Canon VIXIA HF S100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Posted by flo.Belxlanger in Dec 28, 2009, under Canon

Canon VIXIA HF S100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom Canon Vixia HFS 100 – B. Aldrich – California
Nice camera that seems fairly durable. The image quality is very sharp. Better than I expected. The SD card downloading/transfer to the computer works fast and easy. No problems to report.
MY BACKGROUND: techno-geek engineer, camera and camcorder enthusiast, not a pro videographer or pro photographer. I purchased the S100 from Amazon.com (great price!) and have explored its capabilities VERY thoroughly for six months. I use this camcorder to capture magic moments in the life of our 15 month-old daughter.

REVIEW IN A PARAGRAPH:
Highly recommended for being one of the best full HD (60i/30p @ 1920×1080) “prosumer” camcorders – at this price level. Yes, the convenient SD flash memory is so much better than messy digital tape. The Auto Focus often works even after you attach the recommended accessory lenses or filters. We love this video camera! However you only see the exceptionally vibrant and very-close-to-broadcast-quality video IF you shoot under very bright indoor light (or typical daylight outdoor) lighting conditions; otherwise, in less intense lighting the video looks good but nothing like broadcast quality. (That drawback is typical to nearly all camcorders at this price point.)

We can shoot video at our kitchen table, which has direct overhead using five unshaded 75-watt incandescent bulbs, and even that is NOT enough light to get the best video this camcorder can produce. However, when I put two separate inexpensive flood lights (each using two standard 150-watt incandescent bulbs) directly on the subject from five feet, then the resulting HD video is so close to broadcast-quality on brightness, crispness, and color intensity that our friends and extended family are absolutely stunned when they see it on a decent big-screen LCD. For great indoor video, you’ll need something like two easily movable floor lamps / floods that you can position to put at least 600 watts of incandescent light (or equiv.) onto your subject.

YOU MAY NOT KNOW THIS ABOUT THE S10/S100:
1) Shoots astoundingly great photos and can even do continuous-mode 8-megapixel snapshots at 5 frames/second. You will not miss your baby’s momentary smile when you can shoot continuous stills at 5 f/sec, but if you do that for several minutes you will have A LOT of still images to parse!
2) The AF sensor is located INSIDE the lens ring, meaning the AF usually keeps working even with a variety (but not all) lens attachments.
3) It has the weird proprietary Canon Mini Advanced Accessory Shoe, so your previously existing Universal Hot Shoe accessories (such as camera external flash) will not fit this camcorder. You can buy a small adapter, but that can only convert to a universal COLD shoe.
4) It may have a 8.6Mp CMOS sensor, but it only utilizes 6Mp of that sensor when shooting movies. However, the video still looks great.
5) This camcorder records to its memory in 60i; when you set its recording mode to say “24PF” or “30PF” it merely changes its post shooting CONVERSION method. If your goal is something like 24p, you will get better results to simply shoot in its native format, and do your own conversion in post using a higher-end 3rd party utility such as Cineform Neo Scene.
6) Get a Blu-ray burner (~0) for your PC, and you can directly burn this camcorder’s video onto Blu-ray disks, yielding permanent media containing stunning video when seen on a big screen HD LCD.

KNOW THIS BEFORE YOU BUY:
This is NOT a sub 00 investment; it is more like 00+ (because you’ll need to buy multiple must-have accessories). Plus, you’ll likely discover your PC isn’t fast enough to edit the very CPU-intensive AVCHD video, so you’ll need to buy a very fast PC (which will cost you another 00, or more).

Here is just one (of many) different examples: you shoot video of your child’s soccer game in the park, only to discover your video is garbage because of wind noise. To get acceptable sound when shooting under even slight wind conditions, ANY camcorder must use an external video mic equipped with a “dead cat” wind screen. And there are a half-dozen other video accessories you’ll find you must buy to cover different shooting conditions; otherwise, you are gonna get embarrassingly mediocre video. This holds true for any camcorder, not just this one. I spent hundreds of hours reading online reviews specific to the S100, then I bought the recommended accessories and tested them, and parsed them down to this list of MUST-HAVE accessories needed to get great video from the S100:

