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The sharpness and range of the lens are simply outstanding. The Easy button gives good results for the point and shoot moments. At the 24p setting, it has excellent low light capabilities. The cam is small, lightweight and easy to use. The Canon HF10 and HF100 are the best camcorders in their price range, and arguably the best consumer cams up to a price of $1250. This is presumably due to the internal electronics. Get a Transcend 16gb SDHC if you need more recording space.Other pluses: The Spotlight mode is perfect for recording concerts or theatre events for you kids. This program will allow you to edit your video easily--the included software is useless.
Purchase a BP819 clone on eBay for extended battery life for $25. The next upgrade in quality is the Canon HF S100, which sacrifices a very small amount of low light quality for broad but incremental improvement in all other areas. The cams are basically the same, the HF10 has built in memory, and possibly a better grade of the same sensor, although this could be sample variation. You can take pictures while shooting video if you first set the camera to 1920x1080. Do not be fooled by the HF200, the HF100 has a better and bigger sensor. If you plan on editing the video on PC, be sure to buy Cineform's Neoscene for $99. Surprisingly, the imager is superior to the HF11 (though the HF11 has a faster bitrate possibility) and to any of the Hard Disk models, even if those models have the same imager. For higher quality, look to the HF S100 or the Panasonic GH1.
The areas I've had difficulty in with menu operation and extracting the videos to my PCs. The Canon camcorder creates.mts files for High Def which may not play in Windows Media Player without downloading 'The K-Lite Codec Pack 4.1.6'. ImageMixer by Pixela. Just to use the fade capability, you have to use your left hand and click a few things to activate the fade properly.Software: This is its true shortcoming. There were evidently 1 or 2 windows settings that need to be changed to fix this problem.
The camcorder software however isn't even developed by Canon, nor do they support it. Menu Operations: Fairly decent controls and functionality, but navigation and usability are not up to par as with other devices. Getting the video off of the camcorder can be a nightmare for someone who isn't technically savvy. Then I use Pinnacle or Adobe Premiere to edit them and burn them to.AVI files. The video is very good quality and the device is amazingly small and functional.
I now just copy the.mts files directly from the Canon via Window Explorer as the camcorder shows up as a device under My Computer when attached by USB. Why Pixela didn't know this is well.typical. Without any help from ImageMixer, as they differed the issue and told me my chipset wouldn't work with their software., I resolved the issue with some trial and error. The software used for their digital cameras is very intuitive and friendly to use for the most part.
If you have trouble with the 3rd party software, Canon refers you to Pixela and offers no assistance with the application. When you call you can get to a human who can help you with your problem. The camcorder almost upholds Canon's tradition of quality equipment. Unfortunately I did not get to record these settings.sorry. I installed one of the programs listed on the AVCHD site of Wikipedia.org (CyberLink Power or Sony Vegas did the trick). I just click into the CANON\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM folder and copy the.MTS files to my hard drive. The video was fine when viewing it on the Camera, but when ImageMixer transferred it to my PC, the video was choppy. General Items: Battery life is not that great but is sufficient for most day trips.
Canon tried, but it takes too many hands and fingers to figure things out, especially when you're in the heat of the moment with a good shot or scene. The memory storage is also very good. I was struggling with the video stuttering after ImageMixer imported the video onto my PC. ImageMixer-Pixela is of very little help and will take the first opportunity to get you off of the phone. Another great program to view and organize videos is Google's Picasa.Canon Phone Support: If you do have a problem with the actual camcorder, Canon has excellent phone support. Overall I like the camcorder itself.
Great bargain.The video quality is very good. Sound is generally good. This is where the camera gets more tricky because of its video format (the following should hold true of all camcorders recording in AVCHD). Make absolutely sure your shooter has a steady hand though, because the more the camera moves the more artifacts and glitchy digitalisms you'll see in your video (a product of the AVCHD file architecture which I don't have time to go into here). This said, however, my videos come out in outstanding quality and the extra cash to make all of this happen is money well spent.I'm a big fan of flash based products in general because, in my experience, having hard drives in particular but moving parts in general is an invitation for unwanted problems.
This complaint, however, is about how microphones work in general, not this particular camcorder.If you're like me - a geek looking to do every geeky thing with every gadget he has - you're going to be very interested in editing your video. It is as sharp as you could possibly expect for the small footprint of the camera and the low sticker price. In any case, I'm very pleased with the video quality. I don't really know my way around manual settings so I can't comment there. It is a top performed in my opinion, especially for a price tag under $600 including a carrying case [.].
Included battery will only yield 60-70 minutes, but for 125 bucks you can get one that lasts over four hours (if you need it). So long as your HF10 doesn't experience a long drop or hard impact, it should continue to work for a very long time. Therefore, full HD editing requires a FAST hard drive, preferably Firewire 800 if you can swing it. Sound quality is good, though subjects are hard to hear in noisy environments.
