto
manual

Audio levels ?

Viewfinder
Screen

Still

Recording Medium ?

built-in flash memory
SDHC card

SD Card
hard drive

Medium included ?

Effective pixels ?

8020000 Pixel

Resolutions ?

3264 x 2448
3264 x 2456 max

1920x1080

Standard ?

JPEG Exif 2.2

Flash ?

Yes

Misc.

Specials

2 SDHC slots

-Quick Power : ready to record in 1,9 seconds

Product Shots

View 1

View 2

Test results

Test pictures

Canon HF S21 - Brave New World video?

luminance resolution

chrominance resolution

lens distortion

test small ISO image

noise / internal microphone

test picture 1200 Lux

Test image 12 lux auto-mode ?

Test image 12 lux optimized ?

slashCAM rating

Lowlight ?

Good

Satisfactory

Resolution ?

Satisfactory

Color performance ?

Very good

Good

subj.Picture impression ?

Very good

Good

Optical Zoom ?

Sufficient

Wide Angle ?

Poor

Sufficient

Configuration / image ?

Good

Configuration / sound ?

Satisfactory

Handling ?

Good

Portability ?

Very good

Excellent

Photo function ?

Satisfactory

Sufficient

Optics ?

Good

Dynamics ?

Good

Conclusion slashCAM

slashCAM rating ?

Good

Total score ?
(maximal 570)

348

336

Pros

+ Many manual controls

-lens-ring with lots of manual functions

Cons

- small wide angle

-average sharpness
-menu-structure and menu-handling

Conclusion

The sharpness is only slightly below what is possible in this price range and the options for manual control are also quite ok.The touchscreen is a real improvement, so the problems with focus setting we used to citizise are gone.Since Sony offers more manual in this price range than they did before and both Sony and Panasonic have more wide angle, the HF S models of 2010 appear a little overpriced.

This is going in the right direction.More manual control is what is missing with most of the current AVCHD cams.And this is exactly what Panasonic is delivering.Thanks to histogramm, zebra, luma display and expanded focus manual control is better than on any other camera below 1000 Euros.The somewhat below average sharpness of the camera is something one can live with, but there are also one or two other minor things on this camera which could have been solved better.But definitely one of the most interesting newcomers 2008

More information

Reviews and Forums

slashCAM Review

external reviews/tests

www.camcorderinfo.com

Forum posts

purchase advice SonyHDR-SR11, Panasonic HDC-HS100; Canon HG21

Panasonic HDC-HS100 and HDC-SD100