Customer Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly high quality
Comment: I didn't expect to be able to buy a top-notch video camera for under $650 this year, but this camera has everything I want. I was originally going to stick with Panasonic, JVC, or Sony because they are well-respected names in video, but the Amazon reviews swayed me toward Canon. I'm very glad they did.
The 16GB onboard memory turned out to be more useful than I expected. After all the horror stories I've read here about SD cards failing and taking important videos with them, now if I'm recording something important, I record it onto the onboard first, then copy it to the SD card (which the HF10 makes very easy), test the copy real quick, and then erase the onboard.
The microphone input is an important addition that you only find on the very expensive models with other brands. A family member of mine has a Panasonic that he has been using to record the life stories of the older generation, and the lack of a microphone input on his camera has made some of the recordings almost unusable because of background noise.
All high-end cameras take high quality videos in well-lit conditions, but the HF10 does a very good job in low light as well. Running the component cable directly to a 52-inch HDTV, I was able to detect a small amount of monochromatic noise, but you have to know what you're looking for. Unless you're turning your video into a feature film, you won't be bothered.
And yes, the color quality is impressive, particularly in well-lit conditions. If you're used to video cameras from 5 to 10 years ago, you will be amazed. Canon has sample videos on their site if you want to check it out; vimeo.com is another site where camera owners and reviewers commonly post their sample videos because the site hosts high-definition content. Just search for the camera's model number.
Also, if you're worried about noise, this camera has the same "spotlight" (i.e. zero-gain) mode that HV20 users have been raving about, and comparisons say that this feature on the HF10 works just just as well as the HV20. By turning off gain, the camera doesn't add any noise. Then, in post-production with software such as Sony Vegas, you can use filters that increase the brightness without introducing noise.
The color correction is great if you know what you're doing -- as with all Canon cameras, you can do "custom" or "evaluative" white balance. It's the icon with a circle between two wedges. Just point the thing at something white and it calculates the right color correction, giving you true colors in any lighting conditions (assuming you bring along something white to calibrate it against).
Another useful feature that has gotten little attention is the recording light. This light does add a bit of a blue tint, but the effect can be neutralized using the white balance setting as mentioned above. The light doesn't seem to significantly reduce battery life; the blue tint leads me to believe that it's an LED. In absolute darkness, the light is sufficient for subjects from 3 to 6 feet away from the recorder, and passable up to 10 or maybe even 20 feet -- better than nothing at least.
Cons:
The recorder doesn't (but should have) come with:
* An HDMI Cable -- read the reviews before you buy one, some of them cause poor picture quality.
* An stand-alone battery charger. Canon makes one, but you have to buy it separately.
The battery is absurdly expensive--on par with laptop batteries. If you use an after-market (non Canon) battery you won't be able to see the estimated remaining battery time. The extended-life battery is considered non-optional if you need to record more than an hour or two between charges. Charging time is significant -- don't expect to simply charge between shots.
Altogether ---
Highly recommended if you're in the market for a video camera. This model compares favorably to the [...] price point models from other brands.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great camcorder
Comment: I read up on what camcorder to order.
All the reviews where correct, this is a fantastic digital recorder.
Customer Rating:
Summary: sth wrong with battery at the first moment I got it
Comment: when I got it from Amazon, there's sth wrong with the Li battery or charge adaptor, I contacted the canon service according to the phone number on the pacakage,but I was told I can only return it or exchange a new one. ...Finally I return it to amazon.
Amazon's return policy is very good though.
Customer Rating:
Summary: HD just keeps getting better
Comment: This is my second HD camcorder (Sony HC3 bought 2 years ago). This one beats the Sony. It is light, very small, easy to use, and the picture quality is superb. Because of the light weight a very steady hand or tripod is useful as camera shake is hard to avoid. The image stabilizer is quite good but when doing a pan shot can lurch at the beginning as it tries to steady the picture. The on board mikes are adequate, prone to wind noise but not great. Surprising that manufacturers go to great lengths to give you good video but don't much care about sound. The boom mike makes a huge difference but is expensive. An improvement would be to have a way of transferring scenes from the on board memory to the chip memory - you have to use your computer to do that now. On the whole however it is fantastic value for the price.
Customer Rating:
Summary: amazon sent this item with scratches, unbelievable
Comment: this one star is for amazon, the item i received was with many scracthes around the body, with cables unhooked, even the battery for the remote controller was placed in. this is a definitely used camera. how could this happen from such a big amazon, unbelievable. i would not bother if they had told me this is refurbished item, but they sell it as brand new. the item could even be defective I do not know.
