I recently blogged about a basic high-definition camcorder that comes at an entry-level price and can do basic point-and-shoot. If you’re looking to go to a higher-end model, consider the Canon’s VIXIA HF-10 AVCHD.

The HF-10 is a very small form-factor camcorder, making it portable in just about any type of camera bag — or even in your pocket, if you’re in a pinch. It also has some manual controls for those who like more options in their shooting, and a very, very nice 12x optical zoom lens. It’s rare to see an optical zoom of that length on a camcorder in this price range. Since it’s an optical zoom, that means the picture quality won’t degrade as you zoom in closer.

One of the camera’s biggest selling points for me is its flash memory. It has 16GB of memory built in, enough for storing up to about two hours of high-quality video, and about six hours of lower-quality video. It also contains a slot for SDHC removable flash cards. It works the same as a memory card in a digital camera; if you need more recording space than available on the internal hard drive, just pop in an SDHC card, and fire up the camera.

In my mind, this is a big advantage. Many camcorders can record straight to a CD or DVD. That makes them bigger and heavier, however, and flash drives are much more portable than CDs or DVDs. They’re also coming down a lot in price.

Finally, it’s a Canon. I’ve been the proud owner of a number of Canon camcorders, and find them to be outstanding in terms of quality and features. Canon is famous for the quality of its lenses in particular, and few things are more important in capturing great images than a good lens. In all, this camcorder offers a lot, for not a lot of money.