Canon Vixia HFS21

Metascore

TechSpot Metascore

Based on 11 expert reviews

Excellent:

3
Good:

6
Average:

2
Bad:

0

7.2

User Score

Based on 33 reviews
as scored by Amazon users

Pros:

Dual SD card slots.
Comfortable to hold/use.
Vibrant 3.5" touch screen.

Cons:

Average low light video quality.
Default is nonHD quality.

Last revision on October 5, 2015

Editors Liked

Dual SD card slots
Comfortable to hold/use
Vibrant 3.5" touch screen
Excellent video quality
Lots of settings available
Generally well-designed interface
Easy to use, but with advanced options
Touchscreen LCD
Native 24p
Component and HDMI output
Effortless video transfer to computer
Bags of storage

Editors Didn't Like

Average low light video quality
Default is nonHD quality
Touch screen interface is tough to use
Poorly designed touch-screen menu system
Short battery life
Doesn't support SDXC
No HDMI cable
No carrying case
Grain in low light
Colors are a bit dull
Bulky design
Costly investment

Expert reviews and ratings

By TechReviewSource on December 28, 2010 70

The Canon VIXIA HF S21 is a dual-memory card digital camcorder that offers a 10x optical zoom lens, an 8-megapixel resolution and a 3.5-inch touch screen display. It records onto SDHC flash memory cards and can record at a maximum resolution of...

By cnet on June 07, 2010 80

While they're an excellent trio of camcorders, the Vixia HF S21, HF S20, and HF S200 are significantly more expensive than their respective competitors, especially since the S20 and S200 lack electronic viewfinders. If you can forego some of the...

By Testfreaks on May 29, 2010 90

The Canon HF S21 might be considered a consumer grade camcorder, but it’s more prosumer. It’s a camera that’s as close as you’ll get to a professional grade camcorder without spending ten thousand plus dollars.The Vixia HF S21 is...

By Expert Reviews on April 26, 2010 80

A well-designed camcorder, but Panasonic's TM700 and SD700 provide better quality video for less money....

By Stuff.tv on March 19, 2010 100

Not the easiest camcorder to use, but more than compensates with fine hi-def performance and pro-level features...

By TechRadar on March 18, 2010 90

Sitting at the pinnacle of Canon's 2010 range of consumer camcorders, the LEGRIA HF S21 is a powerful and practical Full HD model with a 64GB flash memory, 3.5-inch LCD touchscreen and two (yes, two) SD card slots.This is a camcorder targeted at...

By PC Advisor on March 08, 2010 70

The Canon Legria HF S21 is a good HD camcorder but its implementation of touchscreen control prevents it from being a truly great consumer high-definition camcorder. Neil Bennett...

By DigitalVersus on February 09, 2010 80

Two SD card slots One of the new features on the HF S21 is the addition of a second SD card slot, which seriously increases the amount of storage space should you need it.The S21 already has 64 GB of internal memory, allowing you to record up to six...

By Photography Bay on July 22, 2010

The Canon VIXIA HF-S21 is a great camcorder for the home movie maker to the pro. Use it just as it comes out of the box to capture great footage of the family and favorite events or add a few accessories and turn up the heat and capture some really...

By Videomaker on May 11, 2010

This camera makes a great little tool for video creators of all levels. Handy, compact and takes great HD footage. A definite buy.Luke Scherba is a video producer and small business owner. Canon USA One Canon Plaza Lake Success, NY 11042...

By infoSync World on April 13, 2010

Canon's top HD badboy is here! We take the Canon Vixia HF S21 high definition camcorder down to Chinatown in our comprehensive...

By SimplyDV on April 09, 2010

Canon’s flagship Legria HF S21 offers full 24Mbps 1920×1080 HD video recording plus 25P progressive scan video and is already grabbing the attention of serious videomakers. But can it improve on its predecessors? In the last year or so,...

By Expert Reviews on March 01, 2010 80

Canon's Legria sub-brand, of which the new HF S21 is now the flagship, was the first to offer full 24Mbits/sec 1920 x 1080 HD video recording in a consumer camcorder. This, plus its ability to shoot 25p progressive scan video, could well be the...

By CamcorderInfo on January 29, 2010

While Canon spent a good deal of effort improving the features for the HF S21, it didn't do much (if anything) to improve the video performance of the camcorder. In our testing, the HF S21 actually did worse with color accuracy than last year's...

By PCMweb on May 26, 2011 80

De Canon HFS21 is een goede camcorder met een aantal prettige en handige functies. Het gebruiksgemak kan nog iets beter en het scherm mag wat minder weerkaatsen, maar voor de rest is dit een camera die we je kunnen...

By Les Num�riques on February 09, 2010 80

Le HF S21 offre une remarquable stabilité en grand angle comme en zoom grâce au Powered IS et un écran LCD d'excellente qualité. Son image HDTV 1080 est parfaite, malgré la présence de bruit en basse lumière. Un...

By slashCAM on March 04, 2010

Die HF S Serie von Canon ist definitiv keine schlechte Kamera. Die Schärfe liegt nur leicht unter den Möglichkeiten dieser Preisklasse und die manuellen Möglichkeiten sind ebenfalls sehr passabel. Der Touchscreen ist eine echte...

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TechSpot

Canon Vixia HFS21

Metascore

Pros & Cons

Reviews

Price: $2,999

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