Canon Vixia HF11 Camcorder Review
Posted on 12/01/2008
The Canon HF11 isn't a major update on the popular HF10 high-definition camcorder, but for first-time buyers in the HD camcorder market, it's hard to beat. By James DeRuvo.
Owners of the HF10, who are thinking about upgrading to the 11 model may want to keep their powder dry as the HG11 only represents the next step in the HF line and not an improvement that would warrant ponying up another $800-1000 for what amounts to a "dot" upgrade. If, however, users are new to the flash based camcorder market, the HF11 sports a solid collection of features and options that would make any videophile want to take it for a spin.
Over its older brother, the HF11 has bumped up its internal memory storage capacity to 32GB. It also comes shipped with an 8GB flash card to play with. That's a total of 40GB of recording capacity, which is a nice feature if one is out for the day and doesn't have spare memory cards in their pocket. Additionally, recording quality has improved to 24MBps, giving it about 3 hours of recording time on board, and up to about 12 ½ hours at its lowest resolution setting of 5MBPs. Having an additional 12MBps recording capability would be nice, but it's doubtful that existing HF10 owners will even see the difference unless they own a 120Hz HDTV, and even then the differences would only be marginal.
Lens wise, the HF11 has the same lens as its older brother, even the aperture is the same. So there's nothing to get excited about there if you already own the HF10. But still, considering that most lenses in the flash video class are 2x shorter, the HF11 sports an advantage in focal length. Additionally, the focus capability of the HF11 is rock solid, being able to lock onto its subject and keep focus even in low light situations thanks to the image stabilization that not only keeps focus, but prevents a jumpy image even all the way out to the extreme range of its focal length.
Manual controls are nice for those looking to grow beyond the point and shoot mentality of capturing the moment, and the HF11 puts forward options such as both Aperture and Shutter-priority modes. But don't be thinking you'll be making your latest Hollywood blockbuster with it any time soon. But for the viral crowd, these options will give budding directors plenty to play with.
There is some complaint that in high contrast situations, video may suffer from some fringing, but that's only in extreme lighting conditions where one would have to deal with hard core backlighting as the HF11 struggles to keep the subject properly lit while juggling against the strong light streaming into the lens. Its doubtful that any other camera could compete as effectively, and the HF10 would have the same issues. But still, the issue is one to be aware of no matter what camera one is using in a similar situation.
Even though Canon provides for a BP-809 890mAh battery, its lifespan is rather paltry with just under an hour of continuous shooting. One can get frugal but switching the camera on and off or even using manual controls in order to stretch out recording time another half hour, but that still means spares are a must so that one doesn't have to tether the camera to a nearby power socket in order to keep recording a birthday party or having to take an early lunch at an amusement park in order to charge up the battery pack for the afternoon.
Video Quality is about the same as the HF10 as it sports the same 3.3 MB CMOS chip, with the exception that it's MBPS has been bumped up to 24mbps as stated previously. Granted, it can write more information faster onto the memory card, but one has to question as to whether it improves the image in basic lighting conditions or merely fills up storage space quicker to the average eye. Still image quality will be nominal for the snapshot crowd looking for a convergent option so as to not carry around both a still camera and a camcorder, but if one seeks to blow up images beyond 4x6, the effective resolution of 2.76 megapixels will degrade faster than a falling rock—even noticeable in 5x7 enlargements. So make certain that those Kodak moments are recorded in good light to give the still camera the best conditions to record a keeper.
All in all, the HF11 still delivers as fine quality HD video as its older brother the HF10. And if one is looking for their first flash video camera, the HF11 is a great way to pop into the market without having to deal with poor quality video images or having to carry multiple SD cards for an afternoon at the park. But if one is looking to upgrade from the HF10, the HF11 amounts to too little improvement for the price tag.

Canon Vixia HF11 Comments & Questions (write your own!)
