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: Video novice, initial experiences have been positive
Summary: 5 Stars
After months of indecision (HD or SD; Flash, Hard Drive, or other storage media; brand) I finally settled on the Canon HF100 camcorder. I primarily intend to use it for family events as I did with past camcorders (full size VHS and a VHS-C); the kids in particular love replaying the old videos. My intent is to save the video clips in an electronic format to watch through the computer, some clips I'll assemble as a movie and burn to DVD. Right now I'm storing the clips on my hard drive and backing up to an external hard drive, but I expect to switch to an on-line vendor at some point to mitigate the risk of losing my video clips and/or pictures.
I selected the flash drive model for a number of reasons: 1) light weight; 2) media is relatively inexpensive and reusable (I purchased one Transcend 16GB and two 8GB cards, one with the USB 2.0 reader for less than $75); 3) I didn't see the need for internal memory or a hard drive (seemed like one more thing that could go wrong).
I went with the HD format, based on other customer reviews about the picture quality. Since the price wasn't much higher than a SD camcorder it seemed like a better long term direction ($250-400 higher if you factor in the additional cost of the camcorder and software you'll want/need). Note that I don't have a HD television or Blu-Ray player yet. I was able to plug the camcorder into the TV through the standard jacks (Red, Yellow, White) and it played my video just fine.
For video editing and DVD burning I took the advice of other customers and downloaded the trial version of Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Pro (never installed the softare that came with the camera). I have a Dell E510 (Windows XP, Intel dual core 2.8Ghz processors, 3GB RAM) and was easily able to figure out how to assemble a movie from my clips and burn a DVD that would play in my standard definition DVD player purchased in 2001. The picture quality and sound was as good as my older VHS-C videos (perhaps better, I was pleased with it!). I expect them to be much better when burning in an HD format and playing on an HD television down the road.
I still have a lot to learn, but I feel like this is the right direction for me.
Customer Review: Very pleased
Summary: 5 Stars
The Vixia HX100 is my 5th camcorder, the first AVCHD, and the first that records directly to SDHC media. To date I have shot about 50 GB of video, all of it youth sports, most of it at 1440 x 1080 HD resolution, and about 100 still shots using the cam's max resolution. The cam works flawlessly at even the highest video resolution using 16GB Transcend speed class 6 SDHC cards. I have filmed in bright Southern Cal sunlight and under baseball lights with good results. I use a 37mm haze filter, both to protect the lens and for outdoor shots. The supplied software works OK for downloading the memory, but I read the SDHC cards directly into my Sony Vaio laptop for faster transfer. The learning curve for the software is reasonably easy and the manual is good. I have played back the stored video directly into a 1080p Vizio TV using a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable and also recorded directly from the cam to a standard definition Toshiba DVD recorder using the cam's component output.
Two minor negatives - the supplied BP-809 battery is only good for about an hour and the higher capacity BP-819 batteries aren't currently available at any of about a dozen locations that I tried. I purchased a 2nd BP-809 and they do change out fairly quickly. The software starts to warn you with 5 minutes of battery remaining, and I took it down all the way to zero without losing any data. The other negative is that you have to leave the AC power supply connected if downloading via USB cable.
The lens at the widest zoom setting isn't quite wide enough to film a standard baseball field from behind the backstop, and a 0.5 to 0.7 wide angle lens would be a very good accessory for shooting sports.
I have a 37mm to 28mm adapter, and the cam works well with the Nikon 3X telephoto lens from my Nikon 4300 still camera, although you have to have the telephoto on the cam set all the way out to get full field in the cam.
As an aside, I use Pinnacle Studio 12 Pro to build my movies, and it handles the AVCHD output files from the cam without a hitch. You'd better have a fast PC with at least 2GB (better 4GB) to work with HD, however.
Customer Review: Great Camcorder- A small suggestion...
Summary: 5 Stars
If you can wait a few weeks, the price may continue to fall. The price has fallen about 24 dollars in 12 days.
Anyway, overall I love this camcorder. It's small enough to put in a large pant pocket, but fits nicely in my hand.
I filmed a birthday party last night. I felt like I could almost conceal it, it's so small. Maybe it's less invasive than a larger camcorder.
Low light filming is Ok. I would like to see a larger sensor on the next iteration, but this thing is already very small. For what it is, it does an excellent job. With proper indoor lighting, you can get some very nice results.
Don't get me wrong, it's ok for recording with normal indoor lighting, but when you go outside with this thing, wow!
