Manage updates with the Download App
-
"Superb Dual Purpose Camera!"
5.0 starson by RandyBridgesPros: + Video quality is top notch
+ Video display screen is the best I've seen on a camcorder
+ Speaker on the camera is terrible
+ Touch screen interface is very nice
+ Great HD PictureCons: - Battery life could be better
Summary: I've had this camera for about 6 months now. I use it primarly to capture indoor sporting events, but also use it for vacation videos and videos of kids. I use 16GB Class 4 memory, and the recorder works fine with this speed memory, even in the highest resolution/data rate modes.
I especially like the 3 second pre-record feature. It's a feature that I read about, and said "no big deal" but after using it, it's great. Picture that your 10 year old is playing in his first football game. You don't want to record the whole game, you only want the highlights. So you turn on the 3-second pre-record and fix your camera on your all star. When he/she breaks a tackle and starts heading for the end zone, you hit the record button, and whammo, you've got the whole play recorded from the very beginning. Awesome feature for videoing small children, as you never know when they're going to do something cute.
The video quality is top notch. I can't speak for the canon editing software, as I use Adobe for all my video processing, but the included utility works great to transfer video directly from the camera, or from the memory card (if you're using a memory card reader) The transfer software renames the recorded videos with the Date/Timestamp in the format YYYYMMDDHHMISS. This is very nice for organizing clips in your video library, as they are all stored in chronological order.
The Video display screen is the best I've seen on a camcorder. The videos are very watchable right on the camera. The speaker on the camera is terrible, but that's to be expected.
The touch screen interface is very nice, and extremely responsive. It took me a few minutes to get used to the interface, but now that I'm used to it, it's very nice.
I don't use the "still shot" very much, but the still picture output is reasonable, considering that you're using a video camera.
Battery life could be better (it's about 1.5 - 2 hours) of actively using the camera, but I've purchased 2 non OEM extended life batteries from Ebay, and they work very well (and they were only $10 each)
*** P.S. If you will buy this canon camcorder I suggest you at: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00322OOXM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=***************&********=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&************=B00322OOXM
- 5 replies to this review
-
First non-Sony camera, but I felt this Canon gave biggest bang for buck.
The screen should be drool-proof ;-) Like an iPhone 4.
Face recognition. Ultra light. Many options.
Downside is that it is USB and does not load into FCP. Seems to load via
iMovie and will figure a way to cross that bridge.
VERY HAPPY -
This is my first HD video camera and will be the last for a long while. The features are excellent and the quality of the images are absolutely tremendous. Transferring images from the camera to my computer is a snap too. Mainly because I have an iMac and it's a very simple process with iMovie. I HIGHLY recommend the Canon VIXIA HF S200 camera.
-
Works great, but bought the larger battery. I tried a number of the cameras out at my local best buy before I bought it and this camera had the best image stabilization for the ones in my price range.
-
This is the best camcorder I have ever owned. The videos are clean and stunning. It also lets you take pictures and the pictures I've taken with it are much better than pictures I have taken with my regular digital camera.. I would definitely recommend this to everyone. It's pretty expensive, but worth it.
-
The camcorder is working great, Night shot is fine.
I am able to connect to my LCD TV and watch my kid playing, which is awesome.
