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Canon Vixia HF200

Manufacturer: Canon USA Part number: 3536B001

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Compare with most popular

$579.99 - $869.95 at 17 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
4.0 stars Excellent
Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 7 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: While it's more expensive than its sub-$600 competitors, the Canon Vixia HF20 and Vixia HF200 deliver a more extensive feature set for the extra money. The HF200, which lacks internal memory, is probably a better buy than the HF20, though the HF20's all-black body is a bit classier looking.
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CNET editors' review

Canon Vixia HF200

price range: $579.99 - $869.95

Reviewed by: Lori Grunin
Reviewed on: 04/20/2009
Released on: 04/01/2009

The good: Broad manual feature set unusual in a camcorder its size; excellent video quality; attractive, functional design.

The bad: Relatively expensive.

The bottom line: While it's more expensive than its sub-$600 competitors, the Canon Vixia HF20 and Vixia HF200 deliver a more extensive feature set for the extra money. The HF200, which lacks internal memory, is probably a better buy than the HF20, though the HF20's all-black body is a bit classier looking.

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Photo gallery:
Canon Vixia HF20

Canon's acquitted itself quite well with a nearly identical trio of flash-based AVCHD camcorders, the HF10/HF11/HF100, and follow-up models HF20 and HF200 manage to improve upon their legacy. The only difference between the two models is color and memory configuration: the HF20 has 32GB built in, while the HF200 has none. We tested the HF20.

Smaller and slightly less powerful than their twin brothers, the HF S10 and the HF S100, these models offer a physically smaller but longer 15x zoom lens and smaller, lower resolution 4-megapixel sensor. And though they retain much of the same feature set as those models, they don't supply more enthusiast-oriented niceties like a manual control dial, zebra stripes, and color bars, or a pop-up flash. Still they're a definite upgrade from the older versions. And while they're both more expensive than competitors like the Sony Handycam HDR-CX100 and Panasonic's HDC-TM20/SD20, those camcorders lack features some users consider essential regardless of camcorder size, including an accessory shoe, microphone input, and headphone jack, which the Canons provide. Like most all new models, however, the HF20 and HF200 lack an eye-level EVF.

You wouldn't call it a featherweight, but the HF20/HF200's 13.9 ounces is relatively light for a midrange camcorder, and its 2.8-inch-by-2.4-inch-by-4.9-inch dimensions mean it fits comfortably into a jacket pocket, albeit with some bulging. It's very comfortable to grip and use, with the photo button and zoom rocker on a slight rise to fall naturally under your forefinger. Most of the shooting controls live on the LCD bezel. The function button pulls up both the frequently used settings as well as the full menu system another level down. In addition to the usual--white balance, image effects, digital effects, video quality, and still-photo size, program, and a handful of scene modes--the camcorders offer real shutter- and aperture-priority shooting modes with a shutter speed range of 1/8 to 1/2,000 second and aperture options ranging from f1.8 to f8, giving you more control over depth of field than you generally see in a consumer model, especially a compact one. It also offers Canon's Cine mode for adjusting color and gamma to go with its 24F progressive modes, though it and 30F get recorded as 60i. In still mode you can select metering and drive modes as well. Other high-end features accessible via the menus include three fixed or variable zoom speed and x.v.Color mode.

Navigating down on the joystick while shooting triggers a fly-up menu to turn on the video light, digital effects, 3-second prerecord, backlight and exposure compensation, manual focus, mic level, and face detection. In still mode you gain flash and lose the prerecord. The menu system itself has been updated for a smoother feel and the ability to choose font size. Since the 2.7-inch display is the typical low-resolution model, the small fonts look pixelated and would be hard for some to read. It does stand up pretty well in direct sunlight, however. As we've seen with lots of camcorders, however, the recordings on the LCD look far more contrasty and blown out than the actual video, which means you can't trust it for making exposure or white balance adjustments.

Like the HF S models, the HF20 and HF200 incorporate this year's features, which include Video Snapshots, 4-second clips used to create a "highlights reel" effect (the camcorders ship with a music CD). I like the idea, but the implementation can be annoying. You enter Video Snapshot mode by pressing a hard-to-feel button on the left side of the camcorder in the LCD recess. A blue outline appears on the display. When you press record, a highlight travels around the blue outline counting down your 4 seconds. It stays in Video Snapshot mode until you switch to playback or press the button again. While I like the way the display feedback works, I think I might have preferred a separate record button, or a choice on the mode dial rather than the have the isolated button. (For a complete accounting of the HF20/200's features, you can download the PDF manual.)

