By Billy Teo, a freelance writer

TO ANY video buff chaffing at this camcorder's price tag, rest assured you get your money's worth.

As a full HD (1,920 by 1,080 pixels) video recorder, footage from the Legria HF21 is top class.

In one video clip, shot in a Japanese restaurant, the colours and texture of a plate of sushi looked so mouth-watering, I wanted to grab the items off the screen to polish them off.

In fact, my pan of the rooftop garden at VivoCity looked so professional - because of the quality - when played on my 40-inch LED HD telly, my family members thought they were watching a video from a Blu-ray disc. Good news for newbies: The Legria's automatic mode is quick and intelligent and can handle most shooting scenes, including night and low light.

As an AVCHD camcorder (this is a new HD camcorder format), it also offers manual control. For complete video and audio control, jack in a headphone and microphone - a provision missing in other camcorders of its ilk. Getting to menus is quick: Just a flick of the joystick-like controller on the flip-out LCD screen and shooting options are all there for the picking.

The 64GB of flash memory allows almost six hours of footage at the best quality.

Still 3.3-megapixel shots are sharp too.

There are just two personal preferences missing: First, a manual focus ring rather than buttons for quick control to blur out and sharpen a background in quick succession, for instance. Second, an HDMI cable for connecting to an HD TV.

Final say

Excellent quality from a versatile camcorder barely larger than a can of Coca-Cola.

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