Canon LEGRIA HF S21 High Definition Digital Camcorder - Black (10 X Optical Zoom, 3.5 Inch Touch-screen LCD)

The ultimate in professional HD quality
The ultimate in HD quality camcording, the LEGRIA HF S21 combines astonishing High Definition and innovative touch screen controls with even more advanced shooting options such as Manual Control, Colour Peaking and Zebra Assist - making it the ideal choice for professional videographers and other experienced camcorder users. Add in new Powered Optical Image Stabilisation, a massive dual flash memory with 64GB Flash Memory built in, two external card slots and a range of fun and creative modes the LEGRIA HF S21 brings you outstanding image quality that is easy to shoot and easy to share - true joy in motion.

Features include a full HD 8.0 MP CMOS sensor, powerful processing with Face Detection Technologies, high speed focusing and 10x Canon optical zoom lens. Smart Auto, Intelligent Scene Detection Technology, automatically gives you great-looking movies with no user input; meanwhile enhanced Video Snapshot and 25p Cinema Mode let you capture the stories of life in original, fun and exciting ways with the ultimate in vivid image quality. And sharing your movies on internet sites like YouTube has never been easier thanks to HD-SD conversion, Easy web upload, and unique Eye-Fi support.

The large 3.5" touch screen makes focusing and changing other settings easy. Click here for a larger image

Big touch screen control
The LEGRIA HF S21 combines a very high resolution, high contrast, 3.5" LCD screen - the largest on the market displaying 100% of the recorded image - with innovative touch screen controls and conventional buttons for optimal ease and speed of use. Featuring high visibility icons and smooth animation with all the hallmarks of Canon quality, touch control is used for all commonly used functions when both shooting and viewing images.

When shooting you are just a touch away from selecting your shooting mode, changing flash settings or adjusting exposure compensation. A single touch to a face or an object on the screen will also set auto focus. The focus will remain locked on the selected face/object whether the face/object or the camera moves and the exposure always compensates automatically - so you will never miss a photo opportunity and it will be in focus and correctly exposed.

In playback you can magnify and flick between images, choose a new 3D view, scroll display and watch your HD movies with just a touch. You can even customise touch actions to suit own preferences.

Meanwhile simple slide controls allow for easy intuitive manual set up of exposure and aperture.

Astonishing High Definition
The combination of a full HD 8.0 Megapixel CMOS sensor and silent HD 10x zoom video lens produces astonishing high definition within a compact body. The full HD CMOS sensor gives true HD quality without any pixel interpolation for excellent colour reproduction, has low power consumption, is sensitive to low light and provides brilliant colour balance for the ultimate in image quality. It also means your movies will look great on your HD TV. Sound quality is also excellent at both low and high volume thanks to extensive audio controls including an Auto Microphone Attenuator, which removes audio spikes.

The ergonomic custom dial and key give you fast, direct access for professional control. Click here for a larger image

Advanced shooting features for even more creative control
The LEGRIA HF S21 includes a wide range of advanced functions that assist in attaining accurate focusing and controlling exposure for perfect results.

The latest innovation is a 0.27" Electronic View Finder (EVF). Added to the specification following feedback from professional film makers, the EVF is a very small LCD screen which projects a live view of the scene as seen by the camcorders sensor, ie identical to what you would see on the main LCD screen. It shows exactly what will be captured, as you look at your subject straight through the lens and is clearly visible in daylight.

Switching to Manual Control gives you fast, direct access to professional level manual controls. Using an improved ergonomic customisable Control Dial and Custom Key you can assign shortcuts for the manual functions you use most frequently, including exposure lock, focus, assist functions, microphone level and auto gain control (AGC).

AGC limit allows you to set the sensitivity of dark scenes to achieve a natural darkness with no noise. The lower the sensitivity value the lower the noise and the better the quality of the dark scene. More light can be added by raising the sensitivity value, although more noise will be apparent.

Available assist functions include Colour Peaking, which adds colour to the edges of objects being focused on during manual focusing, and Zebra Assist, which allows you to easily spot over-exposure.

The LEGRIA HF S21 also features a built-in LANC control - so there is no longer a need for a separate RA-V1 remote control adaptor.

The new Powered Optical Image Stabiliser ensures shake free movies every time. Click here for a larger image

Smooth, professional looking movies
The new Powered Optical Image Stabiliser compensates for almost every kind of movement so you can get smooth professional-looking movies without blurring, even when zoomed in for extreme close ups. You can easily switch from Standard Mode to Dynamic Range when you want to stabilise heavy hand shake on the move, for example when shooting from a moving car or when walking or climbing up and down stairs, ensuring clearly visible, shake free movies. For even more powerful stabilization Powered mode can be activated by the touch of a button to boost compensation for camera shake when zooming in.

Intelligent by design for the perfect image
To ensure top quality true-to-life video under any lighting conditions, the LEGRIA HF S21 now boasts Canon's Smart Auto Technology that was pioneered in their digital still cameras. Smart Auto mode allows the camcorder to intelligently select the appropriate settings so you can concentrate on your subject and still be sure of great looking movies. Advanced Scene Detection Technology automatically analyses shooting conditions - detecting people, distance, brightness, colour and movement information - then selects the perfect settings from 31 specially defined scenes. So whether you're filming fireworks, a captivating sunset, your child on stage and in the spotlight or friends playing football in the park you can be confident you're getting the perfect image.

High speed, precision focusing
Unique to Canon HD camcorders, Instant AF (auto focus) uses two auto focus sensors to help you find the perfect focus with speed and accuracy. This is great for HD movies where errors in focusing can be more noticeable. The first sensor quickly estimates the distance to the subject, while the second makes fine adjustments for absolute precision. It's effective even when shooting at night or with slow shutter speeds, plus it works so quickly - refocusing takes place in about 0.5 seconds - you may not even notice it's there.

