CanonLEGRIA HF G70 4K Camcorder - 4K UHD/25P - 20x Optical Zoom Lens - Optical Image Stabilization - Dual Card Slots - USB-C Connectivity, Live Streaming Support

The media could not be loaded. I’ve had the opportunity to put the new Canon HF G70 to the test over the last month, which has been a good length of time to see where its successes and failures are. Generally, I’ve been really happy with the video camera, and what it’s been able to offer, but I’ve also lived with some of the reasons why these kinds of cameras have fallen out of favour compared to the mass of compact and mirrorless cameras that offer exceptional video as well as the obvious photographic advantages.My typical use of the camera is for my Amazon reviews, such as this, and game streaming videos for YouTube where I have the video camera overlaying its image over the game footage via Streamlabs OBS. Normally, the camera is fixed in place on a tripod or camera arm on or around my desk.The Canon is a traditional video camera. An evolution of those massive things your mum and dad used to have. You generally film one handed with your right hand clasped between the camera body and a soft adjustable strap. The lens is not interchangeable, so you’re limited to the factory optical parameters (in this case a 58mm lens with 20x optical zoom). It’s a familiar concept to anyone who has owned video cameras in the past, and is really only for videoing. Although it has the ability to take photographs you wouldn’t buy this camera with any intention of shooting stills with it. Unlike a mirrorless camera that offers high quality stills and video in the same body.Statistics wise, you’re getting a camera capable of 4K (with a suitable memory card) at 25 frames per second, or Full HD at up to 50 frames per second. It can also do x2, x4, x10, x20, x60, x120, x600, x1200 fast motion rates at 4K, adding x0.5 slow speed at Full HD 25 frames per second.The body of the camera features a USB-C/Thunderbolt power port towards the rear which the mains adapter fits into, or can be powered from other suitable source such as a USB hub or portable power bank. This can provide power while the battery is still in place, and you are not restricted by charging when filming. This works well and I’ve filmed for lengthy streaming stints of up to 2 hours with no issues at all. Towards the front there is a port area behind a door that has a second USB-C/Thunderbolt port to allow connection to your PC/Laptop, a mini-HDMI port for connection to TVs, a port for a remote controlled (sold separately) and port for both a microphone and headphones. It’s nice to see a headphone port as that’s not always present. I would have preferred to see a full-sized HDMI port as I’m sure there’s room for one, and they’re much more common cables. I do have a very good mini-HDMI cable so it’s not an issue for me, but that’s not the case for everyone and it’s just extra expense. You could also use a USB-C to HDMI cable if you have one. The USB-C port has provided reliable and instant video straight to my laptop, and there appears to be no delay between the moving picture and the sound coming from my Blue Yeti microphone. That wasn’t the case with my Logitech Brio 4K webcam that I usually use which was always 4-5 frames behind the sound.Elsewhere you get a tilt and flip screen to allow you to film selfies. The screen has a very good touchscreen which is nice to use. On the rear of the camera is the record button, a menu button and a toggle joystick to navigate the menus. I found the positioning of the menu button to be awkward, and quickly found navigating around the menus to be actually fatiguing with the weight of the camera wanting to roll away from you. There’s a physical switch on the top of the camera to turn it on. Forward to turn on recording mode, backwards to switch it to playback mode. I felt there was a sizeable delay between switching from one mode to another.There a several buttons on the body of the camera that can be personalised within the menus to perform various different functions. What was frustrating was that while there are lots of different functions you could choose, the one function I wanted to choose was a record button. The reason behind this is that I record the vast majority of my content from in front of the camera, and the record button is not only at the back of the camera but in an awkward to reach position from the front. The flip and tilt screen has two customisable buttons that would be perfect to have as a second record button, but the option isn’t available. Fortunately, for my workstream, I use software on my laptop to control recording of the camera so I rarely actually touch the physical record button. That’s not going to be the case for everyone though.The battery mounts on the rear of the camera and the sole-supplied battery is good for a claimed 180 minutes of filming. I’ve not done enough mobile filming away from a power source to see if that’s realistic, but looking at the drop-off on the battery indicator I would suggest that might be optimistic.The memory card slot is hidden behind the tilt/flip screen, and then behind a lift-up door. There you will find two SD memory card slots. This is nice to see as you can safe guard yourself from memory card failures by setting up a dual-record function. There’s actually a few options you have here, which I liked seeing, such as having one card dedicated to video and the other to photography for example. When I first started playing with the camera I found that the memory card I was using wasn’t good enough to allow 4K filming. I got a message saying that I was limited to Full HD recording with that memory card, so I got hold of a Lexar Professional 1667x SD card from Amazon which is rated highly for its data transmission speed and 4K filming was soon available to me.You get a removable lens cap, and also a hood with built-in lens flap. I prefer the hood for my personal application, and the flap works well to quickly get filming.Over the last month I’ve done about a dozen YouTube and Amazon videos and I’ve been really happy with footage I’ve gotten. I’ve filmed in both bright and low light conditions and been pleased with the footage, and also in artificially lit conditions too using a combination of my Neewer studio light panels, a Zhiyun Molus light cube and the Philips Hue colour GU10 for ambience. I’ve gotten much better results than I ever did with my previous camera solutions.There is a degree of image stabilisation to the camera, so going hand-held won’t produce those horribly shaky video productions of old, but realistically I’d suggest a stabilising rig for super-smooth filming.Would I buy it though? That’s a tricky question. It’s a great, relatively compact, all-in-one video camera. It will appeal to a lot of people familiar with that type of camera. And it will appeal to people who just want a video camera, and perhaps one that is straight-forward to use. As a simple point-and-shoot video camera, it’s really good. But, it’s not for everyone. Content creators probably won’t be interested in it. You’re limited to the lens, there’s no waterproofing and it’s still quite bulky compared to compact cameras such as the Sony ZV range. People serious about video production would go for the incredible range of mirrorless cameras you can now get, such as the Panasonic Lumix S5 II or Fuji X-H2. They’ll give you so much more functionality, and offer all the different filming file formats you’re going to ever need. And they’re superb still cameras too.For me, it’s doing everything that I want it to do as a video camera. I already have a DSLR camera for stills. But, would I have spent £1,089.00 (at time of testing) on purely a video camera of this specification? Probably not. £1,000 will get you an awful lot of equipment these days, which will do what the Canon does and more. It won’t get you the S5 II or the X-H2, not by a long way, but it’ll get you a Sony ZV which is an incredibly popular option for many. Really pleased with my time with it as I have been, I’d suggest the Canon would need to be £200-300 cheaper for me to seriously consider it as a purchase.