Performance and quality are top notch at both its maximum 24Mbps bit rate and at 17Mbps. (Recording capacities are about 5.5 minutes per gigabyte and 7.8 min/GB, respectively. Canon recommends a Class 4 or better SDHC card.) The camcorder focuses quickly and accurately, even in low light. Battery life is pretty good--about 1.5 hours--and Canon sells higher-capacity batteries to double or quadruple that. Unlike the HF S models, these don't offer quick charging. The optical stabilizer, as usual, works well out to the end of the zoom range. I did run into a problem with it failing to recognize my SD card (a normally bulletproof SanDisk Extreme III 30MB/sec edition) after initializing it and using it for a couple clips, but I was unable to reproduce the problem. Having internal memory "just in case" may be worth the price tradeoff for some users.

The video looks great, especially considering the small lens: surprisingly sharp, with saturated colors, and excellent exposures with relatively few blown-out highlights. The DigicDV 3 processing does a solid job maximizing the dynamic range. Living-room light-level recordings look quite good as well. There's a bit of noise and softness, but that's to be expected. The audio records crisp and clear, too, though the microphone placement tends to pick up wind noise. There are some flaws, however. While they lack the fringing I saw on the higher-end models, outdoor shots do show a bit of haze over light, brightly exposed objects, and I think there's a bit more ghosting than usual on fast moving subjects. Still-photos looked good and even a bit better than the HF S models, though they're lower resolution.

The Canon Vixia HF20 and HF200 are excellent camcorders, but do cost a lot more than the competition. Of course, you could also look at it reversed: they're smaller and less expensive than high-end models like the HF S10/S100, while offering a lot of the same features.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 7 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 7 out of 7

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9 stars

Great HD value. Strikingly beautiful picture quality.

by Bantokfomoki on May 14, 2009

Pros: The Canon picture quality is excellent. Controls intuitive. Works decently in low light. I particularly liked the 15x zoom. Beats Sony SR47 60x because image starts out in HD. (1080 to 540@30x : SD is 480). Superior image stabilization.

Cons: I would like to have an optional "write to usb" to send the movie directly into a pocket portable hard drive running off the camera battery. Better low light would be nice. Stand alone software HD movie player wouldn't show green and is useless.

Summary: I found the picture quality to be perfect to my untrained eye. Absolutely beautiful. The 15x zoom surprised me ... it was superior to the Sony SR47 (SD) that I purchased ...

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Summary: I found the picture quality to be perfect to my untrained eye. Absolutely beautiful. The 15x zoom surprised me ... it was superior to the Sony SR47 (SD) that I purchased at Fry's and took back for store credit and upgraded to HD. Even at 60x digital zoom, the image stabilization was better than the Sony SR47 optical.

I zoomed in to 60x on a tv relay tower and could hold the zoom stable enough to count the cables on the receivers at a couple hundred yards. For someone used to SD, zooming in to 15x on some tree or flower in HD causes one to "tear up". It's just that beautiful.

Stereo sound was fine though not 5:1 Dolby.

You could do better if you upped the price to $1200 but the picture quality couldn't be improved at all. It doesn't get any better. I had a Panasonic SD9 HD camera in 2008 and took it back dissatisfied with picture quality and ate the $75 restocking fee. I won't be taking back the Canon HF200.

Though it lacks some features I'd like to have, I'm unwilling to pay much more for them. This Canon fulfills my minimum expectations perfectly and exceeds them by far in picture quality, zoom and image stabilization.

If you want a great HD picture quality at the lowest price ... this will fill the bill. And ... if you pay $8,000.00 for a professional HD rig ... it still won't give you better picture quality. Significantly better picture quality isn't offered on this planet (maybe you could get 1% better for 8g's). However, you can and will get 40% worse picture quality for about $200 dollars less.

One downside to HD cameras in general is the "hidden" cost of ownership. I now need a new computer ... my 5 year old HP can't quite handle the processing load required by HD files. And ... now my 720p Sony rear projection TV is inadequate for 1080p ... so ... I have to buy a new super duper LCD TV.

Well, I'd have to get them anyway sometime.

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8 out of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 stars

HF200 almost there

by WyKing on June 16, 2009

Pros: Nice picture quality in bright light.
Well made.
Easy to use.
Good pictures - 3.3 Mpix camera.
Quck change SDHC memory card.
Standard microphone connector
Intelligent shoe for light, zoom microphone etc.
High quality recordnings up to 24 Mb/s AVC.

Cons: Three camcorders tested exhibited the same error: Loud buzzing on the right channel of the earphone jack. Probably an error of the first production runs of the camcorder.
Automatic white balance bluish in overcast outdoors, yellowish indoors.

Summary: Yes, I would do the purchase, once again. At least judging from what I know now. Of course, don't expect the quality you get from a Sony PMW-EX1 and ...