Massive dual flash memory with Relay Recording
The LEGRIA HF S21 incorporates an enormous built-in flash memory of 64GB so you can record and save over 24 hours of HD movies. There are also not one but two SDHC memory card slots so you can combine internal with double external memory. For instance using two additional 32GB SD cards will increase available memory to 128GB - that's around 48hours of recording time. Meanwhile Relay Recording means there is no need to stop filming when one memory gets full as the camcorder automatically switches to the next available free storage.

You can also copy movies from the internal flash drive onto one of the removable memory cards, so they are ready and waiting for immediate viewing by friends and family.

With Eye-Fi Video cards you can upload direct to the web without the need for a PC. Click here for a larger image

Sharing has never been easier
The LEGRIA HF S21 incorporates an inbuilt HD-SD converter, so you can easily downgrade your HD movies for uploading to internet sites like YouTube. All you have to do is select HD-SD conversion when you copy your movie from one memory source to another. Easy Web Upload software is already included free in the box, which displays your SD clips and can store your YouTube log in details, so all you have to do is select your clip and upload with one click.

Unique to Canon camcorders the LEGRIA HF S21 also incorporates dedicated support functions for Eye-Fi video cards. Eye-Fi are the first memory cards with their own Wi-Fi transmitter that allows you to effortlessly transfer videos directly from the camcorder direct to online sharing sites via the Eye-Fi server without the need for a PC. You can also send movies wirelessly to your own PC and customize not just where your movies are sent but also how you want them organised.

Fun short movies made easy
Using Video Snapshot mode it is fun and easy to create great video montages without the need for a PC. Simply press the record button to capture 2, 4 or 8-second standard definition clips from your HD originals, either during filming or playback, then select a series of clips and create a 'playlist' in one file for an easy multi-shot movie. This can then be set to music, chosen from the pre-loaded rights-free tracks on the camcorder or the selection supplied on the accompanying CD. Alternatively you can link the camcorder to any mobile MP3 player and upload your own music tracks.

25p Cinema Mode gives you more detail in light and shadow areas - like feature films. Click here for a larger image

Make your own feature films
The LEGRIA HF S21 camcorder provides a unique feature called 25p Cinema Mode. This combines a frame rate, similar to traditional film, with special CINE colour settings to give you more detail in light and shadowy areas - just like the feature films you see at the cinema. You can select either 25p shooting or CINE colouring separately and choose from a range of image effects including Vivid, Neutral, Soft, Soft skin detail, and Custom settings to broaden your creative options further.

Designed to connect
The LEGRIA HF S21 connects to a wide range of accessories via a new mini advanced shoe. This new design has reduced the space needed for fitting accessories to around 55% of previous models. What's more with direct print capability you can to print your still photographs directly from the camera without the need to connect to a PC.

A world of Advantages with Canon Technology

Highest quality video at 24Mbps
All of Canon's HD camcorders record movies at a data rate of 24Mbps - the highest rate possible - to ensure that sharp detail, smooth motion and beautiful colours can all be recorded precisely. Great for capturing fast-paced action.

60 years of lens excellence
Every Canon camcorder lens is constructed to the most exacting standards and backed by 60 years experience in crafting lenses for broadcast. Up to 13 individual lenses can be included in a single Canon camcorder lens, each featuring aspheric lens elements to remove any image distortion for the highest quality movies. Canon make their own lenses and their outstanding image quality is underscored by their use in most broadcast applications. For example programs like Coronation Street, Casualty and X Factor and nature documentaries like The Blue Planet and Life, as well as the majority of outside broadcasts in the UK, are all recorded using Canon's state-of-the-art broadcast lenses.

Face Detection Technology locates faces and automatically optimises shooting settings. Click here for a larger image

Processing power with Face Detection
The DIGIC DV III processor lies at the heart of Canon's superior imaging quality. Developed to handle the increased data rate and requirements of HD, the processor employs a unique noise reduction system for clear sharp images with excellent colour reproduction and tonal range. It can also capture great detail in highlight and shadow areas, ensures bright and accurate flash shooting and basically lets you leave difficult shooting conditions up to the camera for error-free footage every time.

The DIGIC DV III processor also powers Canon's Face Detection Technology, which can simultaneously detect the faces of up to 35 individuals in a single frame, automatically optimizing shooting settings for each. Up to nine faces are highlighted automatically so you can select the star of your movie and be sure they will remain perfectly focused at all times. Even when faces are framed against very dark or very light backgrounds they remain correctly exposed and focused. Face Detection can also be used in playback to find a recorded scene featuring a specific person. Face Jump and Face Timeline allow you to see captured faces as thumbnails on the LCD screen.

Split path processing also allows the option of high quality photo capture, separate to video, optimising them for contrast, detail and viewing as printed photos.

The hexagonal Lens diaphragm creates a more pleasing 'bokeh' effect. Click here for a larger image

You don't need to stop recording to capture stills as you can set all key controls to automatic Dual Shot mode, which allows you to capture great action sequences and up to 8MP still shots at the same time. With Photo Burst you can also capture stills from a sequence of recorded video. With a press of the Photo button 25 individual shots are created from a single second of video - a fun way to capture the best scenes as photographs. Thanks to a hexagonal lens diaphragm, stills also feature better 'bokeh' effect for more beautiful pictures.

A fresh, new approach to camcording
Derived from the Portuguese word meaning 'joy', LEGRIA camcorders offer supreme ease of use, fun features and outstanding quality. Based on over 70 years of Canon's imaging know-how they let you capture the world as you see it, giving you stunning details in the palm of your hand. Canon's no-compromise approach to quality, elegance and simplicity is evident in all aspects of the design so you can create exciting, original videos that you are truly proud of.