Quick Camcorder Reviews: Canon HV10

The HV10 is Canon’s first foray into the rapidly expanding world of consumer HD camcorders. Rather than bulking the body to appear like a pro cam in miniature, Canon chose to make the HV10 as compact as possible. The result is a highly portable powerhouse, as long as the lighting is good. Along from lacking low light performance, we found the handling to be less than ideal. This camcorder will surely have its fans, but we wanted more.

The Canon HV10 packs a very large 1/2.7” CMOS sensor. This clearly worked to its advantage in our bright light testing. The picture was absolutely beautiful, with seemingly flawless color and almost no discernable noise. The lines along high contrast areas, like text, had a softer look to them than what we see in Sony HD camcorders. Overall, we could do nothing but praise the image quality.

In low light, however, the video quality took a nose dive. At moderate low light, the HV10’s image looked as dark as some camcorders do in a quarter of that light level. Not only that, but the noise levels were incommensurately high given the virtually noise-free bright light performance. Overall, the performance in this arena was so disappointing that we have a hard time recommending it. Low light shooting occurs more often than most users think, as camcorder sensors are not as sensitive as the human eye. That softly lit den you’re sitting in right now – that’s about where the HV10 drops off the scale.

Conversely, the HV10 has a draw for a lot of people – its size. It’s remarkably compact for an HD camcorder, far smaller than the comparable Sony offerings. But while the upright, pistol-grip design may give it a low profile, we found it to be the cause of some annoying handling problems. Hand size comes into play a great deal. If you have big mitts – hands off. The button layout can also cause frustration, particularly the poorly placed jog dial, the main tool for making changes and navigating the menu.

Simple point and shoot operation is mixed. The automatic controls are great, as long as the lighting is good. But dimly lit scenes, and even dark patches in a well lit scene, can cause the camcorder problems. The issue seems to be a limited dynamic range – a term that refers to the light-to-dark spectrum that a camcorder can successfully read. Darker areas are simply beyond the range, and the camcorder cannot retrieve much useful information. As a result, the auto focus also suffers. Focus is critical in HD recording because mistakes can be seen more sharply. We should note that, in adequate lighting, the auto focus is very good, thanks to an improved Instant AF technology.

Manual controls on the HV10 are the same as you find on most upper-tier Canons. Aperture and Shutter can both be adjusted in priority modes. The menu is set up intuitively, with a “Function” menu containing most of the manual controls separate from the “administrative” menu. Manual focus is aided by a Focus Assist feature, which zooms in and sharpens edges to help you make fine adjustments. The zoom and sharpening do not appear on your final footage. There are also pro-style features like zebra patterns and guideframes for image quality control.

The HV10 sends signals out from DV, composite, component, and USB (for stills), but it does not offer HDMI connection, something HDTV owners are finding increasingly desirable. Omitting this port is another serious drawback and is frustrating since it would not have required much space.

Footage recorded in HD is compressed in HDV, which has been around long enough that you should have no trouble finding editing solutions. You can, of course, also record in standard definition DV. Both formats use MiniDV tapes, which are available almost everywhere they sell batteries.

Overall, we were expecting more from Canon’s first time out in the consumer HD realm. Their professional models are outstanding, but the strategy to make a camcorder as compact as possible clearly has to make concessions somewhere. We fear that they number too many.