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- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 27 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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11 out of 12 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Excellent video quality"
Pros: Video quality, ease of use (while filming), records on SDHC cards
Cons: Editing AVCHD, low light performance is ok (not great)
Summary: I like this camcorder a lot. After 2 years with a JVC GR-D650 I decided to upgrade to a high-def camcorder, and I am extremely happy I did. I watch recordings on a 46" 1080p screen (using HDMI connection) and it looks really great. Difference with SD is very obvious of course. Only con is that Low-light performance is just ok, not great.
I just use this as a point-and-shoot (don't use any manual controls) and I find it's great for that. I've seen some complaints about the little joystick next the the lcd screen but I don't have any issues with it.
To me AVCHD seems to be the way to go since you can play native AVCHD files directly on a blu-ray player, and Blu-ray will be rapidly replacing DVD.
The software that comes with the camera is basically only for downloading the AVCHD files - pretty useless for editing but that is similar to other camcorders I've had.
Please keep in mind that software is still catching up with AVCHD format. I was using Adobe Premiere El, but that doesn't support AVCHD. So I switched to Powerdirector 7 Ultra.
Editing the footage is a bit of a challenge. You need a powerful computer! I'm running Powerdirector 7 Ultra on an AMD 2.2GHz dual core with 2GB of RAM and it's slow going. I consider this CPU is a bit too weak so I got a quad core on order. So far, I have been editing in AVCHD format and then burning to DVD in SD(unfortunately). I'll get a blu-ray burner later when prices drop. The rendering/burning to DVD takes some time but is OK. Please make sure you install latest DirectX 9 or higher, or your soundtrack will be off.
I like a lot that the camera uses SDHC cards. Downloading is very fast compared to DV tape, plus you don't get the whine from the DVI tape rolling on your soundtrack.
Having large hands I struggled a little bit with the small size of the camera and location of the controls. I think Canon should move the record button to the left side of the camera so you can wrap your hand around it. Since I put an extended battery on the camera I found out that I can rest my thumb against this battery that sticks further out of the back of the camera. This makes it much easier to hold the camera.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this camera. Just make sure your computer is powerful enough or you are willing to upgrade.
Where to buy
Canon Vixia HF100:
$499.99 - $1,698.51
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$499.99 | Yes |
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$499.99 | Yes |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$1,698.51 | Yes |
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