• Home
• TVs
• Laptops
• Cameras
• Monitors
• Printers
• Hard Drives
• Camcorders
• Desktops

Photography

»Camcorders

»Camcorders

• Canon VIXIA HF100 SDHC Flash Memory Camcorder

• Price Range

  $499.99 - $824.95
• 
• Avg User Rating
• Specs • Add Your Review

• • SORT BY DATE
  • RATING
• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: vasic

  Updated:08-15-08

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Superb image quality, compact, lightweight, great feature set, incredible price (~$600!)

  Weaknesses: None significant (somewhat convoluted user interface for special functions, somewhat short battery life)

  Overall Evaluation: I have been researching AVCHD camcorders for almost a year. When HF-100 was announced in January, it seemed that the AVCHD had finally arrived. I have had it for two months now and have shot over 20GB (2.5 hours) of HD video at max quality. If you wish to switch to tapeless HD, this is the camcorder to beat (and HF-11 will be the one to beat it). Incredibly compact, the most significant quality is its superb picture. HD on 42" TV simply looks amazing. Check camcorderinfo.com for a lab test to confirm this. There are no MiniDV (standard-definition) camcorders that come even close, and majority of HD models are inferior. Low light performance is surprisingly good. Remember, though, this is $600 consumer camcorder, not a $5000 professional one. After migrating to AVCHD, I have finally realised how much hassle capturing and editing of MiniDV content was. Once I'm done shooting with this one, SDHC card goes straight into my card reader, iMovie automatically transcodes my captured files into AIC, which I can edit as I wish. As we are still in the early stage of AVCHD (and Blu-Ray authoring), very few software tools can create Blu-Ray file structure. I'm happy to report that Toast Titanium 9 (Mac only) does a fine job. Great thing about that is, you don't need to burn your material to Blu-Ray recordable discs in order to get your videos to your Blu-Ray player. Any standard Blu-Ray player will play your HD files from a DVD-R, as long as they are properly encoded and formatted. Obviously, you'll have less space, so you won't be able to squeeze more than an hour on a dual-layer DVD, but these are $0.30 apiece, whereas Blu-Ray recordable discs are $20 each (in addition to that external Blu-Ray burner you need to buy). This camcorder is an excellent way to enter the world of tapeless HD. You'll thank yourself ten years down the road for making that switch.

• Overall Rating
  4 Star Review

  Reviewed by: r.s..21

  Updated:07-17-08

  Duration of ownership:30 Days

  Strengths: * Very good hight definition video quality * Low Price* Solid State camcorder (no moving parts).* Allows high definition video to play on normal TV.

  Weaknesses: * Battery life* useless editing s/w provided by Canon* No hdmi cable provided by Canon.* No viewfinder.* does not allow to record in standard definition mode.

  Overall Evaluation: This is great camcorder to buy for a consumer. It produces high quality video. Canon should have given at least 4 gb of SDHC card with the camera.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: ikumar2000

  Updated:07-14-08

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: HD, ultracompact, SDHC

  Weaknesses: Flashlight, AVCHD

  Overall Evaluation: I was looking for the best HD camcorder and after a lot of research settled on this. I love its compactness. Its slightly bigger than your palm. Controls are nicely laid out. The quality of video is amazing esp if you watch it on HDTV. However these come at a cost. First of all, price is little high. The flashlight is almost non-existent. Low light performance is so so. AVCHD format is very troublesome to work with. It requires a lot of CPU and fast processor. Recording on SDHC is nice as you can quickly change once its full. Overall, I liked it so far.

• Overall Rating
  3 Star Review

  Reviewed by: tableau

  Updated:06-25-08

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: True HD resolution: 1920 x 1080, small overall size, light-weighted

  Weaknesses: a little bit pricey, not so satisfactory low-light performance, no internal memory

  Overall Evaluation: Overall, this is a decent HD camcorder, just the price is still a little bit high in the market. It has 12x optical zoom lens with optical image stabilizer, with a native resolution of 1920 x 1080, rather than the laterally expanded HD 1440 x 1080 of some brands. 3 Mp still images can also be captured. Although it comes with an optical stabilizer, the video still looks very unstable if shot hand-held. You really need a tripod if you want to experience the clarity of HD. Most operations are intuitive. The included software is easy to use but lack of some advanced functions, additional video processing software is recommended if serious job is to be done.

• Overall Rating
  4 Star Review

  Reviewed by: fanskyer

  Updated:06-03-08

  Duration of ownership:30 Days

  Strengths: Decent image quality

  Weaknesses: AVCHD is requiring huge space.Image stability seems not work very good

  Overall Evaluation: I got this camcorder through a B&H deal. It is really worth investment since it will record a HD quality of your memories. I know there will be better and cheaper camcorders appear in the market but your good memories is also leaving. This camcorder has a very decent image quality. Altough when your hands are shaking or you shoot when you are moving, the image seems not very good. So I suggest it might be the IS isn't strong enough? Another drawback is the AVCHD form is requiring a lot of space, I bought a 8GB SDHC card but it seems not enough.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: robsf23

  Updated:05-28-08

  Duration of ownership:21 Days

  Strengths: Excellent HD video quality, small size, good ergonomics, 30p, 24p, & 60i modes with Cine mode (progressive is 60i converted), headphone & mic jacks (BIG plus!), HDMI out, uses flash memory