Summary: Surprisingly high quality
Comment: I didn't expect to be able to buy a top-notch video camera for under $650 this year, but this camera has everything I want. I was originally going to stick with Panasonic, JVC, or Sony because they are well-respected names in video, but the Amazon reviews swayed me toward Canon. I'm very glad they did.
The 16GB onboard memory turned out to be more useful than I expected. After all the horror stories I've read here about SD cards failing and taking important videos with them, now if I'm recording something important, I record it onto the onboard first, then copy it to the SD card (which the HF10 makes very easy), test the copy real quick, and then erase the onboard.
The microphone input is an important addition that you only find on the very expensive models with other brands. A family member of mine has a Panasonic that he has been using to record the life stories of the older generation, and the lack of a microphone input on his camera has made some of the recordings almost unusable because of background noise.
All high-end cameras take high quality videos in well-lit conditions, but the HF10 does a very good job in low light as well. Running the component cable directly to a 52-inch HDTV, I was able to detect a small amount of monochromatic noise, but you have to know what you're looking for. Unless you're turning your video into a feature film, you won't be bothered.
And yes, the color quality is impressive, particularly in well-lit conditions. If you're used to video cameras from 5 to 10 years ago, you will be amazed. Canon has sample videos on their site if you want to check it out; vimeo.com is another site where camera owners and reviewers commonly post their sample videos because the site hosts high-definition content. Just search for the camera's model number.
Also, if you're worried about noise, this camera has the same "spotlight" (i.e. zero-gain) mode that HV20 users have been raving about, and comparisons say that this feature on the HF10 works just just as well as the HV20. By turning off gain, the camera doesn't add any noise. Then, in post-production with software such as Sony Vegas, you can use filters that increase the brightness without introducing noise.
The color correction is great if you know what you're doing -- as with all Canon cameras, you can do "custom" or "evaluative" white balance. It's the icon with a circle between two wedges. Just point the thing at something white and it calculates the right color correction, giving you true colors in any lighting conditions (assuming you bring along something white to calibrate it against).
Another useful feature that has gotten little attention is the recording light. This light does add a bit of a blue tint, but the effect can be neutralized using the white balance setting as mentioned above. The light doesn't seem to significantly reduce battery life; the blue tint leads me to believe that it's an LED. In absolute darkness, the light is sufficient for subjects from 3 to 6 feet away from the recorder, and passable up to 10 or maybe even 20 feet -- better than nothing at least.
Cons:
The recorder doesn't (but should have) come with:
* An HDMI Cable -- read the reviews before you buy one, some of them cause poor picture quality.
* An stand-alone battery charger. Canon makes one, but you have to buy it separately.
The battery is absurdly expensive--on par with laptop batteries. If you use an after-market (non Canon) battery you won't be able to see the estimated remaining battery time. The extended-life battery is considered non-optional if you need to record more than an hour or two between charges. Charging time is significant -- don't expect to simply charge between shots.
Altogether ---
Highly recommended if you're in the market for a video camera. This model compares favorably to the [...] price point models from other brands.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great camcorder
Comment: I read up on what camcorder to order.
All the reviews where correct, this is a fantastic digital recorder.
Customer Rating:
Summary: sth wrong with battery at the first moment I got it
Comment: when I got it from Amazon, there's sth wrong with the Li battery or charge adaptor, I contacted the canon service according to the phone number on the pacakage,but I was told I can only return it or exchange a new one. ...Finally I return it to amazon.
Amazon's return policy is very good though.
Customer Rating:
Summary: HD just keeps getting better
Comment: This is my second HD camcorder (Sony HC3 bought 2 years ago). This one beats the Sony. It is light, very small, easy to use, and the picture quality is superb. Because of the light weight a very steady hand or tripod is useful as camera shake is hard to avoid. The image stabilizer is quite good but when doing a pan shot can lurch at the beginning as it tries to steady the picture. The on board mikes are adequate, prone to wind noise but not great. Surprising that manufacturers go to great lengths to give you good video but don't much care about sound. The boom mike makes a huge difference but is expensive. An improvement would be to have a way of transferring scenes from the on board memory to the chip memory - you have to use your computer to do that now. On the whole however it is fantastic value for the price.
Customer Rating:
Summary: amazon sent this item with scratches, unbelievable
Comment: this one star is for amazon, the item i received was with many scracthes around the body, with cables unhooked, even the battery for the remote controller was placed in. this is a definitely used camera. how could this happen from such a big amazon, unbelievable. i would not bother if they had told me this is refurbished item, but they sell it as brand new. the item could even be defective I do not know.
Canon VIXIA HF10 Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 16 GB Internal Flash Memory and 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom Reviews: Page 2 of 17
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