Canon FS100 Best Prices!
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Canon FS100 Best Prices!.
Product: Canon FS100 Amazon Price: Too low to display Availability: In Stock |
This is a long review because I took a lot of time in researching the camcorder I wanted, so I consider my knowledge and consume of this thing should be estimable to SOMEONE out there. I had my examine on this thing before it was out, and saw reviews from some lucky people who got their hands on it before its release. Once I was able to order, Amazon shipped it in a not very well packaged box, but everything worked. It comes with a minute remote, by the plot, which came in handy when I connected the camcorder to our TV.
Preface: I am an intermediate video editor. I spend Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5, sadly not CS3, and I easily figure out menus of electronics without needing to read manuals. So with that said, this camcorder was perfect for me. For beginners, it is peaceful easy to consume, but the more advanced features catch some button pushing to access. Detached, the basics are out in the initiate.
(By the plot, I purchased the sapphire blue and it's more handsome in person than in the photos.)
I researched for a long while online, and after using the in-laws' Panasonic DV, I knew what I really, really wanted apt now in a camcorder.
These were my requirements that I wouldn't coast on:
Small and Lightweight
Microphone input
Less than $500
Records to Flash Memory (Card)
As-close-to-great quality footage
These were optional:
High Definition
Cold/Hot Shoe Attachment
Ability to add other lenses
Digital Camera
So, the FS100 is compact. I knew it would be slight, but I had no opinion that the whole thing could sit in my hand. It also fits in my purse (and my purse isn't a large "hobo" bag that many girls carry around these days) . Because there are no "bewitching parts" and everything is recorded to a limited memory card (SD), the camcorder is also very light and level-headed. If it's aloof not tranquil enough for you because you're in an extremely still surrounding, expend an external mic.
I required an input for a microphone because, in the future, I'll want better sound for commercial purposes. Especially for when I want to upload my videos to the internet for promotional advertising (or perhaps Amazon reviews? ) . Or maybe for recording footage of my first child's birth - curses and all. ;D This is one of the very few "consumer" camcorders that allows mic-in.
DV is said to composed be of gargantuan quality, but SD memory cards are impartial too cheap and reusable to pass up nowadays. Unless you're a pro editing video for professional purposes, your end-user isn't going to gawk the inequity between DV and flash memory. Memory cards are also lighter, smaller, and collected. They invent it easier to actually gather my footage onto a disc, or stored on a NAS (Network Attached Storage) so that I don't have a stack of unlabeled DV tapes that haven't been watched since they were recorded.
Because the FS100 uses flash memory, recordings are stored as separate digital clips. Do you know what this means? This means my footage WON'T Regain RECORDED OVER. You don't know how many times this has happened to me because someone picks up the camcorder and thinks the tape is blank.
The clips can also be placed into a playlist; you can resolve where you want the clip to inaugurate, and voila - some basic playback editing without ever leaving the camcorder interface. You won't have to end an entire DVD (or bore a viewer with vacation footage of your spouse snoring) .
I obsolete the FS100 *all day* in Hollywood, CA during an outing with two small girls and my friend. We were indoors, outdoors, in overcast, sunny, and shady areas. I also tested out the camera around our house and home office. I place the camcorder to its highest setting (using a 16GB card) and widescreen format. I fiddled with the lighting options depending on where I was so that I got the most natural color. It handled like a champ and I will go into quality details in a bit.
Zoom works amazingly well, obviously smooth has a bit of a shake in the kill, but the stabilization seems better than other camcorders.
I stupefied about the battery life because it seemed short on paper, but using it all day without its Rapidly Open option (letting it hibernate so you can impartial originate the hide and instantly represent something), was dandy. The battery ancient up about 25% of its power! (By the scheme, you can plan how the battery is doing without turning the camcorder on by a press of a button.)
Okay, CONS:
The programs it comes with are...crap. Sorry, but don't understanding on using them for powerful unless you need very, very basic editing capabilities. Don't even contemplate using the still-photo camera. I don't know why Canon even bothered with it at all. Some cell phones select better pictures.
