Canon VIXIA HF11 [Review]

Canon VIXIA HF11 [Review]

Jayesh Limaye, Mar 27, 2009 1720 hrs IST

Vacations are approaching - time to review a HD camcorder

Compact, stylish, excellent build, ergonomic, 32 GB SSD + SD HC, image quality, battery life, remote control, optical image stabilization

Slightly heavy, no carry pouch, power button difficult to use, camera button not protruding enough, thumbwheel placed at an awkward position

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Bundle

Canon HF11
Wrist strap (attached)
Warranty card
ImageMixer manual
ImageMixer 3 SE disk
Canon Digital Solution disk (containing Windows software ZoomBrowser EX 6.1 and DV TWAIN Driver 6.6, and ImageBrowser 6.1 for Macintosh)
2 instruction manuals
Power cable and adapter
Li-ion Battery
USB cable
Component cable
AV cable
Wireless controller (with battery)

The Canon VIXIA HF11 bundle comes with all that is necessary, and you will not need to purchase anything. The HF11 has better compatibility with most PCs as it has a USB 2.0 interface rather than FireWire, which, though faster, is a lot less common. We wished that Canon could have provided some kind of a carry pouch to carry this camcorder around. The AV cable and Composite cable let you connect the camcorder to a TV to view videos directly on TV from the camcorder. Though an HDMI port is present, a cable is not provided.

The small lithium button-cell powered wireless controller that comes with the HF11 is a good addition, and is actually useful. You can attach the cam to a tripod, or just place it anywhere and start shooting - a good application for those who like to spy. You can do just about everything - start/stop recording, zoom in and out, etc, except change the mode of the camcorder using the wireless controller. The wireless controller supplied with this cam can only be used when you enable wireless control in the camera. This is an IR wireless, so the IR sensor beside the LCD on the cam needs to be in the line of vision. We tried to use the wireless controller from over 20 feet and it worked without a problem; we didn't try any farther, since it is not practical and the LCD is hardly visible from such a distance.