Customer Reviews

Canon VIXIA HF S20 Full HD Camcorder w/32GB Flash Memory & Pro Manual Control

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am a professional photographer that needed a camcorder for our first baby on the way. I wanted a camcorder that produced outstanding full 1080P HD video, good optical stabilizer and ease of use. Canon delivers. I was blown away by the quality of the video shot in full auto mode. The colors, vibrance and razor sharp focus completely convinced me that my hard earned cash was well spent. The dynamic stabilizer is amazing. At wide angle, I shot a video one handed while walking my dog. Usually this results in severe motion sickness. Reviewing the video was incredible- very smooth, no jarring. At full telephoto (10x) some movement was noticeable....until you press the Powered IS button located on the bottom left of the LCD. I call it my virtual tri-pod. The Powered IS locks down the image. Completely acceptable, but more, amazing how well it works.

The LCD panel is gorgeous. It's a mini HD monitor. It's a touch panel that works. You can control everything from exposure, focus, aperature, shutter speed, video gain, and more. What's really cool is the Touch and Track feature. Say you have someone or something (works on objects too) that you want to keep in focus and property expose- just touch the person or thing on the LCD and a box forms around it. It's so sensitive you can touch someone's eye and the camera puts focus priority on the eye, vs the nose. This even works with my dog. Really impressed by that.

As for ease of use, the Auto mode is exactly that. Turn it on, point it and record. The camera is very intelligent and almost always selects the best settings for your subject. This is perfect for someone that doesnt really know a ton about photography/videography but wants to be able to capture life's precious moments. For more advanced users, there are various settings that will give you hours of fun playing with.

It has a pop-up video light which works well in a pinch. The hot shoe allows for more sophisticated lights and mics.

One gripe I do have is the battery performance. True, the LCD eats power, but come on, the standard battery only lasts 40-50 mins tops. Canon should include a larger capacity battery. Canon should also include a wall charger so when you shell out more money for a bigger battery, you can charge that while still using your beautiful camcorder.

So, to sum up, you will not be disapointed with the quality and ease of use of this camera. Make sure you get a bigger battery and getting a Hoya filter to protect your HD lens is a great idea.

I'm torn in writing this review. This is a 5-star camera that I must give a three-star rating to. Here's why. The following is pulled DIRECTLY from Amazon's product description here: "To add to its versatile capabilities, the VIXIA HF S20 also features a viewfinder for use in extreme bright light situations." Well, as it turns out, this is FALSE. Totally false. Only the S21 has a viewfinder, I'm sad to say. Now, this is MY OWN FAULT for relying on Amazon's description, which is still there as of today 12/15/2010. But the sources I read all did generic HFS20/21/200 comparisons so it was hard to tease out differences. In my haste to snag a camcorder before we head off for the holidays, I mistakenly read that the ONLY difference b/w the S21 and S20 was the on-board memory, and that the HFS200 was the camcorder that lacked the viewfinder and on-board memory. This made intuitive sense and was "confirmed" by the Amazon description. This is wrong. Now, for those of you who will chastise me for relying on Amazon's description (something I normally do not do), your point is taken, so no need to ding me. However, this product STILL gets only 3 stars for value.

In terms of quality, this picture is stunning! I mean absolutely brilliant! The build of the camera is outstanding. The controls are slightly non-ergonomic (scrollbar on touchscreen should be on other side for one), but manageable. The audio is perfect, for a prosumer. I purchased the 5.1 Dolby surround external mike and so far, with my limited use, the sound is great. The built in mike is great too, but as far as I know, only this Canon line (HFS200/20/21) offers 5.1 surround. If you want HD video in 1080p/24p then you should want 5.1. So all this gets kudos. The breakdown comes in the "value" department.

This camcorder is simply overpriced for what it offers. For one, the HFS200 is CLEARLY the best value of all 3. The EVF is really only marginally helpful (honestly the image stabilizer here, another plus, limits the need for the viewfinder to real bright situations). And the on-board memory is unnecessary. If you need more than 6 hours or so of HD video at a time, this isn't your camera anyway. For the home movie enthusiast, two 32gb cards (and 64gb with a firmware upgrade) is plenty. So the $100 hike from the 200 to S20 is not warranted, IMHO. One can debate the $350 hike from the 200 to the s21, especially if you need the EVF, but as the proverbial "middle" child, this has the least value. Add to the fact that there is no battery charger (must be charged on camera), the included "battery" is a complete joke (about 30 min life so you will HAVE TO buy another one), and there is no case, lens cover, etc. and I think this camera is overpriced for what it offers. I decided on this over the Panny mostly b/c of the sound/fan issue. And b/c it's actually a great camcorder, I will keep it and eat my wasted $100. But for those of you who are on the fence, do yourself a favor and buy the HFS200 - take the extra $100 and buy two SDHC or SDXC cards and a hoya filter. If you feel like "splurging" for EVF then buy the HFS21. But DO NOT buy this particular model. There is really no justification that I can see.

