Canon HV10 review

Canon HV10 Review

Reviewed by: Lori Grunin

Reviewed on: 20 October 2006

Perhaps we're just drinking too much coffee these days, but we didn't find the image stabiliser very effective at maximum telephoto. In part, we think it's the design of the camcorder -- with vertical models, your hand tilts forwards more than with other types, a position that requires a little more stiffness in your wrist to hold steady.

Furthermore, the petite battery that snuggles so unobtrusively into the side of the camcorder could last longer. As it is, just 30 minutes after a full charge, it's hungry again.

Image quality
The HV10's video was quite impressive: sharp, saturated and smooth. We found daylight video somewhat overexposed -- like most consumer camcorders, the HV10 tends to blow out highlights -- but we knocked it down a little with exposure compensation when necessary and were quite happy with the results.

Given the HV10's use of a single, relatively high-resolution CMOS chip, we didn't expect much from low-light shooting, but the camcorder surprised us. Though the video looked somewhat grainy, it remained very saturated, sharp and detailed, even in very contrasted situations, such as protesters marching beneath intermittently lit fluorescent lights just after sunset. And that's without having to resort to a slow shutter speed or a special night mode.

The automatic white balance in that shoot disappointed us, however -- the HV10 seemed to have a problem with mixed lighting, and everyone looked pretty in pink. Usually that's not too much of an issue, but this camcorder doesn't let you adjust white balance while taping -- you have to stop, change it, then restart.
 

 
There's so much to like about the Canon HV10 that, on balance, even the not-so-trivial ergonomic problems attain a rosier glow than we'd usually ascribe to them. If you want a compact hi-def camcorder for your next holiday, you don't have much of a choice beyond the HV10. But it's good enough that you probably won't regret having no other options.

Additional editing by Nick Hide