Canon HG10 AVCHD High Definition Camcorder with Optical Image Stabilizer
by Canon
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon HG10 AVCHD High Definition Camcorder with Optical Image Stabilizer
Customer Review: HG10 is overall the best AVCHD camcorder available today
Summary: 5 Stars
HG10 is not perfect, but probably the best AVCHD consumer HD camcorder available today. HG10 appears to strike a balance between picture quality (close enough to HV20) and ease of use. Some observations:
1. Instant auto focus and excellent image quality. Excellent optics and smooth zoom. Colors are superb and usability (handling) is great.
2. 60i is very good for overall use (day light, sports, trip videos, fast moving scenes, etc.,). Got mixed results on 24p (Found this mode useful only in limited occasions with no pan or little object movement. 24p is ideal for conversations, presentations, and low-light indoor shots where the combined picture quality of 24p+cinemode is outstanding!!). Given that no other consumer AVCHD camcorder has 24P feature, I consider even the *limited use* 24p mode in HG10 a bonus feature on top of superb 60i.
3. Video Archival/Edit/Play: Just like *.jpeg files digital camera, AVCHD camcorder such as HG10 stores each scene (start->stop record cycle) as an *.MTS file. These files can be archived to PC/MAC, restored back to HG10, played at random on a HDTV, and with a modern PC can be transcoded to other formats for sharing, ..etc.,. This was the main attractive point (convenience in home HD video viewing) in choosing AVCHD over HDV. HG10 can be hooked up to a HDTV using HDMI- type C connector or component cable, browse all the video clips easily and play them (one or continuous) using the supplied remote.
HG10 comes with Corel application disk (GuideMenu) which is good enough for archival/restoration of selected video clips to/from PC. Using my 3-yr old PC (2.6Ghz P4) it took about 630 secs to backup 7.5GB (~ 1hr HD video with 40 clips) to PC. To my surprise I was able to play the M2TS files using the supplied Intervideo WinDVD SE player. Since this PC is old, noticed my video and audio were out of sync but the M2TS files are intact. Any archived HG10 files can be loaded back to camcorder and played nicely on a HDTV. Copying files from PC to HG10 is a slow process (2GB takes 15mins!). This apparently is due to the processing required by the Corel GuideMenu software on the PC. Probably my PC is due for an upgrade (to latest core2 duo + HD capable video card such as nVidia 8600) for any serious AVCHD editing using Ulead Video studio 11 plus or Pinnacle 11+.
I also noticed that my PC recognized HG10 as a 40GB usb drive!! Though not recommended, I was able to copy entire HG10 /AVCHD folder that contains BDMV/STREAM/*.MTS video files to PC and restore it. This direct file transfer is really fast and 7.5 GB transfer takes around 330 seconds. Make sure to copy or restore entire /AVCHD folder (or else file indexing misses the clips). If you have a Blu-ray player, I heard these AVCHD files can be burned to a DVD (no editing or encoding needed) and played directly.
4. Usability: My favorites are the zoom rocker and the LCD dialer. Overall HG10 has very good built quality. There is a slight learning curve (< 1 hr) on various controls and cool options. I tried both SR7 and HV20 and felt HG10 has overall superior usability and handling.
5. Supplied battery lasts about 75-100 mins of typical use. Hard disk is plenty with occasional PC/Laptop backup. Extra battery is worth having if you are on long trips.
These are not issues, but few things Canon might consider improving in their next rev.
1. Support Multiple Playlists: HG10 has 40GB that is good enough for 5 hrs of 15Mbs HD video containing dozens (may be few hundred) clips containing various scenes and occasions. HG10 has a nice feature to tag (group) selected video clips into a playlist. Clips in a playlist can be played in sequence and controlled as a group (eg: delete/transfer,..). I think this is a cool feature except HG10 supports only one playlist and good to have multiple lists. In my typical use I probably fill the 5 hr video over a month with weekly soccer, other sports and family events. With multiple lists we can group related events and directly play on TV with one click.
2. Fast and Slow Play: Supports 5x, 15x, 60x fast play along with 1/8, ¼ slow play. Nice to have 2x and ½x support as well.
3. Hard disk-seek noise: Noticed a faint periodic hard disk seek noise. You will have to really pay attention and record in a real quiet room to observe these periodic clicks. Not an issue for typical use.
