I had an ancient VHS camcorder years ago but it failed long ago. I was starting to get a hankering for something new and quickly decided to get an HD camcorder. After a lot of reading, I decided to buy the Canon Vixia HF11 HD camcorder, which records in the AVCHD format entirely on solid-state (flash) memory.
Why the Canon Vixia HF11? For one thing, it has 32 GB of internal RAM memory. For another, it takes standard SDHC memory cards. Finally, it can record in the highest quality AVCHD format at 24 megabits per second (Mbps). There are a couple other reasons why I chose this camcorder but these three were most important to me.
I bought my Canon Vixia HF11 at Amazon for $890 about two months ago. The price has since come down to $830 or so.
What it isThe first thing you notice about the Canon Vixia HF11 (henceforth simply the Canon HF11) is that it is tiny... slip-into-your-jacket-pocket tiny. It is literally about the same size and weight of a full can of Coke. The Canon HF11 has a flip-out 2.7-inch LCD monitor but no viewfinder monitor. It has a 12x zoom lens, which is a little better than the 10x zoom lenses on most consumer HD camcorders today. Right next to the lens is a single bright LED video light that is pretty good at lighting a face up to five feet away or so.
As I said, this is an HD camcorder. It records in full 1080i high-definition, using a 16:9 CMOS sensor that has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It records in the AVCHD format, which was derived from the work to develop an MPEG-4 standard. The Canon HF11 will record at full 1920 x 1080 resolution when recording at data rates of 24 and 17 Mbps; it drops down to 1440 x 1080 HD at 12 Mbps, then records standard definition (480i) at a data rate of 7 Mbps. At the highest data rate, the HF11 will record about three hours on the unit's 32 GB internal memory. It records about four hours and 10 minutes with the rate set to 17 Mbps, which is where mine is set.
Another interesting feature is that the Canon HF11 has a surprising variety of inputs and outputs spread around its tiny body. It has a microphone input and a combined analog video/audio output, which is good for standard-definition video only. The HF11 also has an analog component video out, which will display high-definition video... but no audio. There is also a mini-HDMI connector for full digital HD and audio output. There's also a USB connector for transferring files to a computer. Finally, there is a "Mini Advanced Shoe" that will accept a video light or shotgun microphone.
In addition to being an HD camcorder, the Canon HF11 is a modestly competent still-image camera with resolution of about three megapixels. There's even a flash for the still camera and you can mix still shots and video shots in the memory as much as you like. However, you have to shoot either stills or video -- the HF11 will not allow you to take a still as you are shooting video. (Some cameras will do that but not the Canon HF11.)
When you flip out the 2.7-inch monitor, it exposes the SD memory slot. You can use the Canon HF11 without an SD card installed. If you use an SD card of 4 GB or greater, it must be an SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) standard card. Recording high-definition data takes high speeds, so Canon recommends that the SDHC card be at least a Class 4 for speed. I bought a 16 GB SDHC Class 6 card at Amazon for $35.
On top of the Canon HF11 is a fingertip control for the zoom lens. The lens itself is pretty clean and clear. The zoom control is a little hard to work smoothly, but it will yield smooth zooms when I concentrate. The Canon HF11 has an effective optical image stabilization capability that really makes a difference with handheld video.
In useWith my hand inserted into the hand strap on the right side of the Canon HF11, the tip of my right middle finger falls naturally on the zoom control. My right thumb is on the start/stop recording button. When taking stills, my right index finger works best for the shutter button, which is just astern of the zoom control. The bottom line on the control ergonomics is that it works best for righties -- lefties will have to practice some to get comfortable.
The Canon HF11 takes about 4-5 seconds to turn on and be ready for recording. A picture pops up on the screen sooner than that but I've been burned multiple times thinking that it was recording when it actually was not recording. I've already lost a couple of fantastic shots because I thought the Canon HF11 was ready to shoot before it actually was. The camcorder is ready to shoot when it displays a small green circle with two vertical bars icon in the upper-right corner of the LCD screen. Until you see that green icon, the Canon HF11 is not ready to record. Pressing the "Start" button before the green icon appears will not force the unit into record. Trust me... I learned that the hard way.
Once the unit is recording, the green icon is replaced with a red dot. If you see the red dot, you're recording. If you don't see it, you are not recording. That is literally the only way to know that you are recording with the Canon HF11, as there is no tape or other mechanical noise to cue you.
