|
 | 
 enlarge
| Brand: Canon
Category: Photography
List Price: $899.99
Buy New: $529.00
You Save: $370.99 (41%)
New (33)
Avg. Customer Rating:  141 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Floppy Disk Drive: None
Monitor Size: 270
Includes Software: Yes
Optical Zoom: 12
Digital Zoom: 200
Display Size: 2.7
Maximum Focal Length: 57
Minimum Focal Length: 4.8
Maximum Resolution: 2070000
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 5.1 x 2.9 x 2.5
nv:Size: 1/3.2-inch
Image Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Movie Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Storage Media: SD/SDHC Memory Card
Compressed Format: DPOF
Compressed Format: DCF Exif 2.2
Movie File Format: MPEG-4
Movie File Format: AVCHD (HD)
Optical Zoom: 12x
Digital Zoom: 200x
Focal Length: f=4.8-57.6 mm
LCD Monitor: 2.7-inches
LCD Pixels: 211,000 pixels
LCD Coverage: 100%
Maximum Aperture: f 1.8 - 3.0
White Balance Control: Auto
White Balance Control: Daylight
White Balance Control: Cloudy
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: HF100
Model: HF100
UPC: 013803092004
EAN: 0013803092004
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Beware - Vegas Platinum and AVCHD May 9, 2008
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
I'm sure some of you will be annoyed with me for writing this; however, several reviewers have written how they are happy they are with using Vegas Platinum 8 to "handle" the AVCHD. I'm not writing this to distract from Canon's HF100; however, the lack of clarity by previous reviewers will likely result in more people buying Vegas with the assumption that it edits and Creates AVCHD projects. It Doesn't.
This IS a big deal now that other software packages DO allow you to Create edited AVCHD projects that can be placed on a standard 4.7 or 8.5 GB DVD, which gets BluRay formatted by the software (such as Vegas Pro or Pinnacle Studio 11) and can they be played in most BluRay players; or you can transfer that image to a flash memory card or a PS3's hard drive for playback in a PS3. Vegas Pro (which is quite expensive) can do this and so can Pinnacle Studio 11; but Vegas Platinum cannot.
Beware! Vegas Platinum 8, which costs a hundred dollars, does not Create AVCHD projects. At best it will create an HDV project from your AVCHD files; or it will create an edited Non-High Definition DVD.
Sony didn't ever explicitly state Vegas Platinum 8 does not create AVCHD projects; yet they say It Edits AVCHD for project creation. I am VERY upset with Sony over this.
If you buy a HD camcorder; what's the whole point if you output to Non-High Definition?! Save your money and don't buy a High Def camcorder or if you do buy a AVCHD camcorder then DON'T buy Vegas Platinum!
Best AVCHD bang for the buck! July 15, 2008
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Review of Amazon's Customer Service: I received my HF100 very quickly. It was backordered and shipped out (I assume) the same day that more came into stock. I paid for one day shipping (3.99 with prime), and received my order the day after Amazon got more in stock. Great job at a great price!
Review of HF100: By FAR, this camcorder is the best I have used of any solid state memory camcorder or hard drive-based camcorder. It's not really fair to compare this product to tape or DVD-based camcorders which are in a different (and in my opinion, lower) class of product. The video quality is excellent for the price. There is some noise in low light, but you will never find a camcorder that gives you no low light noise at a consumer price point.
I chose the HF100 over the HF10 for several reasons: 1) I like the silver color better, 2) a 16GB SDHC card is less than one third of the $200-300 premium you pay for 16GB of onboard memory with the HF10, and (MOST IMPORTANT) 3) one of the advantages of using removable memory is that if the camera breaks, you don't lose the stored footage. If you have 3-4 hours of video "trapped" on the HF10's internal memory and have to send the camera in for repair, you can be assured it's gone forever. If everything is always saved to an SDHC card, then you can just pop out the card and send in the camera and wait for the inevitable refurbished replacement unit to arrive.
The camera itself is ridiculously small for a product that produces such high quality results. In fact, I don't think any company could make a smaller camcorder that was actually useful (the exception being the "pistol" shape of the Sanyo Xacti series which are nearly the same size anyway). If you have very large hands, then this size may even be too small, and the button placement will be difficult to get used to. I have average sized hands, and the ergonomics are very good. The zoom and start/stop are in just the right place. The screen frame controls take some getting used to, but considering the number of options/settings Canon overall did a good job of arranging the controls. It would be nice to have a "wheel" type control for the manual focus, but using manual focus is probably going to be a rare occasion for me.
The zoom is virtually silent (and since there is no tape or DVD drive, there is no "whirr" sound in the background either :). Most people don't realize this, but there is a 400x digital zoom on top of the 12x optical zoom. Obviously, if you zoom in digitally 400x, the picture quality is going to be awful, but until you get over 150x, the picture quality is fine and just starts to show lots of grain. It is also nice to be able to take pictures at the same time as video (about 3 megapixel), so you don't have to choose between having a camera or a video camera anymore.
The screen is adequate given the size constraints of the overall size of the camcorder. It does do pretty well in bright sunlight. Some washout occurs as expected, but you can still tell whether or not what you are trying to capture will be in the shot.
Sound quality is also quite good for objects/people close to the camcorder. The wind noise reduction is good but not great, especially on a really windy day. If you're shooting a play or a ballgame and really want to hear what's going on wherever you are zoomed at or if you plan on shooting in the wind a lot, you may want to consider getting the microphone attachment. It's on MY list.
Speaking of add-ons, the two gripes I have are these: 1) there is no HDMI mini cable (these are cheap, cheap, cheap Canon, so there is no reason one shouldn't be included) and more importantly, 2) an external battery charger is not included and they cost $50-75 online. This is a huge oversight, and a charger should be included either with the camera or with the additional battery that YOU WILL end up buying (just put it in the cart now).
If Canon had included the charger, I would have given five stars. The HF100 is truly excellent, and it may be the last camcorder you buy for many years (who really is going to need better than 1080i picture on home movies anytime soon. Anybody?) This is a great product. If you're in the market for a camcorder, get this one.
 Very pleased April 11, 2008
13 out of 16 found this review helpful
I have a Sony DCR Vx2000 for about 4 years. It was so heavy that I haven't used it for more than few hours.
This camcorder gives better video quality with good light and is very usable even in low light conditions.
I was able to burn an AVCHD disk using the supplied software. When I played it using my PS 3, the result was simply outstanding. The colors were accurate and the sharpness of video was great.
 Great Camera but OIS is very sub par for this price range April 20, 2008
13 out of 32 found this review helpful
This is a great little camera but the OIS (Stability) is really sub par compared to other cameras that are much older and cheaper. So if you want really steady video, you may not get it with this camera.
Great Camcorder- A small suggestion... April 28, 2008
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
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!
|
|
|
2005-2007 Zone1electronics All rights reserved.
| |