4. Support for 5.1 Dolby recording will be useful.
Additional info: [...] Canon Virginia tech support is very good.
Customer Review: Very good camera, especially considering the price
Summary: 5 Stars
Before buying the Canon HG10 camera I was looking around and comparing various products from different brands.
My main considerations were:
- high definition standard (1080i)
- type of media used by the camera
- low-light performance
- price
- size
There are several HD camera models from different manufacturers available on the market which utilize different media: mini-DV cassette, hard disc [HDD], flash memory, mini DVD disc, even Blue Ray disc. The reality is, that only two of them are practical at this point - HDD and flash memory ones. From those two the HDD camcorders are cheaper, but they have movable parts and are rather gentle devices (in the sense that you should not drop your camcorder on the ground whilst the HDD is still spinning).
The flash memory camcorders do not have movable parts (apart from eventual optical image stabilizer [O.I.S.]) and are (in theory) more reliable. The cost of memory is going down, so one day "flash" camcorders of similar specs will cost about the same as the HDD-based ones.
I did not consider mini-DV because of time requred for capturing recorded video and transfering it on DVD for archiving (in many cases you will need to save the video stream in large .avi files first, then render them into .mpg).
HD on mini-DVD is a laugh - less than 15 minutes of record in high quality.
Blue-Ray is still an exotic format, and I have no plans to buy a player yet. At least not until one of the formats (or a third one) is a definite leader on the market.
When it comes to low-light performance, this is all about physics. Larger image sensor gives better picture. Period. HG10 sensor being 1/2.7", is considerably larger compared to 1/5" or 1/6" sensors found in other models. And it performs accordingly.
The price makes this camera a real bargain!
HG10 is not tiny (compared to some non-HD models on the market), but still quite small (especially taking into account that it is a HD model with 1/2.7" image sensor). Maybe it is a bit "fatter" than I expected, but surprisingly it is small enough to put both it and my Pentax *ist Ds camera in one small Lowepro D Rez AW40 bag.
As I also own an older mini-DV model from the same manufacturer (MV200i), I can compare them side-by-side.
When it comes to the level of detail produced with the HG10, especially in good light, it is just stunning.
The low-light performance of the HG10 is very good, even without switching to slow shutter mode. But do not expect the same quality as in professional models.
The O.I.S. in the HG10 works fantastic, a huge improvement compared to my older camera. Still be carefull if you want to get most of your Canon HG10 HD camera - you will need a monopod or a tripod much more often now to get sharp videos. Nothing is wrong with this model, simply the improved resolution allows you to see much more detail ...and imperfection.
Now a few comments about the things which Canon could have thought better about.
No. 1: Start/Stop button and the zoom switch. Those just do not fit my fingers. I have to figure out how to hold the camera. I am also missing a start/stop button at the front of the camera (like in my MV200i). It comes very handy when shooting from a low point and using the LCD panel.
No. 2: On/Off/Mode switch. Difficult to operate due to its size and design.
No. 3: Scrolling through menus and setting up different functions is only possible when you open the LCD screen, as the scroll-wheel is on the inner side of the LCD panel.
No. 4: Very small viewfinder, almost unusable for me (maybe I should take off my complaint No. 3 :)?)
No. 5: No shoulder strap? Canon, you are kidding!
No. 6: Canon uses the full HD sensor in this model (i.e., 1920x1080), however the HD output is 1440x1080. This is not clearly stated in the specs. Practically speaking, this is not a big deal, as tests show no visible difference between these two modes.
No. 7: The built-in lamp is balanced for daylight. It produces blueish tones, if the camera is set to a lower color temperature. This makes the built-in lamp quite useless in the real life.
Customer Review: A Highly Versatile and Easy to Use Combination
Summary: 5 Stars
This is apparently one of the most popular models currently on the market, and from my experience there is good reason for this.
First is ease of use. While it took me a while to browse through the instruction manual, when I actually started trying out the various functions, I found it surprisingly easy to set up modes/lighting conditions/resolutions/switch between still and movie/etc. The function button/+ key navigation took only a few minutes to get used to, and the on screen descriptions of what you're selecting have enough detail that you don't have to be a veteran user familiar with all the acronyms associated with picture taking to figure out what each item is. The camera is quite light and easy to hold, even for extended time periods, and the LCD display was quite visible even in bright sunlight. The zoom control is conveniently available to your fingers while holding it, and the zoom control itself is neither too sensitive nor too slow to react, and the zoom speed mode adjust is great for certain special situations.
