Canon VIXIA HF100 Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
by Canon
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon VIXIA HF100 Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Customer Review: Totally satisfied with the HF100!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was a little skeptical at first. This camera seems too good to be true while reading all of the specifications listed. But I really have to say that it lived up to all of my expectations. In a well lit area the picture is absolutely stunning--a sharp and true-to-life image. In darker rooms the picture doesn't get grainy at all from my experience. Obviously a darker room isn't going to be quite as stunning as a brighter one but I'm still impressed. The mic picks up wind but not to a distracting point. Burning to DVDs/Blu-rays is actually pretty easy as well. I use Sony Vegas Movie Studio and it imports the video and is easily edited. My computer isn't the most amazing, so the video may take a second or two to buffer before I can preview it but I've been cutting videos and burning them easily since I bought the camera just a couple months ago. The battery that comes with the camera doesn't last all that long (probably an hour+). I would buy the extended battery for something like $85.00 but it's only made in black and the HF100 is silver. Kind of funky if you ask me. I may just buy a second smaller battery. The memory cards used are SUPER cheap to buy making this the camera to get!!
In summary (i.e. the only part everybody will probably read):
PROS:
- Sharp HD picture.
- Small camera size.
- Easy to edit and transfer video.
- SDHC cards are CHEAP to buy.
CONS:
- Supplied battery has a short life.
- Mic picks up some wind noises.
- You really should purchase a different editing program.
Customer Review: Simply the best
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this camera. I jumped in with a Cannon 8mm and then a S0ny DV DCR-HC21. So this camera isn't even in the same ball park. SDHC is the way. I can record the same amount of video on a 16G card as a tape if I go SHD. Also If you buy 16G SCHC cards buy them on amazon for around $25 and the battery is around $25 on Amazon to. Just type in BP-809. And get the Pinnacle Studio 12 ultimate software if you don't want to drop frames or have problems. like you guys that buy Sony software to download a Cannon camera. Come on. And Studio 12 is pretty cheap considering. you'll be able to burn HDDVD in your DVD burner and play them back on a newer blue ray player. You want to do that cause BD are $25 a piece not a 50 pak. And if you get the Paul Holtz video tuition you'll be miles ahead of any others in their software. Then you need at least a duel CPU or higher like quad core or even the newest i7 cause that's the market now, why buy a duel at this point? And at least 3G RAM DD2 and a 9800 video card. And lots of hard drive. The new SATA II 3G Hard drives are the way to go. So you just can't buy the camera. You also need all this stuff to install a Blue Ray burner to. As soon as I got this I did a test of my Sony Camcorder Vs a Nikon coolpix P4. I just thought the Sony camcorder had to be a better video. nope. Same video pixels as your SD cameras. So if you don't get this camera you might as well throw that old Digital camcorder out and use your cameras SD cards. And the HG20 with 60G hard drive is only $80 more. But I'm telling you again SDHC is the only way to go.Customer Review: Best rrom light performance ever seen
Summary: 5 Stars
I had been waiting for HF200 to get released to get the power of 24mbps recording and more pixels. However the reviews of HF200 in room light conditions have been poor. I have had bad experience with room light conditions with my Nikon D60, so I decided to go with the older model Canon HF100, even though the only thing I could get in that now was a refurbished unit. I decided to take a chance with the $500 refurb from tigerdirect as it came with a 30 day money back guarantee & 3 mo canon warrantee... Boy I am glad that I took this risk and got the HF100 over HF200 because HF100 is just pure AWESOME in recording in room light conditions. I have used it indoors at home at northlandz train museum and outdoors during dusk and each time the recording has been just great. I used 30p and 24p modes and there was not a spec of noise at all. The recordings look like daylight recording quality, they are that good.
This thing rocks under low light conditions at 24,30p even 60i is pretty good.
Buy it before they go totally out of stock, even the refurbs seem to be very good...
The only minor issue: battery life of only 70 minutes or so, but one can always buy a spare one.
I own a PS3 and this things works gr8 with it. I will never have to burn a single DVD again... I am not a big fan of editing video. I just record and save the files on my external hard disks and watch them directly on my PS3. Quick and easy with a flash card to HD transfer using USB card reader. Finally my ps3 has some gr8 use!!!
Customer Review: Excellent Product - highly recommend for HD cameras
Summary: 5 Stars
I agree with all the accolades about this camera and I highly recommend it for those people who haven't purchased a camera in quite awhile and are looking for a very portable, high definition camera, but don't want to pay extra for an internal 16GB HDD which the HF10 has.
Here are some things I found out after I purchased the camera:
-You don't need to purchase a lens cap, there's a auto-cover when you power up the camera, however, if you decide to get a UV filter or a polarized filter, yes, get a lens cap for the camera.
-If you had plans to take out the memory card and plug it into a SDHC card reader/USB adapter so you could copy the files from the memory card to your PC, don't bother. I have attempted 3 times to manually copy the video files and all 3 times the files got corrupted. This occurred while reading the card and copying the card. I didn't read the fine print in the manual, but apparently, the files on the memory card is not supported by any card reader and the only way to copy the files to your PC is through a USB cable to your camera and using Imagemixer 3 or a similar softtware program to read and copy the files, then you erase the files on the memory card by selecting the files from the camera and delete them. I'm hoping to find a way to get around that so I don't have to wear out the USB port on the camera, plus I don't want to buy an excessive amount of SDHC cards for a long trip if I plan to get a memory card backup device that's not supported (like the Hyperdrive) by the HF100.
Customer Review: Very satisfying
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a Mac owner, and most of all I wanted an HD camcorder that was going to be a breeze to work with. After reading all the other reviews on Amazon, and a few elsewhere... AND doing research on Apple sites about compatibility issues, I made the decision to pick this baby up.
For all you Mac users out there... here's how it works:
You shoot the footage/photos and record onto the SDHC flash memory card.
Place the memory card into the USB reader.
Immediately, if there are any still photos on the card, iPhoto will open and ask you to import.
As soon as iMovie '09 (my version) is opened, it will bring up the import window and ask you to import the footage from the "camera" (card). You can select clips individually by checking boxes, and you can also preview the clips in their entirety before importing.
Importing the clips into iMovie takes some time. Go make a sandwich or something... and eat it. Be patient.
Now that iMovie has updated with YouTube HD uploading, you can upload directly there with a few clicks.
That's pretty much all I wanted from this camera... that, and of course, that the footage look beautiful, which it is. The camera is pretty easy to use, and has enough toys and options to satisfy even picky users.
Bottom line: it's excellent quality video, easy to use... and if you're a Mac user, importing, editing and exporting footage while maintaining HD quality is now quite simple as well.
So yeah, it's a great buy.