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For the record:
This is not a technical review of the features of the camera. There are plenty of those out there. This post is simply an overview of specific benefits this camera may or may not carry based on your level of familiarity with film-making.
If you are looking for a technical review then see the CamorderInfo.com review of the Canon HFS100.
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LET’S START WITH THE BOTTOM LINE
If you’re new to the game and have never purchased a camera before then this camera is NOT for you. I recommend this camera ONLY IF you are looking to upgrade your current system. A camera system usually consists of:
- Camera
- Filters – polarized, UV, etc
- Lens – wide angle, zoom, etc
- XLR Shotgun Microphone
- XLR audio adapter
- Wireless Mic Receiver
- Tripod
- Movement assists – Steadicam, Dolly, tracks, etc
- Lights
- Computer to edit
- Hard Drive – for storing footage
If you’re thinking about putting down $800+ for this camera and you’re missing some of those elements then my recommendation is to not purchase this camera. Rather purchase the Canon HG10 or HF100, both of which you can probably get for under $400.00 USD used from Amazon or eBay.
Spend the money you save on completing your camera system.
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MY REASONS FOR PURCHASING THE CANON VIXIA HFS 100
After spending over two weeks filming Ilm Summit 2009 with my Canon FS100, one thing I came to realize is that editing would be so much faster if I didn’t have to spend so much time cleaning up the images.
My old camera is really no good at filming in low light and you end up with a lot of “visual noise”.
The computer has to spend a lot of time in post-processing to reduce the “visual noise”. The resulting image tends to become very “soft” in nature which doesn’t really scream quality.
I had been experimenting with different HD cameras but none satisfied my desire to be able to shoot well in low light.
One camera I did like was the Canon HG10. I shot Hollywoodland – Browntourage Episode 2 with that camera and was quite satisfied, except in extreme low-light conditions.
When IlmFest 2009 came up I decided to purchase the camera. I figured I’ll have the weekend to really test it out. I took a walk out to NYC to purchase a much needed wide angle lens for the camera which ran me about $300.00 USD.
After the weekend I realized that this camera is great, but it’s not worth the $1,100.00 USD retail sticker price, so took it back to the store and returned it. The guy was nice enough to not charge me a restocking fee.
About a week later I found the same camera on eBay for about $830.00 USD and purchased it for keeps.
THE WINNING FACTOR
The lens it the best part of the camera. The lens is the same lens used on the old Canon GL2 DV cameras.
The images look brilliant and it’s ability to absorb light after sunset is great with the assist of a portable light.
The latest Browntourage episode – Hollywood Again – was shot with this camera.
THE KILLER
Canon doesn’t consider XLR audio adapters when they design their camera.
With the BeachTek attached to the HFS100, you can’t open the flash disc slot to eject the SDHC memory card.
It’s a pain considering I’m usually shooting with the Steadicam Merlin. To change the card I have to off load the camera from the Merlin and screw off the BeachTek to eject the memory.
What I end up doing usually is using my Laptop to transfer the video data via USB to a portable HDD. It’s a temporary solution, but it doesn’t give that quick satisfaction of having more recording space available.
The upside to this is you’ll be limited to shoot only 60 mins of video on a 16 GB SDHC card. On a day’s worth of shooting, be sure to make each shot count.
What I might end up doing is cutting up the BeachTek device to allow for the camera to open up the memory slot or get a 32 GB SDHC card instead.
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Belal Khan