Cannon HF S20 - amazes in many ways. Crisp HD Quality and amazing sound clarity as well. Awsome in daylight shoots. Definitely improved LOW light shoots - from older 2009 models. Powered IS does a great Job in reducing handycam shakes. The Cannons AUTO Settings sShoot works like a charm. And great TOUCH Screen-at last- from Cannon. The 8 MP Photo's were OK, but I guess thats an acceptable quality. Has lot of Manual Controls to play and experiment with. After lot of research on Sonys and Cannon's 2010 Models I was pretty plseased with this one. I had an Sony earlier and was a bit scptical as well as SONY is known for G-Lens Wide shoot and LOW Quality results but I think Cannons CMOS does a great uplift here. Cannon's had been iffy on Low Light shoots and this Model shows a great facelift.
Some flaws - Battery guzzler, eats up battery a lot. The Lens cover makes a rattle noise on a gentle shake, other wise its pretty comfortable for my big hands. The black look gives a rich look. This one DOES NOT comes with Viewfinder ,but I never used it even in my existing Sony. The 32 GB and Dual SDHC Slot is amazing, wireless tranfer of vieos would require you to buy eye-fi cards.

I have been using this Camcorder for a month now and am quite satisfied with it.
I chose this product because I wanted a small, rugged camcorder with lots of features and very good video quality.
I mainly use it outdoors on my hiking expeditions (and I try to protect it from moisture and shock with a case that was not designed for it but fits perfectly).
About the only negative thing I can say is that the battery life of the included battery is very short and the recharge time (on the camera) rather long... so BE PREPARED, if you buy it you should also get the CG-800 charger and a BP-819 battery to avoid disappointment.
The included PIXELA software seems only useful for getting scenes out of the camera and onto the computer... it is rather limited.... I chose Cyberlink Power Director for editing (it is inexpensive but powerful software and I can live with its "flaws" for now).
One thing I would have liked for this Camcorder is a frame advance... when capturing frames to photos in the camera one can slow the video down to 1/8th speed and pause it but one cannot advance frame-by-frame... the camera can, however, capture a sequence of frames (so you could afterwards look through the photos and discard the ones you dont want). You can see some still-capture from video at [...].
Finally you should know that Class 4 flash memory is fast enough for this camera, even in the best-quality (MXP) recording mode (I use FXP because it is compatible with AVCHD discs, but I could not detect any "visual" improvement with MXP though it is "technically better").

I owned a Canon HF S100 prior to this camera and only bought this upgrade due to being able to sell my HFS100 for a good price.

First, the positives:

Powered IS: This little button is incredible. It makes getting still images at high zoom possible. It has to be tested to be believed. I was blown away. I hadn't seen this feature marketed very highly in other reviews I had read, but it really is good.

The Screen: Wow! Compared to the previous generation this screen is incredible. It is MASSIVE and looks amazing! Very well done Canon! The only gripe is that because it is a touch screen it gets covered in fingerprints, but the touch UI is also fantastic.

Video Quality: Excellent! I only ever use MXP 24mbit recording since you can always render at a lower res, but you can never get those pixels back if you didn't record them! The quality of the video at this setting is awesome!

The negatives:

Battery: Seriously, they might as well not even include a battery with the camera. If it makes it through 20 minutes I'd be surprised. I purchased a high capacity battery for my previous model as it had the same battery life issues (although this camera is worse now that it has that great screen and powered IS) so this extended battery gives my about 2 hours of life, which is far more acceptable (but it did cost an additional $90)

USB: My previous model was the HFS100, so I only used memory cards and would put them in a card reader to get the video into my PC. The HFS20 has 32Gb built in storage, but niether my PC nor my laptop seem to recognise the camera as a USB device, despite playing around with the settings. I am running Windows 7 on both, and neither work. In order to get video off the camera I have to put an SD Card in the slot and move the video from internal storage to the card. What a pain! I have set the camera to record only to card now to save this step, and will use the internal storage only if I need it, so it is kind of a waste. I haven't looked much online yet to see if this is a common problem or not, but it's a real pain!

Overall though, I would highly recommend this camera. Save money and get the HFS200 without the internal storage though since it's kind of useless if it isn't accessable.

I bought this to replace my Canon HV20 (HDV) camcorder. I was getting tired of tape-based technology & finally decided to make the plunge into tapeless.

I am very pleased with my new HF S20. Image quality is spectacular - noticably better in HD on my widescreen TV than the HV20. The image does get noisy/grainy in low-light shots, but this is characteristic of most cams at this level. There are several image stabilization modes to choose from. These seem to work very well.

