PHOTOS: Canon's LEGRIA HF S21 camcorder hands-on

CES 2010: Updated flagship model with LCD touchscreen

9 January 2010 8:05 GMT / By Duncan Geere

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Canon has announced updates to its flagship HF S21, HF S20 and HF S200 camcorders. All have been granted great big 3.5-inch touchscreen LCDs - a shift from the previous joystick-based approach.

We got hands on with the HF S21 - the top of the range - and snapped a few pictures of the device and got an idea of what it's like to handle. It has 64GB of internal flash memory, along with dual SD card slots, and an electronic viewfinder.

The HF S20 lacks the viewfinder and only has 32GB of internal memory, and the HF S200 doesn't have any internal memory at all, or the viewfinder, but does have the twin SD card slots to store your photos on.

All the HF S camcorders have 1/2.6-inch CMOS sensors, with 8.59 megapixels - much the same as the models they've replaced in Canon's range. However, the optical stabilisation has been improved with a powered OIS setting in the menus.

The HF S21 should cost $1400, the HF S20 will be more like $1100 and the HF S200 will cost around $1000. All will be showing up in April in the USA. When we get UK pricing and availability, we'll be sure to let you know.