Canon Vixia HF11 is a direct successor of a great, compact High Definition Canon HF10 camcorder.
Intro:
Canon Vixia HF11 has all the goodies of Canon Vixia HF10 and a few more or less important feature updates. The new Canon Vixia HF11, for example, has 32 GB of internal flash memory and it is the first consumer camcorder to record at the AVCHD in 24 Mbps.
Canon Vixia HF11 pros:
+ 32 GB built in flash memory
+ 24 Mbps bitrate
+ Small size
+ Excellent video performance
+ Great battery life
+ 12x optical zoom, 200x digital zoom
+ Good connectivity
+ Large, 2.7 inch screen
+ Neat design
+ SD/SDHC card slot
Canon Vixia HF11 cons:
- Surprisingly high noise
- Average optical image stabilization
- Lack of viewfinder
- Disappointing low light performance
The design:
Canon Vixia HF11 measures 73 x 64 x 129mm (2.9 x 2.5 x 5.1 inches) and weighs 380 grams (13.4 ounces). In fact it is very similar to Canon Vixia HF10. On the left side of Canon Vixia HF11 is the 2.7-inch Multi-Angle Vivid Widescreen LCD with a 211,000-pixel display. Within the LCD cavity are a few ports and buttons, including Easy Mode button, Battery / display button, the joystick and SDHC card slot. On the right of the camcorder is a comfortable hand strap, a mode dial and the HDMI and USB ports under the hand strap. On the back of the camcorder you will find the battery, and to its left the Mic, AV/Headphone and DC jacks. At the top of Canon Vixia HF11 is the Mini Advanced Shoe, Zoom toggle and the photo capture button. All the buttons are comfortable and responsive and placed in just the right places so that you can reach them easily.
Performance:
Canon Vixia HF11 has one of the best video processing performance amongst the comparable camcorders on the market. The picture captured with this camcorder is vivid, sharp and with fine details. Even the very good Sony HDR-SR12, or Sony HDR-CX12 cannot compete with Canon Vixia HF11, as althoug it produces similar colors, the Sony has a bit worse sharpness. Also the recently reviewed Samsung SC-HMX20 was close to Canon’s achievements, but still it was slightly worse. In low light Canon Vixia HF11 produces image with strong colors but it also had high noise. Canon Vixia HF11 has the Optical Image Stabilization feature, however it is not the best I have seen and although it is a bit better than in Canon Vixia HF10 it is disappointing.
The still features of Canon Vixia HF11 are are very good and you can take photos in up to 2048 x 1536 resolution. You also get plenty of Photo Modes and Scene Modes as well as the continuous mode. The overall quality of pictures is very good, yet the Samsung SC-HMX20 had a bit better colors.
Canon Vixia HF11’s battery suffices for recording for over 105 minutes, which is quite not bad.
Menus / ease of use:
Canon Vixia HF11’s settings are divided into three different menus: the Joystick menu, Function menu and Administrative menu, so it might be overwhelming for beginners. But as it is easy to find your way through the menus it is not as bad as it sounds. Thinking about beginners Canon even included the Easy Mode which makes the menus inaccessible and sets everything to automatic mode. But if you do want to be in charge of everything you have a few white balance options, several scene modes and some other tools to choose from.
All in all, Canon Vixia HF11 is good for beginners because of the easy mode, as well as for more professional shooters thanks to its plenty of features.
For the price of $1199 along with the camcorder you get:
Battery Pack BP-809 (w/ terminal cover)
Compact Power Adapter CA-570 (w/ cable)
Wireless Controller WL-D88
Wrist Strap
USB Cable IFC-400PCU
Component Cable CTC-100/S
Stereo Video Cable STV-250N
Digital Video Solution Disc for Windows and Macintosh
Pixela ImageMixer 3SE (Video Editing Software)
Selected Canon Vixia HF11 specifications:
Digital Video Power Consumption
4.0 W (SP Mode)
Image Sensor
1/3.2″ CMOS Sensor, RGB Primary Color Filter
Total Pixels
Approx. 3.3 Megapixels
Effective Pixels
Video: Approx. 2.07 Megapixels (1920×1080)
Still Image: Approx. 2.76 Megapixels (1920×1080)
Maximum recording time
32GB internal Flash drive
LP (5 Mbps) 12 hours 15 minutes
SP (7 Mbps) 9 hours 35 minutes
XP+ (12 Mbps) 5 hours 45 minutes
FXP (17 Mbps) 4 hours 10 minutes
MXP (24 Mbps) 2 hours 55 minutes
Lens
Zoom Ratio 12x Optical/200x Digital
Focal Length f=4.8 – 57mm
Zoom Speed Variable/3 Fixed Zoom Speeds
Max. F/Stop f/1.8-3.0mm
Filter Size 37mm
Focusing System
Instant AF, Through the Lens/Manual Focusing Possible
Manual Exposure
Yes
Programmed AE
Auto, Program, Av, Tv, CINEMA, Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, Fireworks
Max Shutter Speed
1/2000, 1/500 (card)
Auto Date/Time
Yes
Record Search/Review
Yes
Minimum Focusing Distance
10mm (wide) / 1m (tele)
White Balance
Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Flourescent, Flourescent H, Auto, Manual
Minimum Illumination
Night Mode .2 lx (shutter 1/2 sec.)
Image Stabilization
SuperRange Optical (lens shift)
LCD Screen
2.7″ Multi-Angle Vivid Widescreen LCD (approx. 211,000 pixels)
Recording Media
internal Flash drive (32GB) or SD/SDHC Memory Card
USB Terminal
mini B, USB 2.0 Hi-Speed supported
Video Terminal
component (output), composite (output)
Audio
Dolby Digital 2ch (AC-3 2ch)
HDMI Terminal
Type C 480i / 480p / 1080i Format Supported
Other recently reviewed camcorders:
Sony HDR-CX12, Panasonic SDR-H60, Samsung SC-HMX20, Panasonic HDC-HS100, Sony DCR-DVD910, Canon DC330