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Summary: Yes, I would do the purchase, once again. At least judging from what I know now. Of course, don't expect the quality you get from a Sony PMW-EX1 and the likes of it (USD 7000 upwards, sales taxes included) but it's very close under ideal light conditions and/or if you use the excellent manual overrides for white balance, exposure etc.

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4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 stars

Dynamic in great light, want more universal codec.

by BrandonEarly on May 29, 2009

Pros: Small
Light
few buttons
easy to use
great video in good light
good audio
brilliant screen

Cons: not bad video in poor light but it really is no better than my $150 dv cam in poor light
few buttons means you have to scroll through a ton of thing until you find what you need
*.MTS file format...great quality not edit ready.

Summary: *.MTS file format has amazing quality at a great file size but I wanted something that was ready to edit out of the camera...iMovie and Premiere Pro CS4 (CS4 ...

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Summary: *.MTS file format has amazing quality at a great file size but I wanted something that was ready to edit out of the camera...iMovie and Premiere Pro CS4 (CS4 only nothing before) will convert it but I moved away from DV tapes so I did not have the real time upload...the conversion is almost real time, some times longer.

For the price I would wait until it drops...I would feel like I am getting a deal at $400 but feel a little unsatisfied at $600.

But it is still am amazing camera.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Just arrived, so far it's love at first sight.

by KirkWhite on April 3, 2009

Pros: Just got delivery of my new Vixia HF 200, I will offer my first glance thoughts.
She's tiny (great), she's easy to navigate (great), the picture quality in normal house-hold-cloudy-day lighting is amazing (great), intuative (great).

Cons: The software is less then expected, in all catagories. (not great), It will be unistalled.

Summary: I purchased this camera at Dell Canada for $699 Can. now on for $10 less. That is a great deal after shopping around. Love the SDHC flash card method, and ...

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Summary: I purchased this camera at Dell Canada for $699 Can. now on for $10 less. That is a great deal after shopping around. Love the SDHC flash card method, and purchased a 16 and an 8 GB card. If fits in my jacket pocket!!! And my chubby fingers have no problems with the controls. WOW! More later after I have lived with the little darlin' for a month or so.

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2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Wow what a small camera. Love at first sight.

by joanne2233 on July 13, 2009

Pros: It arrived overnight. I was impressed at how quickly my order was processed by Fumfie.com. The price was great only $545 before shipping and handling of course. Will definitely use this company again.

Cons: I'm really bad at comprehension so it will take me awhile to figure the camera out.I would like to just pick the camera up and start shooting but there is a bit to learn before that happens.

Summary: I have not had time to really use the camera but I am impressed at how small and light weight it is.

Summary: I have not had time to really use the camera but I am impressed at how small and light weight it is.

1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Great camera. Overkill if you're shooting home movies.

by Cr8zyCanuck on September 16, 2009

Pros: Decent Camera amazing picture quality.

Cons: Affraid it might break. Too expensive however I got mine for $700

Summary: Very good pro. quality. Mediumish price. Acceptable for people filming projects. Overkill for home movies.

Summary: Very good pro. quality. Mediumish price. Acceptable for people filming projects. Overkill for home movies.
7 stars

Great first Camcorder

by rutchester on September 8, 2009

Pros: Very easy to use. The dual mode is very nice. No touch screen, all functions work from a joystick and minimal buttons. Very light and small. Picture is fantastic. Image stabilizer is awesome.

Cons: A little tough to reach the thumb roller to change functions from camera to vidcamera. not a big deal. The software is a little bit cumbersome to transfer from the camera to computer.

Summary: Overall this was a great purchase. It was a gift for my wife and we had been shopping for cameras for 12-18 months. This has all of the features that ...

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Summary: Overall this was a great purchase. It was a gift for my wife and we had been shopping for cameras for 12-18 months. This has all of the features that a couple with young kids needs in terms of zoom, speed, size, ease of use. Having a fully flash memory camera is a must for us because of the ease of having many 16 Gig cards with us. the battery life is plentiful and all of the functions are there for a reason and work well. There are a lot of other cameras out there that have some similarities in features but none of them put together the whole package quite as well as Cannon does on this one. Great Job Cannon.

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Showing opinion 1 to 7 out of 7

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Canon USA
Part number: 3536B001
Description: The VIXIA HF200 delivers brilliant video and still photos through a Canon exclusive 3.89 megapixel CMOS image sensor and the latest version of Canon's advanced image processor, DIGIC DV III. It is ultra lightweight - Canon's smallest and lightest HD camcorder, and brings the ease and convenience of flash memory. This technology, the same used in advanced laptop computers, MP3 players, PDAs and cell phones, allows the VIXIA HF200 to record up to 6 hours of crisp, high definition video (LP mode) to a removable SDHC card. You have extended available recording space and more flexibility in file transfer and playback. What's more, the VIXIA HF200 allows you to record at up to 24Mbps, the highest bitrate in AVCHD format, for the highest quality image. The VIXIA HF200's Canon exclusive features - such as the genuine Canon 15x HD video lens, genuine Canon face detection capability, SuperRange optical image stabilization and a host of control and creative options.