You CANNOT edit AVCHD natively on Mac. All in all, a great camcorder if you want to take the HD plunge. Pros: Sharp video quality, full HD, no moving parts., records to SD cards, sound quality is good, simple and intuitive.Cons: POOR battery life, AVCHD is quirky, editing your video requires a lot of expensive hardware.Summary: I love this camcorder. It uses SDHC cards, which are relatively cheap and take up a lot less space than HDV tapes. Technical observations: the camera starts quickly, but takes about 5 seconds to think before allowing you to record. Menu system is easy to use. This conversion drastically inflates the size of your files. I highly recommend this product, especially at the new lower price since this year's model is set to replace it.
For home movies, I couldn't really ask for anything more. You should, however, do your homework before making this purchase. I'm using Final Cut Express and it first must be converted to either ProRes or AIC format before editing can take place. Your editing size is about 40gb per hour, give or take 10gb depending on the nature of your video. The autofocus, however, is amazing. Happy shooting.
- It uses on board Flash (16GB) to store footage. - Importing Video footage From Camcorder Into PC is very easy and fast (Because it's tapeless) Via USB. - If you are planning on editing the videos, then you must have a very powerful PC (Intel Core i7 is recommended and a Strong GPU at least ATi 4800 series or nVidia GTX200 series, preferred ATi FireGL or nVidia Quadro), a large fast HDD (7200rpm, 500GB at least, don't use RAID). - Buy an additional battery (get BP-827 or BP-819). - Can Use SDHC to increase recording time. -Audio is only 2-channel (stereo).
- Very good low light performance. -Manual controls could be better (but I suppose that's why there is the HF S10 model)==Special Notes== - Best AVCHD consumer camcorder is HF S10, Period. - Light weighted and small sized : easy to hold up for long periods (considering other HD camcorders) - Has a verity of ports, can use professional accessories (including lenses, microphones, tripods, video light, etc.). - It uses CMOS sensor to capture video.== Pros == - Capable of Full HD 1080x1920 recording. -Battery life could be better (80-90 Minutes) -Although the camcorder does capture at 30p and 24p, but it is encoded within the time frame of 60i (which is good for viewing directly on TV, a living hell if try to edit with out converting to true 30p/24p) don't get me wrong, the camera does record actual 30p/24p but to edit it you need to convert the video files first , especially with 24p (requires converter capable of inverse telecine).
- Capable of Recording with different Frame rates : 60i , 30p , 24p - Image is clear and crisp (Best In Class). Canon).== Intro == - Basically It's a High Definition camera using AVCHD codec which it consists of: Video encoded with MP4/AVC H.264 and Audio encoded with Dolby digital. - Buy an external Microphone if you want top notch sound quality. HDV, Sony Vs. -Microphone is medicore. - Very good image stabilizer (Optic). - To back up the footage I recommend that to you Get a Blue Ray Burner.==AVCHD Vs. -Sound encoded with Dolby Digital Codec.==Cons== -Compression artifacts sometimes are visible when you pause the video footage (due to highly compressed video).
I wanted a General Porous HD Camcorder to shoot Vacations, Exhibits, Family Video and for my own video production team that doesn't break my budget.In My Review, I'll explain the Pros, Cons and how to over come the cons + other Camcorder tips (AVCHD Vs. - The HF11 is a better option than HF10, why. because it has double the onboard Flash (32GB instead of 16GB) and it has lesser compression artifacts (because it encodes the video at 24Mbits instead of the 17Mbits of the HF-10) the following tips is also used with the HF-11. - Buy a wide angle lens (if you need to record within a small area such as inside a car). -AVCHD codec is very heavy on the computer especially If you are planning to edit the footage. HDV===--AVCHD is true 1080 HD (1080x1920) while HDV top resolution is (1080x1440)--AVCHD is far more superior codec than HDV in terms of quality per Bit Rate.--AVCHD footage is easily and quickly imported into the computer, while the HDV takes forever.--HDV is easier to edit than AVCHD because it's lighter on computer resources (older MPEG2 codec).--HDV suffers less than AVCHD in terms of compression artifacts (key-frame related issue)--HDV camcorder footage are the simplest to back up (using the mini-DV itself as backup material) while AVCHD footage needs to be backed up as any computer Data (BD is preferred)---===important note concerning the battle between HDV and AVCHD====---== the main Issue with AVCHD is the difficulties during editing, BUT this is to change soon, I'll explain:- Fisrt to understand , a GPU is the graphics card, there are 2 main manufacturers that worth the buck: nVidia and ATi, But Intel GPU are rubbish (not to be used with video editing, too slow).- HDV is encoded with MPEG2, which is decoded by most GPUs available today (that's why it's easier to edit).- AVCHD is still being decoded by software (that's why it's a demanding Process) but AVCHD hardware decoding is one step away as GPU Production companies announces that AVCHD (H.264) hardware decoding will be implemented within the upcoming Drivers.=====Other Notable Camcorders======-Canon HF-11 : the better choice due to its 32GB Flash and 24Mbit encoding option.-Canon HF S-10 : more professional camcorder similar to the HF-11 but with more manual gadgets such as: traditional collar controlled exposure and focus, and it has a larger CMOS sensor (1/2.6" compared to 1/3.2" of the HF10/HF11).-Canon HF-20 : The n00ber choice, why. - It has lots of options and manual through it's menu which is accessed with the joystick located on the left of the screen. because it has smaller CMOS sensor (1/4") which reflexes in the lesser video quality of this camcorder in comparison to the HF10/HF11.-Canon HG21/HG20 : these are the HDD twin of the HF11, Heavier but has more storage room (120GB/60GB)-Canon HV30 : This is the HDV camcorder versions of HF11, same features but with larger CMOS sensor (1/2.7") and with lesser artifacts and lesser resolution (1080x1440) of the HDV encoding-Canon HV40 : this is the newer model of the previous HV30 with some neat additional features such as Native 24p support.-Sony Camcorders : In general they are better in termes of features, Most sony camcorders have zoom microphone, Infrared shooting capability (for dark scenes) and Slow Mo capability, which canon camcorders lacks.