The Canon HF11 is so light and comfortable to use that I have used it all day for dozens of clips without fatigue. I've taken the HF11 on several day-long shoots and have always had enough battery and recording time. The battery that comes with the unit -- the BP-809 -- lasts for about 80 minutes of record time. Again, I've used it to shoot a clip here and a clip there all day long, sometimes as many as 80 clips, and the battery has held up for the entire shooting. There wasn't much battery time left, but the LCD monitor displays the remaining battery life in minutes, so it's easy to plan. Just in case, I carry a charged BP-819 battery, which is good for more than 120 minutes. I have not yet needed to switch to the spare battery. Swapping batteries takes less than five seconds.
Image qualityOkay, you're all curious about the image quality, right? The image quality is very good, particularly in daylight. Images are crisp and clear from edge to edge, although the focus softens just a bit when the lens is zoomed all the way in. Clarity and definition are very good, and image noise is pretty much nonexistant in daylight shots. Colors look a bit muted but I find that pleasing. In darker shots or in deep shadow, the Canon HF11 maintains its resolution but the noise level definitely comes up. The camcorder will make acceptable video indoors at night but the wise videographer will have lights to assist when necessary. The light built into the Canon HF11 will help some if the subject is close, but its narrow beam and quick fall-off is useless for a group of people.
So, my verdict on the resolution, clarity and noise is that the Canon HF11 is very good, especially in daylight. At night, it's just fair.
The lens on the HF11 focuses quickly and mostly unobtrusively. Unfortunately, you can't easily tell in the LCD monitor if the primary subject is in sharp focus. A couple times, I pointed the Canon HF11 at birds in trees, only to have the focus settle on a nearby branch instead of the bird. I could not tell this in the LCD monitor and, while there is a manual focus mode, it is not convenient by a long shot. Therefore, plan to use the Canon HF11 in its auto-focus mode, which is generally accurate. The auto focus will correct for subjects that are moving, such as traffic and flying birds. In my experience, it has almost always gotten this right.
The biggest image defect I've found with the Canon HF11 is that the video is a little overexposed right out of the box. I had to bump the exposure down a couple of notches to keep whites from being blown out. Unfortunately, the HF11 seems to not remember this setting and I have to re-adjust it to get it right. This overexposure is not a huge problem and it mostly appears when there is a small bright object in an otherwise average-lit scene. That's when I wish I could mute the exposure just a little.
Audio recording quality is decent for the built-in stereo microphones. The built-in mics will pick up a lot of wind noise but they work very well indoors... within the limitations of built-in camera mics. Since the Canon HF11 has no moving parts (except for the lens), there is no mechanical noise for the microphones to pick up. That's nice.
Still images with the Canon HF11 are okay but a decent dedicated digital camera will wipe the floor with the photos I get from this camcorder. Still, I can get an acceptable snapshot and the flash works up to a respectable 10 feet or so. The HF11 also does a decent job with macro shots.
Loading videoFor some reason, my fairly new Windows Vista computer will not recognize the Canon HF11, despite running the driver disk that comes with the camcorder. If the computer did recognize the camcorder, I could transfer files into the computer using a USB cable. Since I can't do that, I transfer my video and still image files from the internal 32 GB memory into the SDHC card. Then I slip the SDHC card into the slot on my computer and transfer files that way. It takes a little longer but it has worked okay so far. Please note that the Canon HF11 does not have a FireWire/iLink port... it has only a USB port for file transfer.
Editing videoThe Canon HF11 comes with a simple editing program called ImageMixer 3SE. It's okay for cuts and simple effects, but it is very basic. I bought Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 to edit the camcorder's AVCHD files but it has a well-known bug that causes glitches when rendering AVCHD files. (Please read my review of Corel VideoStudio Pro X2
here for more information.) In the meantime, ImageMixer 3SE makes clean edits, so I can use a combination of it and Corel VideoStudio to do more advanced projects.
SummaryI like the Canon Vixia HF11 quite a bit, although it has some shortcomings. It makes beautiful video in daylight and the lens is well-suited for lots of consumer and semi-pro projects. The camcorder's video is less appealing in room light but it's acceptable. The exposure is a little high but there is a convenient means to adjust it. And transferring files into my Windows Vista computer is a little awkward without the USB working properly.
On the plus side, I really like the size and usability of the Canon HF11. I can literally slip it into my jacket pocket, or into one of the cargo pockets on my cargo pants -- and there's room left over for the spare battery. Considering I used to have a standard-definition camera, this thing looks wonderful in comparison. I recommend the Canon Vixia HF11 and would buy it again, knowing what I now know.
If you'd like to see some video that I've shot with this camera, I have many videos posted on YouTube and most of them were done with this camera. Just go to YouTube and search on "pvreditor"... you'll get a whole list of my videos. Click on the "HD" box at the bottom-right of the video window to watch the video in HD.