I would like a camcorder i believe I wold like a hard drive one because i hear there the best for recording alot of video I also hear that you can use a memory card with them also. Money isn't a factor although I would like to keep it under $1000.00. I just want a good camcorder for shooting family videos or events. I would also like one with good zoom like good optical zoom and good picture quality. I don't know if I want high definition because I see that the optical zoom isn't that high and also do you need a lot of other equipment to view your movies or to copy them to a dvd? So i don't know if I should go with standard because of the optical zoom. And I also see you don't get much recording time with the high definition? Or if you do have high definition can you record in standard for longer recording time? I have been trying to choose a camcorder for months and I'm at my wits end trying to find the right one for my family. I am open to any suggestions because I just don't know what to buy. I would like to order one before halloween so I can capture my daughter on that day. I just really need some advice on the best camcorder to get for my needs. I need a good quality one because i will be using it alot and with good battery life. I don't know much about specifications but i would also like on with some different options and with easy viewing if that's at all possible. Somebody please help me out! Thank you very much. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Night Mode .2 lx (shutter 1/2 sec.).
As for the aperture setting,
Max. F/Stop f/1.8-3.0mm
The bottom line though, is that with the exception of subtle differences, they are essentially the same camera. The differences being that of on board flash memory. The HF100 has none, the HF10 has 16GB and the HF11 has 32GB on board. This is convenient, but not necessary. With the cost off flash memory dropping every day as capacities increase, there's no real need to pay an additional $200-400 for memory that you can spend 10% of that to use.
And don't count out the HV30, which still relies on the venerable and time tested miniDV tape. I'm still a fan of using tape based camcorders because they work, and they give you an archive quality backup that is uncompressed and ready for capture.
1) easier to use. more robust.
2) isn't compressed when recording
3) don't have to re encode to edit nor lose quality when burning to DVD
4) capture is very simple in editing programs
But the most important ...
5) you have an archival of original footage. Recent reports are that burned DVDs won't last nearly as long as people thought. David Pogue at the NYT ( pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/200... ) wrote a post saying that DVDs can be rendered useless after as little as 4 years. This makes having an archive of your tapes even more important.
Tom
From your Hi8, you'd need either a connecting interface which will take your analog signal and convert them to digital, or a video card which accepts component cables connecting to your camera. The best option for this would be the Pinnacle Studios Dazzle Video Creator Plus (for PC) or the Video Capture for Mac.
Essentially, you'd then capture the video footage, save it to your computer and then import it into your editor. Then using a burning utility like Nero or Toast (mac) to burn to DVD. Though many editors (like Premiere Elements mentioned above) have the burning utility built in. And Nero has a basic editor built into it.
For more information on the process of video capture to DVD burning, I would recommend some time spent at VideoHelp.com ( videohelp.com ). There are step by step instructions you can search by for what works best, what DVDs work best for your player, and a host of other ideas. It's a must bookmark for anyone who's into this as a hobby.
Should I do these :
1) import from Canon HF11 into Canon DW100 DVD burner on standard DVD
2) from standard DVD to Preimere element 7.
3) from Preimere element 7 createst the movie and burn to standard DVD
will these work with good quality ? Help ?
I realize this is a camera site, but I thought someone here might have purchased this camera or one of the other HiDef Digital cameras, and might be able to lead me into the right direction as to the right computer I'm going to need.
I am using an HP laptop:
Intel Duo Core processor, 1.6 GHz
Dual 100 GB Hard drives
2 GB RAM
NVidia GForce 7600 video card
From what I've read is that I need a Quad core, at least 3+ GHz with 4 to 8 GB of RAM. But, before I proceed, I wanted to get some recommendations from someone that might have been down that road
While it's not my desire to spend that kind of money, I sure don't want to spend hours and hours trying to get my videos processed and burned on DVD.
But I also believe you can spend a lot less and get a 2.6 Ghz or above PC. Quads are great for doing rendering, and if you're looking for a dedicated computer for just editing, then I'd say go for it. But for less money, you can get a dual core system with more memory, larger hard drive and an upgraded video card which will handle it just fine. IMHO that is.
So what's the point of having a quad core, for example when you have to wait on a slower hard drive to read and write the fioles that are being rendered? Or have to wait for the video card to process because it has a smaller cache because the computer either has an integrated video card or one with only say 64 MG? See what I mean?
You know what I did? I built my editing rig. It was a valuable exerience, I got to choose exactly what I needed and could balance all elements, and ended up with a pretty fast machine for the money and it isn't a quad core.
But if you're married to the PC, then Dell's XPS Studio line is a great place to start. Alienware as well.