I note that many have complained about shooting in low-light conditions causing excessive graininess in the results, but I have not observed this yet, shooting indoors with what I consider quite low light. The camera also seems to handle large light differentials quite easily: I had my wife take some shots of me while bowling (a feat in itself, as she is definitely not a camera person, so being able to do this is testimony to its ease of use). Bowling alleys have quite bright lighting on the alley itself, while the area behind the alleys is usually very dimly lit. The resulting videos that swing between both the dark/light areas and those taken from dark to light and vice versa show no flaring/glare marks or loss of focus. And the videos had more than enough resolution for me to be able to discern some mistakes I was making in my approach and ball delivery, which is very good as the critical items in bowling happen very quickly and in a very small area (wrist and fingers).
I was very pleased with the camera's close in focusing capability, finding it possible to film a beetle crawling on my rose bushes from just a couple of inches away. The 10x telephoto not only works well, it remains quite steady with the auto stabilizer on. Still picture resolution is more than adequate for anything except high-detail professional portraits, and compares well with shots taken with my 5 megapixel still camera.
I was a little unhappy with the audio quality using the built in microphone, as it seemed a little muffled and indistinct for any sounds more than about 5 feet away, while close sounds (i.e., me talking while filming) could be overly loud.
Battery life is a definite problem. The advertised approximate 1 hour on the provided battery is perhaps a little optimistic, and for any extended day trip where you expect to use the camera throughout the day I'd recommend carrying at least one and preferably two spare batteries.
Transferring videos from the camera to my computer was quite easy, and did not seem to take an excessively long time for the given file sizes, but I was not happy with the provided Corel software requiring an online registration to use it at all. Are they really so concerned about piracy that this step is necessary? The functionality of this software is ok, though it probably won't win prizes, but it does provide enough features to do most of commonly required editing and archiving tasks.
For a camera costing this much, I wish that they had included three very vital accessories: a miniSD card for still photos, a miniHDMI-HDMI cable, and a carrying strap. The cable is almost unfindable in stores, you'll need to order it on-line, but once you have it and hook up the camera to an HD TV, the results are truly amazing, looking like the demo shots you often see on the HDTV's in-store displays.
Overall, this is an excellent camcorder, with great ease-of-use and video results that are outstanding. It makes earlier technology camcorders seem positively ancient.
---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
Customer Review: Make sure you initialize the drive first!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was concerned about purchasing the HG10 because of the controversial AVCHD format and the lack of computer software support for it. Fortunately for me, I'm a Mac user with an Intel Core Duo Macbook Pro and iMovie '08 (required for importing AVCHD files from the HG10) so I thought it'd be extremely simple to work with the HG10. It wasn't but I'll get to that momentarily.
Once I received the HG10 I shot sample videos at night and had someone shoot video of the outdoors while I drove to gauge high speed recording.
Night Recording - Recording at night is probably the weakest feature of the camcorder because the video quality is kinda crappy in low light situations. The HG10 does feature a night mode for shooting at this time but I still wouldn't recommend the HG10 if you plan to record in low light/night situations often.
High Speed Recording - After shooting the first videos at a high speed (60 mph) it occurred to me that most consumer camcorders aren't going to be capable of capturing quality video at high speeds. That being said, the video quality was decent enough given the price. If you plan to use the HG10 to record cityscapes or anything that requires driving, I'd recommend the HG10 only up to about 30 mph.
When I tried to download these clips to my Macbook Pro via iMovie '08 the software wouldn't recognize the camera AT ALL despite the Mac recognizing the HG10 as a hard drive. I eventually figured out (after reading the manual, of course) that you need to initialize the camcorder hard drive before it will be recognized by the computer. In fact, if you fail to do so you will have to erase the entire hard drive (and any videos on it) to initialize it so it is recognizable.
After doing this iMovie '08 recognized the camera but it took iMovie '08 about 15 minutes to see that the HG10 was connected. Every time I connect it iMovie '08 takes about 5-15 minutes to recognize the HG10 and bring up the import window.