with it (directly or indirectly with converters). -No Slow Mo capturing. and for more ease of editing, convert the AVCHD footage into RAW-coded footage (neo scene is the easiest way). BUT still the canon camcorders footage is sharper, better in darker areas with normal shooting modes (color, which the infrared lacks), has different frame rates to choose from (60i/30PF/24PF).
Every Mac user ought to get Roxio Toast anyways, since it is extremely useful for all kinds of video and data management. The HF10 has 16GB of memory onboard, which is enough to shoot for well over two hours at the highest quality, and you can add an extra SDHC card with up to 32GB additional memory. Anyhow, I think it is worth knowing (I didn't know, but soon found out) that when you buy an AVCHD camcorder that the size and convenience of the camcorder come at the cost of compressed video files that will need to be uncompressed before they can be edited. There are several automatic features for those who like it simple, but the camera allows for a good deal of manual tinkering. Another option is to import the files using Final Cut Pro 6 or Final Cut Express 4 (I've tried FCE and it works beautifully with AVCHD files). I've tested with lots of different manual settings but the "cine mode" usually does give an image that is as nice as I could have chosen. With most editing programs (and here I'm speaking only of programs that I am familiar with on my Mac) you wouldn't be able to work with the AVCHD files until you convert them to an uncompressed format that includes 25 or 30 frames per second, allowing the editor to "cut" on any given frame.There are three good options (right now, but certainly more on their way as AVCHD storage becomes more popular) I've found on Macs (note: AVCHD only works on Intel Macs) for converting the unusable.MTS (AVCHD) files that the camcorder records into files that are editable (and that, on Macs at least, have the extension.mov).
You can add an external mike (either by buying Canon's mike that fits into their proprietary "mini advanced shoe", or by plugging any mike you like into the external mike mini plug), but except for outdoors in the wind the onboard mike does a pretty good job for most non-professional situations. I like the ability to select between aperture priority, shutter priority and "cine mode" - which automatically sets things just right to give (in most situations) a range of shading that looks pretty close to cinema. All in all, a very fine camera, and one that fits so nicely in the hand it is a delight to work with.So you can get very good video, but figuring out what to do with it may take a little bit of research. Most of these got their start when Apple's software couldn't handle the conversion, and they don't seem to have improved much over the past few years.
This is an exceptionally well-designed little camera that does everything you could possibly want for the amateur videographer, and would even be serviceable for smaller scale professional work. The first is to open the files in iMovie '08 or '09. iMovie will convert the files to "Apple Intermediate Codec" files that can be edited with iMovie or Final Cut Pro or Express. If you don't have either of those programs or if you don't like how big the files get when you convert them that way, you can use Roxio Toast Titanium 9 or 10 to convert the files to something you can edit - the best setting is still Apple Intermediate Codec but when you convert using Toast for some reason the files only blow up about 3 times the size of the original, which is pretty manageable given how cheap external drives are these days. AVCHD allows you to record very high quality footage using a relatively small amount of memory, but the problem is that most editing programs can't do anything with this footage directly. Before long this won't really be a big deal since the major editing programs will adapt to AVCHD, but for now in spite of the overall simplicity of this camera's design and usage there is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to "postproduction" or the process of making something watchable with all that quality video that is so easy to shoot with this handy little camera.(Note: there are other AVCHD conversion programs that can be found on the web. The joystick on the LCD panel can be used to quickly toggle between focus, mike, and exposure levels while shooting - or to select from several other more advanced functions. I think it's a small price to pay and love this camcorder, but if you bought this and didn't have an Intel Mac and weren't willing or able to get the right software you'd have some very limited options for doing anything with your video.
No matter what quality you select to shoot in, the video will be recorded in AVCHD format, which is an HD playback format. Basically, AVCHD is highly compressed but still high quality video, which records only a few full frames of video per second and then records the differences between these frames, which forces the AVCHD player to "fill in" the bits that are left out to create a complete flowing image at, say 30 or 60 "frames" per second. Judging from some other reviews, it has caused some other people difficulties. I tried the trial copies of every such program I could find on the web, and as far as I can tell Roxio Toast's converted images meet or beat the quality of any others out there).
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