  Weaknesses: battery life (BP-809) less than 1 hour, No HDMI cable included, no view finder, proprietary mini-hot shoe (not standard), poor software pkg, built in led video light has slight blue cast

  Overall Evaluation: This is Canon's 3rd gen AVCHD camcorder and their first using solid state flash memory (using SDHC class 6 card). I've been waiting for a flash memory, full 1080 HD camcorder for awhile. I didn't want to deal with mini dv tape, hard drive, nor DVD media. Transferring the footage from SD cards (via SDHC reader on USB2) to my pc only takes a few minutes. I also considered the 3 CCD (and smaller sized) Panasonic HDC-HS9, but based on my research, the Canon (with 1 CMOS sensor) is said to have better video quality - which is one of the most important feature of a camcorder.First thing I noticed - the video quality and color is excellent in a well lighted environment but also pretty good in low light (compared to previous camcorders I used). The built in single LED light is surprisingly bright (up to about 10 feet and in a narrow area). It also casts a slight blue color. I guess for those moments when a light is needed in a pinch, this light would do. But I use an external Sima SL-20LX led video light instead and it works great with this camcorder. However, I have to use a video bracket to attach a standard shoe video light and external mic (The built in hot shoe does not accept standard sized accessories). The camcorder's settings are easy to setup with logical menus. You access it using the joystick which is on the LCD screen. Besides the "Easy for dummies" mode, there are "semi-manual" controls like AV (aperature priority) to control aperature size and TV (shutter priority) to control shutter speed. There are other presets like "fireworks", "sports", "night" ,etc similar to Canon still cameras - if you ever are in that situation. There is "cine mode" which adds a "soft, film look" and can be used independently or together with 24p and 30p modes. Using both makes the video look better and film like - if you like that look. There is the 1080-60i mode if you like the "harsher" video interlaced look too. Note that there is NO 720p nor SD modes on this camcorder - only full 1080i.Another thing I liked about this camcorder is the microphone input and headphone jack, which you just don't see in consumer camcorders anymore. The built in mic, which is in front, records great sound for a built in mic. There is also a sound meter so you can monitor the levels. Another thing I liked is the playback of videos on the flash card. Since the video is non-linear, you can delete the scene if you don't want it. The scenes show up as thumbnails on the lcd. This is helpful if you need to free up space on the memory card.I knew before I purchased this that there wasn't much editing software out there that supports AVCHD. I am now using trial versions of Magix Movie 14 and Sony Movie Studio 8 - which are "consumer" level video editing apps. Pinnacle Studio claims it handles AVCHD but there is no free trial so I didn't try it. So far the Magix Movie 14 and Sony MS8 seems to handle the video well. Personally, I like Sony MS8 interface and workflow.This is the best consumer camcorder I've used. I love everything about the camcorder - its size, ergononics, features, video workflow, and of course, video quality. If you are looking for a compact, full 1080, flash memory Hi-Def video camera with great picture quality, this is the one to buy (or at least, to compare the others against)!

• Overall Rating
  4 Star Review

  Reviewed by: obaa996

  Updated:05-23-08

  Duration of ownership:14 Days

  Strengths: small size, light weight, picture quality

  Weaknesses: low light performance

  Overall Evaluation: This camera was a replacement for our Canon miniDV camcorder. A definite upgrade in terms of size and picture quality.The memory cards make it much more convenient to carry around extras, and download to my PC.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by:

  Updated:05-23-08

  Duration of ownership:1 Weeks

  Strengths: Great camcorder. Small Size. Flash memory

  Weaknesses: Wish the battery life was longer. Battery that comes with it appears to only get 70-80 minutes out of a charge.

  Overall Evaluation: Great camera for portability and image quality. You will need a couple of 16Gig SDHC cards to store video when you're away from home - only get 2 hrs of recording at highest quality per 16Gig card.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: qiucharlie

  Updated:05-21-08

  Duration of ownership:2 Days

  Strengths: Excellent video performance; multiframe selection; good lens and manual controls

  Weaknesses: No viewfinder; little expensive; short battery life

  Overall Evaluation: Yesterday, I got my HF100. It can shoot sharp, accurate color and vivid video. It also supports multiframe (60i, 25p, 30p) and has fast auto focus even in low light environment (this morning in my home), manual focus, aperture & shutter speed controls, and compact good look. The big problem is its battery life. I used about 3 hours to charge it and can shoot about 50 minutes' HD video. I have to buy a Canon BP-819 battery to replace its original battery. Just like all consumer camcorders, the noise can be seen in low light situation.

• Overall Rating
  4 Star Review

  Reviewed by: chanwan

  Updated:05-16-08

  Duration of ownership:14 Days

  Strengths: Light weight, good video and photo image

  Weaknesses: A bit expensive when compare with Panasonic

  Overall Evaluation: I spent time to compare HF100, Sony HDR-CX7 and Panasonic HDC-SD5/9. Sony may give similar image quality but the memory card is too expensive. The Panasonic is cheaper than HF100, but the expert?s comments are not encouraging. After using HF100 for two weeks, I am quite satisfied with its performance and price. The image for both video and photo are very good. It is light weight and easy to carry. I hope it can bundle with a DVD writer such as Panasonic SD5. If it comes with a portable light weight DVD writer, it would be perfect for all occasions such as a long trip.

« Back to product pricing for...

Canon VIXIA HF100 SDHC Flash Memory Camcorder

$499.99(2 sellers) • Avg User Rating •Specs