-> PC w/Intel Core i7-920 2.66GHz (or similar), at least 4GB (or more) SDRAM, ATI Radeon HD 4850 (or better) video card, Blu-ray Disc Burner, plus a good LCD monitor. OR: (expensive choice) Mac Pro Quad-Core (or 8 Core), with 3GB SDRAM (or more). Plus in either case you need at least a 1TB (2TB is better) in a RAID0 (or RAID10) array.
-> Video editing software. Many choices, for example: SONY Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9 (PC Windows, lowest cost, well-reviewed), OR: Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 (expensive). NOTES: the Canon Pixela video editing software included w/this camcorder is horrible.
-> Canon DM-100 Directional Stereo Microphone (I strongly recommend this Canon mic, as it does both mono shotgun mode, and also 90-degree and 120-degree stereo modes, and the S100 interacts w/this mic through the Mini Advanced Accessory Shoe), OR: Rode Stereo VideoMic + Dead Kitten wind screen, OR: Rode (shotgun) VideoMic. NOTES: for Rode camcorder mics to mount on S10/S100, you also need an adapter to convert the Canon Mini Advanced Accessory Shoe to Universal Shoe. (try adorama.com).
-> Canon BP-819 Battery (expensive). It doubles the std battery capacity (1780mAh vs. 890 mAh), giving you about two hours or typical recording time, compared w/one hr typical for this camcorder. The BP-827 (very expensive) triples the capacity to 2670mAh, OR consider a great MONEY SAVER: for only to for 2700mAh non-OEM (non-Canon) battery, priced as kit with the non-OEM battery charger (Note: the S100 will NOT charge these non-intelligent batteries or show battery time remaining, so separate charger is req’d). See Google search string below.
-> Canon CG-800 Battery Charger. OR: find the non-OEM charger by googling “Canon VIXIA HF S100 Replacement Battery Charger”
-> Sandisk 32GB ULTRA II SDHC SD Card Class 4
NOTES: Currently the 32GB Class 6 costs significantly more than Class 4. This camcorder works fine with Class 4, as it states in the manual.
-> Canon SC2000 Soft Carrying Case. Alternative: (less expensive) Lowepro Edit 120 Bag (or similar)
-> Tiffen P/N 58UVP 58mm UV Glass Filter, OR: Tiffen 58CLR 58mm Glass (protection) Filter, OR: Tiffen W58DIGULTCLR 58mm Ultra Clear Glass (protection) Filter
-> Raynox HD-7000PRO 0.7x Wideangle Lens (BEST performance, works at all zooms, with drawback that it is a VERY heavy lens). If you only plan to use the wide angle without zooming the S100, then buy the HD6600PRO58 which is a MUCH lighter lens, and has the wider-angle power you want. (The pro’s will tell you the very expensive Canon WD-H58 Wide Converter is a POS lens that is far more expensive than the Raynox.)
-> LCD hood to shade the display from the sun. Search www.hv20.com forums for recommendations.

Nice-to-have Accessories:
-> Tiffen 58mm 812 Warming Filter
-> Tiffen 82mm Digital Ultra Clear Protective Filter (use with Raynox HD-7000, NOT for MX-3000PRO)
-> 0.45x or 0.50x Wideangle Lens.
-> Tiffen 58CP, 58mm Circular Polarizer Filter, OR: Hoya B58CRPL, OR Tiffen 58WIDCP
-> Steadicam or similar. This is a VERY light camera, so easly shakes in hand when used without Steadicam.

WARNINGS: Do not buy the cheap Tripp Lite Mini-HDMI to HDMI Cable. They are worthless. I recommend the Sony cables.
Canon: 3569B001AA Canons top-of-the-line, new VIXIA HF S100 Flash Memorycamcorder gives you everything you expect from Canon. It has apowerful, new 8.59-megapixel Full HD CMOS Image sensor plusCanons latest DIGIC DV III Image Processor. Add a Genuine Canon10x HD Video Lens and the highest bit rate in AVCHD, and youve gota camcorder that delivers spectacularly realistic HD video and photos.You can record to removable SDHC memory cards for quick and easysharing, also enjoy fast, silent start-up and operation. The CanonVIXIA HF S100 camcorder lets you shoot like a pro with assistfunctions including new zebra patterns, color peaking, a Custom Keyand Dial, and shooting modes, including 24p Cinema Mode for videothat looks like a big-screen movie. The VIXIA HF S100 incorporatessome of Canons most exciting new functions, including GenuineCanon Face Detection for perfect focus and exposure, even with faceslooking down or sideways, Pre-Record that captures video 3 secondsbefore you press the record button, and the new Video SnapshotMode for saving your memories as a series of 4-second video clips setto music. Shoot extraordinary video and photos with the VIXIA HFS100. Canon USA 1-year limited warranty included.
Canon VIXIA HF S100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

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