General
Product Type Camcorder - 1080p
Digital Zoom 300 x
Effective Sensor Resolution 2.99 megapixels
Total Pixels 3.89 megapixels
Optical Sensor Size 1/4"
Optical Sensor Type CMOS
Min Illumination 0.4 lux
Analog Video Format NTSC
Digital Video Format AVCHD, MPEG-4
Image Stabilizer Optical (SuperRange)
Max Shutter Speed 1/2000 sec
Shooting Modes Digital photo mode
Shooting Programs Snow, Beach, Sunset, Fireworks, Spotlight, Night mode, Sports mode, Portrait mode
White Balance Custom, Presets, Automatic
White Balance Presets Shade, Cloudy, Daylight, Tungsten light, Fluorescent light (cool white), Fluorescent light (warm white)
Exposure Modes Manual, Program, Automatic, Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority
Camera Flash Built-in flash
Flash Modes Auto mode, Fill-in mode, Flash OFF mode, Red-eye reduction
Features AF illuminator
Widescreen Video Capture Yes
Main Features
Camcorder Sensor Resolution 3.89 megapixels
Camcorder Effective Video Resolution 2.99 megapixels
Camcorder Effective Still Resolution 3.31 megapixels
Color Support Color
Face Detection Yes
Still Image Format JPEG
Remote Control Remote control - Infrared
TV Tuner None
Memory / Storage
Flash Memory 32 GB Flash - Integrated (soldered memory - 32 GB )
Floppy Drive None
Media Type Flash card
Recording Speed LP, SP, XP, FXP, MXP, XP+
Camera Flash
Red Eye Reduction Yes
Lens System
Type Zoom lens - 4.1 mm - 61.5 mm - F/1.8-3.2
Focal Length 4.1 mm - 61.5 mm
Lens Aperture F/1.8-3.2
Optical Zoom 15 x
Lens system type Zoom lens
Lens Construction 9 group(s) / 11 element(s)
Min focal length 4.1 mm
Max focal length 61.5 mm
Auto Focus TTL contrast detection
Features Aspherical lens, Built-in lens shield
Filter Size 37 mm
Focus Adjustment Manual, Automatic
Min Focus Range 0.4 in
Zoom Adjustment Motorized drive
Additional Features
Self Timer Yes
Self Timer Delay 10 sec
Low Lux / Night Mode Yes
Digital Still Camera Function Yes
Additional Features Face detection, 24p Cinema Mode, Built-in speaker, Histogram display, Exif Print support, PictBridge support, Accessories hot shoe, Progressive scanning, USB 2.0 compatibility, RGB primary color filter, Takes photos while movie recording, Dolby Digital AC-3 (2 channel) recording
Remote control Remote control - Infrared
Software Drivers & Utilities, Pixela ImageMixer 3SE
Included Accessories Wrist strap
Viewfinder
Viewfinder Type None
Display
Type LCD display - TFT active matrix - 2.7 in - Color
Digital Player (Recorder)
Type None
Microphone
Type Microphone - Built-in

Connections
Connector Type 1 x Component video output, 1 x Composite video/audio output, 1 x HDMI, 1 x Microphone, 1 x USB, 1 x Headphones
Expansion Slot(s) 1 x SD Memory Card
Audio Input
Audio input type Microphone
Microphone type Built-in
Microphone Operation Mode Stereo
Microphone Technology Electret condenser
System Requirements for PC Connection
Peripheral Devices USB port, CD-ROM drive
Miscellaneous
Cables Included 1, 1 x Component video cable, 1 x A/V cable, USB cable
Power
Power Device Power adapter - External
Battery type - Lithium ion
Battery
Supported Battery Canon BP-809
Supported Battery 1 x Li-ion rechargeable battery - 890 mAh ( Included )
Manufacturer Warranty
Service & Support 1 year warranty
Service & Support Details Limited warranty - Parts and labor - 1 year
Viewfinder / Display
Display Form Factor Rotating
Display Format 211,000 pixels
Physical Characteristics
Width 2.8 in
Depth 4.9 in
Height 2.4 in
Weight 12 oz

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Canon Vixia HF200

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Specifications

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Memory / Storage

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Additional Features

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Miscellaneous

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