Since I have Premiere, I fair wanted to consume my reader, but a 16GB SD card requires me to hold a newer reader because it's so mammoth. I tried USB whine to my computer: Procedure. TOO. Expressionless. So I conception I would install the program for now unprejudiced to transfer my footage, but that also was too stupid. I ended up purchasing the Transcend reader on Amazon for ~$9 and it worked astronomical.
The footage comes in .MOD files, which you can supposedly rename to .MPEG, but I downloaded SDCopy and it does this for me, as well as marks the footage as widescreen so that they play in Windows Media Player *in widescreen*. Without SDCopy, WMP plays the files in 4:3 format, which means everything looks squashed.
BUT, my Premiere doesn't watch the files as widescreen at all. Windows Movie Maker does, but I really don't want to exhaust that for editing. I tried Avidemux, and it didn't pull in the audio. So, I unruffled have a predicament to figure out.
My Premiere also didn't gawk the audio - in the MOD or MPEG files. I searched online and my version (Pro 1.5) picked up the audio once I uninstalled PowerDVD. (I know if you have Premiere CS3, then you can add a .DLL file that recognizes the audio.)
The camcorder doesn't like coarse light. Quality goes a bit downhill. It does have a light you can turn on, but it doesn't manufacture that worthy of a inequity.
I haven't played with the settings to seek if I can fix this, but the camcorder also meters for the brightest thing it's looking at - which means a person in front of a window, or even if the window is off to the side, will be very dusky. The light through the window objective gets blown out, so I had to angle the camcorder away from such "snort" light to bag my subject-in-shadow nicely.
SUMMARY:
Great camcorder with graceful features, but complicating issues with retrieving files, so I couldn't give it 5 stars. Aloof worship it.
I've been looking to update my stale Sony Digital8 camcorder and have been looking primarily at Mini-DV. But, this flash camcorder caught my perceive since the ticket of SD cards has become amazingly inexpensive. To transfer video from a DV recorder takes a lot of patience, gigabytes of storage, and hours of work. By dissimilarity, a 4gig SDHC card in this camera can store an hour and 20 minutes at 6 mb/s. The camera will do 9 mb/s, but I don't recommend it if your final format is DVD since some players will have problems keeping up.
My suggestion is to ignore most of the instructions which Canon provides and retain the software CD's in the box. There's a cute warning attached to the USB cable which warns NOT to connect it without first installing the drivers. I connected it to my MAC running OS-X 10.4 and a warning came on the cover to slump in the AC adapter. Once I did that the camera came proper up as a disk drive. The manual warns not to access the folders directly. I did that, too and simply copied them to the local hard drive (more on that in a exiguous) . Then, the camera warned NOT to change modes, or disconnect the USB cable, or disconnect the power. Ok... then, after I dismount the USB drive, how do I unplug the camera 
The manual gives a clue to disconnect the USB first, then power off.
By the arrangement, it's objective mighty, considerable less hassle to lift an SDHC/MMC card reader and copy the folders off.
If you wish to mess with iMovie and other specialized software, then I voice you'll have to maintain your file structure top-notch and follow the manual more closely. I employ Final Reduce on the Mac, not iMovie, so my first pains was, What is a MOD file and an MOI file? That is what you're left with after you copy your card. The short acknowledge is, toss the MOI files - assuming you are not using the on-camera editing features. I objective report and dump to the hard drive and edit with Final Carve.
A MOD file (not to be confused with the music format file) is honest an mpeg2 file with audio included. This will confuse some Windows programs which inquire the audio in a separate file, so expend Media Player Classic. Quicktime on the Mac had no spot playing the file, although you may need to download the MPEG-2 Playback Component. Finally, the aspect ratio setting in a MOD file may not be honest for WideScreen format. You may need Mpeg tools to accurate the header if you shoot WideScreen.
