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The day I wrote the post on the Canon HFS100, I had the highest amount of readers in one day ever. However, the following days lead to a HUGE drop off. As you can see in the pic below this isn't normal.
The web traffic hasn’t been affected. Only the RSS readers. Anyone know what would cause such a drop after a over six months of consistent rising?
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Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes
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:
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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Below is the new stats view for a video I uploaded Conversations in Heaven & Hell – last week on YouTube:
All of this information was available before, but you’d have to check the insights button and click in several different areas to get all this info. I love how its all laid out in front of you in one easy click.
Thanks YouTube!
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I’m sure a lot of us have heard of twitter, but most don’t have a clue what it is and what’s so great about it.
Twitter is the key that allows you to work you online social network in an automated fashion so that you can continuously build relationships and engage your people while not being chained to a desk or a computer.
Blogging, bookmarking, video, text, photo, and networking in a social sphere are all what we’re exposed to so much these days, yet many of us are resisting adopting and embracing these technologies.
I joined twitter back in April 2009 (see sidebar for my latest tweets). I knew of its existance since early 2008 but never joined because I was still getting my head around all these new social media technologies and figuring out what ways to use utilize them for marketing as well as general communication.
After having used twitter for about three months, I can confidently say it is a total Godsend! In all truth I wish I joined up sooner.
WHAT IS TWITTER?
I DON’T HAVE TIME TO LEARN THIS!
I’m a major advocate for social media and here’s why:
It’s a gold mine to meeting new people. Not just for the purposes of business but to enrich your social life as well.
Social media is a TOOL and specifically it’s a MAGNIFIER. Like money and power it will magnify what’s already inside of you. Truth is that social media is here to stay and you will be assimilated. Resistance is futile 
I WANT TO PROTECT MY PRIVACY
I understand that there is a concern of having a balance of privacy and publicity. I also feel that people aren’t exercising comon sense when it comes to the issue of privacy and publicity online and this is where proper education and awareness needs to be brought into the fold.
I’m in the process of developing some material via MessageMastery.com which I’ll be putting out as a gift for all of you laying out the basics to get you going on using these amazing social media tools.
Using social media is just like real life – Its all about extending one’s influence through the building of relationships.
Fact of life: generally people don’t care about you, me or anyone. They care about themselves, and more importantly – what others think of THEM.
In order for us as entrepreneurs, organizational leaders, entertainers, or even as individuals to get people to do stuff, we need to touch a heart before we can ask for a hand. This is where leadership skills and compassion comes into play.
Everyone wants something. They’re trying to get somewhere. When we help someone get to where they want to go – a relationship forms.
When the heart is touched multiple times, those individuals make your their leader/celebrity/etc – obviously we as Muslims don’t attempt to touch the hearts of people to become their leader or celebrity – we do it for the sake of Allah-swt alone, but the natural process is that this is what happens.
The more hearts we touch – the greater our influence becomes – This is social media.
The tools that are out the like – YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, etc – are all there to do just that.
WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?
I want you to give some of these tools a try. Specifically twitter.
Go ahead to twitter.com and create an account, start following me and we can start sharing ideas with each other right away 
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The other day someone showed me a YouTube channel saw a design layout that was different (and much better looking) than the typical YouTube channels. After some inquiry turns out that they hadn’t done anything special to get the design as they had set it.
After about three mins of fiddling around in the YouTube settings, I saw this:
When you see an “Upgrade” button, you cannot not click it. The result:
I love the clean design layout.
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Leechon, Inc. is a marketing company focusing on marketing and branding strategy with a concentration on social media and online marketing. We see video as an essential tool in marketing. We've produced promotional videos, commercials, trailers and social media content for clients. We also have independent projects of our own. If you want to learn more about what we do, see the about page. |