I really like the touch screen menu-based interface. I find this a LOT more intuitive and easy to use over a button/scroll menu type interface. The best touch screen feature is the track focus/auto face detect mode. The screen shows a square around the face/object it is currently holding focus on. If you want something else to be focused, just touch the screen on the object - focus & tracking will shift to that. Very intuitive/easy to use!

I find the cam a lot easier to hold than my old one, since there is no "tape bulge" in the housing.

The USB and HDMI out ports are in an awkward place (under the hand strap), and the flip-up port cover seems rather flimsy (it would've been better if it was a slide-open door like the ones for the other interfaces). I fear I will break it one of these days.

Battery life seems rather short with the supplied battery (maybe only an hour or less at best). Make sure you pick up a high-capacity battery if you tend to do long shoots. And if you do, I recommend you also get the separate charger so you can charge one battery while using the other. (you can charge the battery using the AC cable in the camcorder, but the battery will NOT charge if the camcorder is in use while plugged in - big design flaw IMO)

While tapeless technology is very convenient, there is one big drawback -- storing and archiving your videos. You will eventually have to delete the videos stored on the camcorder in order to make room for new videos. This means storing it on a hard drive or other media as your master copy. This procedure is not as convenient as just taking out a tape and popping in a new one.

Overall I am very pleased with the HF S20. Definitely a keeper!

PROS:

- great image/video quality
- built-in video light/flash (automatically pops up when needed)
- easy to use touch screen interface
- good image stabilization modes
- tapeless. The camcorder is ready to use almost immediately - no tape spool-up or mechanism delay

CONS:

- awkward USB and HDMI port locations (I use these most often)
- rather short battery life with the supplied pack
- camera does not charge the battery while plugged in AND you are using it. Gotta turn it off to charge

The picture quality is excellent for both videos and stills. But after playing around with this camcorder for several weeks I am still unable to use the raw MTS files. I have to downconvert them to AVI using Koyote's free HD converter software. The included software is useless. The high quality record is wasted on a lower-quality converted file.

I'm sure that there is a way to edit the MTS files. But the software should be included and it should be easy. So, even if I find a way to edit MTS files tomorrow, this still gets a 4-star rating (instead of 5 stars) because the solution is so hard to obtain.

You would think that a smart company such as Canon would use a codec that editing software could import, or at least provide the codec. But they do not. What were they thinking, especially for a consumer camera sold to consumers.

Lightweight and functional design. Beautiful HD video. Excellent face tracking. Terrific image stabilization. I loved this camcorder! That is, until I tried to install the additional SD cards. Once in place the cards would not eject! I was finally able to force them out but thought I might destroy them in the process. Tried the same cards in my wife's point and shoot camera and they ejected just fine. This is purely a mechanical problem with the SD card slots but on a $1,000.00 camcorder this is unacceptable! I was so pleased with the performance of the camcorder that I am sending this one back and replacing it with the same model. However, if the second is defective I will find another camcorder. Canon you need better quality control!

UPDATE: Replacement unit has arrived and is working as promised - SD cards eject perfectly so rating has been upgraded.

As a test, I shot about 10 minutes worth of video with this camera. Upon returning home, I connected the camera to my Mac PowerBook. Nothing happened. The computer did not recognize the camera, and it did not attempt to install anything.
Next, I installed all of the included software on my Windows 7 laptop (which is brand new), and then connected to the camera to the laptop. Again, nothing. Zip. Nada. I then installed all of the latest updates for the Canon software. Again, nothing. Zip. Nada.

I perused the Canon support site, and the knowledge base came up empty with every search I attempted.

Update: 6/14/11:

I contact Canon support, and was actually connected to a support facility in Virginia, and they spoke english.

After performing a reset on the camera, I was able to retrieve the videos. The support technician did not know why a reset was necessary, but at least it is resolved. He also assured me that the Mac would be able to access the videos, provided I was using a current Intel machine, and the current versions of the necessary software, which I have.

Canon's phone support was excellent. Their website leaves a lot to be desired, however.

As for the camera, it is a great piece of equipment, and I like the picture quality and feature set. The menu can be frustrating, but that's a small thing to bear when you take everything else into account.

The camcorder takes great 1080p movies and excellent handshake technology. The camcorder is small and lightweight even with adding a larger battery, the clarity of the end product is what I expect from a camcorder at this price range. I expecially like the dual memory card functionality and that you can use the second one as backup or overflow of first media card. I also bought the macthing carry case from Canon and it is excellent quality as well, very lightweight material and enough room to store all your accessories. I would definately recommend this camera to other people, my only small gripe is the touch screen is not that accurate and you seem to have to press a little hard to make selections but again this is minor gripe in comparison of all the things they did well on this camcorder from Canon.