Next, Mpeg2 is not an "editable" format like DV. It's about 1/5 the size on my system and a single 4gig card backs up nicely onto a single layer DVD-R. You'll need to do something with the MOD files. My program of choice on the Mac is Visual Hub which is quite reasonably priced shareware. I simply dragged my Canon MOD files to it, selected "DV" and "Ready for Final Carve" and "Open." I was left with DV files ready to edit, although 5x larger. There's even a setting to force 16:9 aspect ratio. The derive is that you'll need to re-encode benefit to Mpeg2 if you're burning for DVD.
The nice thing is there aren't any tapes to secure dirty and wear out. Flash cards may be outmoded hundreds or thousands of times, unlike DV tapes which are broken-down once or twice. The size of files are very shrimp and easily archived, over an hour of video on a single DVD-R of raw footage. But, re-encoding to DV and attend to Mpeg2 will sacrifice some quality. I deem it's a advantageous trade-off to using a DV recorder since you can do in minutes what it would usually buy hours or days.
As for the features of the camcorder, it has an external mic jack. Thank-you Canon. Finally, someone is listening. If you've ever had to relate a conversation in a noisy room you will enjoy the ability to exercise a directional mic. No headphones, but it has an audio meter level exhibit. White balance! Numerous white balance settings as well as manual. Auto and manual shutter rush, exposure, focus, and audio score at your finger tips. And, an "Easy Mode" for chubby automatic for those who dislike buttons or impartial need to grab a rapid action shot - press "on", press "easy", press "report" and you're recording in seconds. No consuming parts except for the lens cap, which is automatic and built-in. No more lost lens cap or one which is smacking into the microphone in the wind while you're recording. And, size - I can conceal the camera in the palm of my hand. It's runt, lightweight, and easy to shoot without getting tired.
As for the not so hot stuff, the recording light is an LED. My broken-down Sony Digital 8 camcorder mature a microscopic light bulb which appeared as natural light. The LED light is certainly better on the battery but makes everything blue-ish. Battery is internal, nice form but you're stuck with whatever capacity will fit into that size battery bay. Batteries and charging accessories cost a fortune, although SDHC cards are cheap. The built-in microphone will need some acoustic foam glued over it or check around for a strap-on wind sock. No viewfinder, not that I spend one very grand - you will need to shoot with the LCD begin.
Overall the camera is a honorable itsy-bitsy unit with an exceptional zoom. I was very impressed with the zoom quality. I bought this as a replacement to my previous mini DV tape camcorder that pause recording sound. We simply expend it to recount family moments so I'm not doing any kind of professional video recording.
I do like the thought of having the SD cards vs. a hard drive. I can change out and replace the SD cards even if they go abominable but if the hard drive goes dreadful in a hard drive camcorder, it will probably be hard to replace. Also I will never be stuck filling up my hard drive and having no where to unload the video. After doing some testing, I had a newer SD 4G memory card and the recorder would let me picture about 1 hour and 45 min. of video (I reflect that's proper) . I also found it VERY easy to transfer the video straight into my computer with an SD reader. This was a Tall pickle with my previous recorder because it had problems transferring the video from the mini DV tapes to the PC.
I haven't ancient the serene photo capability yet and don't idea to since I have a reliable digital camera so I can't comment on it.
I only have a couple of issues:
1. The SD software that comes with the recorder has a itsy-bitsy glitch (ONLY with the colored units; the blue and red) when entering the serial number to register the software it doesn't stare the serial number from the unit. You actually have to change the first 3 numbers from 822 to 808 to gain the serial number to get. I found this from an earlier review on this station.
2. My other exclaim is the sound can be a shrimp better. It was a shrimp crude but I can live with it.
3. One last thing, it DOES NOT approach with a separate battery charger so you are forced to charge the battery while it's in the recorder. [...]. Canon 2590B002 CG-800 Lithium Ion Battery Charger for 800 Series Batteries
Overall, for the notice and its capabilities, it is a edifying camcorder.
