In the continuum that runs from low-resolution, cheapo camcorders like the Creative Vado to high-quality, solid-state "prosumer" HD models like Canon's own Vixia HF10, Canon's line of SD-based camcorders--FS11, FS10, and FS100--falls exactly where you'd expect. At budget prices under $600, they're small, stylish, and provide a reasonably expansive feature set; unfortunately, the real "budget" aspect of these models is the video quality.
Canon FS
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The individual models in the FS series differ only by memory and color, with list prices that increment by $100 (but with lower actual street price gaps). The top-end model, the FS11, comes in dark gray and includes 16GB built-in memory; its lesser sibling, the FS10, wears silver and includes 8GB. The cheapest child, the FS100, has no built-in memory but comes in silver, blue, and red. Capacities run about 13.8 minutes per gigabyte of storage for best-quality mode, 39 min/GB for lowest quality; we don't recommend shooting below best-quality, however.
Weighing only 10.7 ounces and fitting comfortably into the palm of a hand--one my size, at least--the FS is, for the most part, quite well designed. As is becoming typical for SD-based models, you choose among video and still, record, and playback modes plus toggling recording on and off via a big thumbwheel at the back of the camcorder. You operate the zoom switch, photo shutter, and on/off switch with your forefinger. The battery and SD card slot lie under a sliding panel on the bottom of the unit. Some of the nicer touches include a built-in electronic lens cover--at this price, they're usually manual--and an LED video light.
Behind the LCD, there's an Easy button for a completely automatic mode and a button to display battery info, which displays the estimated time remaining. There's also a standard mini-USB port, 3.5mm microphone jack, and an AV out connector for hooking up to a TV via the bundled composite cable. As is becoming typical for Canon, you use a joystick on the LCD to bring up a few quick-access controls, including triggering the video light, exposure compensation, shutter speed, and manual focus. It doesn't magnify the focus area while in manual focus, but despite the smallish 2.7-inch LCD, it's pretty usable.
You also use the joystick to navigate the menus, which you pull up via a membrane button on the bevel of the LCD (other membrane buttons include playback controls, recording start/stop, and backlight compensation). Unusual in a budget model, the camcorder offers shutter-priority mode in addition to program exposure and a variety of scene modes. Beyond that, the shooting functions are scarce: white balance, digital and image effects, and a choice of 9Mbps, 6Mbps, and 3Mbps bit rates. Some of the other options, available deeper within the menus, include variable or one of three constant zoom speeds, 16:9 wide-screen recording mode, and a wind screen filter.
I do have a few minor quibbles with the design and operation. First, the zoom switch feels a bit loose, and I had trouble controlling the pace of the zoom with it. The on/off switch lies flush with the body of the camcorder, and thus requires some concerted effort to press. Finally, I don't like the placement of the USB port underneath the LCD or the SD card slot on the bottom of the unit; those just feel like awkward locations.
With the FS series, Canon debuts its Advanced Zoom technology, which transforms the camera's 37x optical zoom into 48x. It does so by moving lens elements to change the area of the sensor focused on by the lens. As a result, the effective video resolution changes while you zoom. For example, with AZ turned off, 16:9 video sensor resolution is about 550,000 pixels. With it on, at minimum zoom, it's approximately 710,000 pixels (full effective sensor resolution), and at 48x, it's 410,000 pixels. So while it's technically not digital zoom, it's still not maintaining the resolution across the entire zoom range (though it's in fact better than status quo at the wide angle). And for that reason, though I know Canon will probably beg to differ, I'm going to refer to it as a hybrid zoom.
Ultimately, however, it all ends up downsampled to a standard-definition video resolution of 720x480, or 345,600 pixels. So one would think the real question is, "How does it look?" And the answer to that is: "It looks better than digital zoom." But the real question should be, "Who the heck can use it?" Aside from the fact that I couldn't find anything interesting to shoot that far away during testing--even at a mere 37x--you run into serious control problems with these extra-long zooms. First, they're usually on cheap camcorders without optical image stabilization, so the telephoto video tends to be a jittery mess. And second, when you're zoomed out very far, if the subject moves out of the frame, it can be close to impossible to find them and get them back in frame without zooming out. So really, these ultramegatelephoto zoom lenses serve one purpose: to shoot distant, nonmoving subjects from a tripod mount. Hello, stalkers and stakeouts!
As for the rest, the FS models perform very well, from the fast, accurate autofocus and speedy autoexposure adjustment, to the solid LCD, which is a bit coarse but remains viewable even in direct sunlight. The latter is essential because of the lack of an electronic viewfinder, which is typical for the FS series' class. Like most flash-based models, the battery should also outlast the time required to fill up a 16GB card. Start-up and shutdown are relatively quick, and Canon includes an instant-start standby mode that toggles when you open or close the LCD.
Because the camcorder is higher-end looking than its price tag implies, the typical budget video it produces is that much more disappointing. Except when zoomed in, the video looks pretty soft, and like many of its peers, seriously blows out highlights. Most colors tend to look washed out, and orange hues shift. Low-light video is even softer, and relatively noisy. (For examples and more information about video quality, click through the slide show.) The audio is OK, though the wind filter is pretty ineffective. Canon bumps the saturation up tremendously for still photos, but they're low resolution--about 800,000 pixels--and are suitable only for scaled-down Web use. On the compatibility upside, most software recognizes the MPEG-2 MOD files, and I had no problem connecting the camcorder to a current Mac.
Unfortunately--or fortunately, depending upon your perspective--flash card prices are volatile enough that it's hard to make a recommendation as to which model to buy. Just remember to factor in the cost of a Class 4 or better SD card, though you probably should double-check that it supports a minimum transfer rate of 10MB/sec or better, since that's not a given, and figure out which total is cheapest. There's really no advantage to having the memory built in, except for the convenience of not having to make sure a card is fast enough. (In fact, I tend to prefer it not built-in, because then I don't have to worry about making sure the camcorder is recording to the right place.)
Any one of the Canon FS series models--FS11, FS10, or FS100--is a stylish, flexible camcorder that produces serviceable video for its price. The flash-based camcorder market is composed of an odd group of competitors, including the much cheaper straight-to-Web mini models, with the occasional ultracheap HD unit like the Aiptek Go-HD or DXG DXG-567V; alas, a real recommendation from among the group will have to wait until we can review the latter devices.