Now for some general observations of the HG10 since I've only had it for about two weeks:
1) It's USB only to the computer so transferring video files can take a LONG time if you film in HD and use the 5 hours or so that the camcorder is capable of holding.
2) Buy an external drive to store the videos after working with them. The HG10 is addicting and lightweight so you'll be taking lots of videos in no time and will need a place to store them. I bought a Lacie 750GB external drive to store the movie files and so far it's exceeded my expectations (firewire, USB connections make for easy transfers).
3) Buy a tripod! I bought a Sunpak tripod from Best Buy for $35 and it serves as an excellent tripod for the HG10. I also use it for my Canon SD800 IS and soon will use it for my Rebel XTi. The HG10 is terrific at offsetting camera shake but no technology will ever compensate 100% for human error.
4) Sports Mode is my favorite mode. I like Portrait mode but I feel its too soft for most things that I do. Sports mode is designed to capture fast movement with as little ghosting and blur as possible.
5) I have relatively medium to large hands and I find the zoom buttons to be too far back on the camera to really be useful while the camera is in your hand. Fantastic positioning for tripod use though.
I hope to update this review as I use the camcorder more. I haven't used the still mode yet but as a rule of thumb I would suggest getting a good still camera (SD IS line or Rebel series) instead because I can see the HG10 being a bit awkward to use primarily as a point and shoot camera.
Customer Review: I love hg10, have problems with video editing
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought hg10 2 weeks ago. Before buying I spent a week reading different reviews on all sites I can find. Some reviewers' complained about poor quality with "Progressive 24" mode, but DVInfo site dismissed that accusation and even provided real video samples in all modes. I compared footage of hv20 and hg10 and did not find significant difference. Yes, if you'd move camera very quickly image would be poor, but same apply to hv20 and any other consumer camcorder.
Anyway, I weighted all "pros" and "cons" and bought it.
My main "feature request" for camcorder was:
- Ability to shot fast moving kinds in low light (indoors)
- High definition, best possible quality
- Stable picture
- Easy to copy to PC and edit
- Good battery life
Low light performance is good, much better than my older SD-Sony. Camera does not have special "night" mode as Sony does, but it makes decent picture in low light and Sony's night mode was useless for me anyway because people looked horrible in that mode. Sunlight provides best results as usual.
Optical image stabilization works very nice, much better than digital stabilization on my older Sony. I'm moving camera slowly and image it just amazing, especially in 60i mode.
I just love to have tape less hard drive camcorder, no rewind-search etc. It is much easier to delete a clip in the middle of other clips, which wasn't possible with tape at all. No need to "capture" video in some special video editor - just attach USB cable and copy to PC. No need to wait an hour for "capture". I like to be able just store my raw files and I like the fact it is small files, "clips". With tape I was have to either somehow archive one huge 13 GB AVI file or just delete uncompressed raw video.
Video quality playback is pretty impressive on my 50" plasma TV, especially when I connected camcorder via mini-HDMI-to-HDMI cable. Love little remote control.
Battery life is not so impressive, as you might expect from any bundled battery. I need to buy spare.
Audio is great indoors, but I heard loud wind noise outdoors. Again, I'd have to buy external mike.
Bundled software has ability to create standard DVD (plays everywere) or AVCHD DVD disks (much faster creation, HD). Then I tried to play avchd disk in blue-ray player - it works! AVCHD disk looks just as same .m2ts files been copied to avchd folder on DVD. Files just couple kb bigger for some reason. Now I need to buy blue-ray player :)
The biggest problem with bundled Corel soft: it freezes for 2-3 seconds in between clips basically making DVD/AVCHD-DVD viewing very unpleasant.
Oh, Now I need to buy AVCHD video editing software :) and probably Quad-Q6600 based machine...
Summary: hg10 deliver amazing, stable and vivid picture, it is tape less camcorder with USB-plug-and-copy easiness. I would buy it again.
Be ready to spent time with lousy bundled software and upgrade your PC. AVCHD is new format: vista can not play it; most editors either do not support it at all or have pretty buggy support. For example, trial Ulead VS 11.0 does not support .m2ts and does not allow patching it.