The other day, I filmed outside in bright light and this little tiny camcorder is AMAZING. I'm not an expert, but it seems close to broadcast quality. That's impressive for such an inexpensive little camcorder with AVCHD compression recording to a regular class 6 SD card. Funny, because the camera only recognizes it as a class 4. It may not have the ability to recognize class 6 cards. Still, It turns on almost instantly, and is ready to record in about 1 or 2 seconds!
Can you say 30P? I havent tried 24P, but should be good in low light situations without fast movement.
[...]
I use Sony Vegas Platinum 8 to edit the AVCHD files and it works very well. HD does require a pretty fast computer, but it still works on my Pentium 4, 3.2 GHz single core computer. Playback can be a little choppy, but I only have 1 GB or Ram.
You may want to buy a HDMI to Mini HDMI cable to connect to your HDTV.
One last thing. You may want to look into the Canon DW-100 DVD recorder. It's very easy to burn HD dvds on regular dvd-r discs. It holds about 30 min of HD content on a single layer dvd-r, and I believe it burns close to real time. So 30 min of content should take about 40 min to burn. I've been using mine, and have found it to be an excellent companion to the Canon Vixia HF 100.
Good Luck!
Customer Review: Technical aspects for indie filmmakers
Summary: 5 Stars
We recently decided to sell our Canon GL2 and Firestore FS4 tapeless setup and purchase the Canon VIXIA HF100.
Selling points for me were the ability to capture in 1920x1080 at 24fps. This meant no more converting 60i to 24p through Twixtor or other software. In addition, the Cinemode is a nice feature because it cuts back on the electronic sharpening and handles the colors in such a way that you have more tonal latitude in post-production.
The selling points for my wife were the "Easy Button", in which the camera handles exposure and other settings to ensure an adequate picture (and because home videos look better in 60i - 24p would be far too stroby in that case), and the small size of the camera: as other reviews have pointed out, it is the size of a soda can.
Of primary concern before finally deciding on the HF100 was whether or not we could effectively edit the .MTS / AVCHD files that the camera outputs. We discovered a very helpful thread at forum DOT Videohelp DOT com, under the topic "Mini Guide - AVCHD to Anything Using DGAVCdec".
(http://forum.videohelp.com/topic346331.html)
I highly recommend... before purchasing any AVCHD converter software, try that solution because all of the required software mentioned in that thread is completely free (VirtualDub, AVISynth, some codecs, etc.)
I appreciate all of the other reviews here that have helped us make our decision, and hopefully this review helps answer the more technical/editing side of things that we found difficult to find info on.
P.S. The only potential downside to the camera itself is the lack of a manual focusing ring.
For those using 35mm Depth of Field adapters this is not an issue, since the camera would be set to manual focus to view the ground glass, and the focusing when shooting would be done on the 35mm lens.
In our case, we simply had to purchase a couple of ring adapters (58mm->52mm and 52mm->37mm ) to use our 35mm adapter with the HF100. It works splendidly!
Overall this is a great camera at an excellent price!
Customer Review: Review Canon Vixia HF100 Flash Memory Recorder
Summary: 5 Stars
I've owned this camera for 3 months. I deliberately waited to review so that I had ample time to use the camera and not jump in with initial reactions.
Advantages:
- flash memory. In my opinion this is the best capture media. It's lightweight, re-usable, and easy to transfer to PC with card reader. The memory capacities are huge. I replaced a MiniDV camera with this and what a pleasure it is to not have to fiddle with tapes that jam, are slow to download to PC, slow to move from scene-to-scene, etc. I'm also glad I didn't get a camera with HDD. Those are susceptible to head crashes, noise of the spinning disk, etc. Sure you can get cameras with huge disk capacity, which at first blush seems like a huge advantage, but if you don't flush the contents to your PC religiously, you are exposed to loss of data should your camera go belly up. I'm not a big fan of the writable DVDs either. Overtime you'll spend more on DVDs than you will for a handful of flash memory cards which will always be re-usable.
- ease of use. I find the menus to be intuitive.
- My favorite feature is the custom white balance feature. It's very easy to use and it's great to get the white balance correct at time of the shoot. You can do this with software during your PC workflow, but I find it much easier to do during the shoot.
- great picture quality. Playback on my Samsung LNT4665F 46" is stunning!
- I use Corel VideoStudio X2 Pro V12 to edit the AVCHD and have been getting terrific results. Just like everyone else has remarked, you will need to a powerful PC to handle the AVCHD format files produced by this camera. Using the SmartProxy feature of X2 Pro makes editing AVCHD files easy.
- small form factor.
Disadvantages:
- cannot charge battery without being plugged into camera.
- camera gets pretty hot when recording.
I see the prices are continuing to fall on this camera. Do yourself a favor and take advantage of the price drops and get this camera.