Photos: Hands-on with the Canon HF10 flash HD camcorder

It's tough, the life of a Craver: here we are, roistering around the Moroccan desert to test out the Canon HF10 high-definition flash memory camcorder, when we'd much rather be at home playing with our robots.

The HF10 shoots 1,920x1,080-pixel footage in AVCHD format. It utilises a 1/3.2-inch, 3-megapixel CMOS image sensor with integrated noise reduction. On top of this is an external sensor that measures distance to the subject. This turbocharges autofocus performance. Meanwhile, the 12x optical zoom lens has a 35mm film equivalent wide angle of 42.9mm.

The sleek lines, chunky shape and rock-solid construction feels reassuringly expensive, benefiting from detail such as the battery's seamless integration with the chassis and the SD card's nifty pop-up cover. It looks great: a shiny black brick, with a touch of glitter. Standard camcorder layout: hand strap on the right, zoom on the top, fold-out swivelly screen on the left.

Canon is marketing its camcorders, including the HF10, with the slogan 'freecording'. Catchy, eh? At more than £600, the HF10 seems rather pricey and overpowered for the sort of YouTube-friendly tarting about in the adverts, but there you go. Click through the links to get a closer look at more of the HF10. -Rich Trenholm

Update: Read our full Canon HF10 review. 

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