Canon Vixia HF10 vs. Sony Handycam HDR-CX7

• The Contenders
• Design
• Features
• Performance
• Compatibility
• Video quality
• The winner is...

Round 3: Performance

Lights, camera, action! Action?

Flash-based camcorders, like their hard-drive siblings, have much better start-up and stop/start execution than their tape-based ancestors. However, autofocus speed, autoexposure adjustment, and image-stabilization quality remain key performance indicators.

Camcorder	Lori	Phil	Total
Canon Vixia HF10	4 The HF10 displays some of the best focus characteristics we've seen from a consumer-level Canon camcorder--fast and rock solid-- and its image stabilization works well out to the end of the 12x zoom.	4 Solid, fast focus, combined with image stabilization all the way out to 12x and accurate exposure make for a camcorder that performs just as you'd want it to.	8
Sony Handycam HDR-CX7	4 The sharp Zeiss T*-coated lens remains one of the best assets of Sony's prosumer camcorders, and the CX7's focus and image-stabilization performance keeps up the line's reputation.	4 The CX7's autofocus is quite snappy, the autoexposure reacts quickly to changes in environment, and the T* lens serves up sharp footage with stabilization that covers the lens's range.	8

Winner: Tie