| Canon VIXIA HF100 Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 57 reviews)
Sales Rank: 34
Category: Photography
Publisher: Canon
Studio: Canon
Brand: Canon
Label: Canon
Media: Electronics
Batteries Included: 0
Floppy Disk Drive: None
Monitor Size: 270
Included Software: Yes
Special Features: nv:Size^1/3.2-inch|Image Resolution^1920 x 1080|Movie Resolution^1920 x 1080|Storage Media^SD/SDHC Memory Card|Compressed Format^DPOF|Compressed Format^DCF Exif 2.2|Movie File Format^MPEG-4|Movie File Format^AVCHD (HD)|Optical Zoom^12x|Digital Zoom^200x|Focal Length^f=4.8-57.6 mm|LCD Monitor^2.7-inches|LCD Pixels^211,000 pixels|LCD Coverage^100%|Maximum Aperture^f 1.8 - 3.0|White Balance Control^Auto|White Balance Control^Daylight|White Balance Control^Cloudy
Optical Zoom: 12
Digital Zoom: 200
Display Size: 2.7
Maximum Focal Length: 57
Minimum Focal Length: 4.8
Maximum Resolution: 2070000
Warranty: 1 year warranty
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 5.1 x 2.9 x 2.5
MPN: HF100
Model: HF100
UPC: 013803092004
EAN: 0013803092004
ASIN: B00114162K
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | Capture high-definition video to flash memory | | • | 12x optical zoom; SuperRange Optical Image Stabilizer | | • | 24p Cinema Mode; 30p Progressive Mode | | • | 2.7-inch widescreen Multi-Angle Vivid LCD | | • | Simultaneous photo capture |
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Product Description
Now that you've upgraded your TV to an HDTV widescreen, doesn't it make sense to consider a Hi-Def Camcorder? The Canon VIXIA HF100 captures videos at 1920x1080 for true 1080i display. There are no tapes or discs to concern yourself with. It has an SD SDHC slot for video storage. So let your videos fill your new TV screen. Use the VIXIA from Canon. DIGIC DV II Image Processor SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization Instant AF (Auto Focus) 2.7 Multi-Angle Vivid Widescreen LCD Superb Shooting Control 24p Cinema Mode / 30p Progressive Mode Stunning Digital Photography Focusing System - Instant AF, Through the Lens/Manual Focusing Possible Auto and Manual exposure modes; Programmed AE - Auto, Program, Av, Tv, CINEMA, Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, Fireworks Recording Media - SD/SDHC Memory Card (not supplied) Audio - Dolby Digital 2ch (AC-3 2 ch) HDMI Terminal Type C 480i/480p/1080I Format Supported Microphone Terminal - 3.5 mm Stereo Mini-jack Mini HDMI Terminal and Mini Advanced Accessory Shoe Dimensions (WxHxD) 2.9 x 2.5 x 5.1 in (73x64x129mm); Weight (not including lens and battery pack) 13.4 oz (380g)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 52 more reviews...
 Great camera, sparse format support July 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a remarkable camera that weights practically nothing and takes very realistic HD video with extremely clear stereo sound. I bought a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable to plug it directly into our HD LCD TV and the quality rivals what you can see on Discovery HD. You will not be disappointed with the video quality. Still images too look fantastic. I set it to 30p frame rate since our TV and computers are progressive scan displays and the 60i seems a little shaky with software support. The stills at 2 MP may not have enough resolution for large prints, but they are incredible again on an HDTV as it displays them at a 1:1 ratio.
The only thing lacking is good software support for the AVCHD format. The crappy software that it comes with is Windows only and has limited editing. We are a Mac/Linux household so I'm still waiting for native AVCHD playback support on my MythTV box. The Mac can import from the camera using iMovie though it converts it to Apple's format which is huge and can take hours. I'm sure the software world will catch up with the new AVCHD format cameras very soon though.
The only knock against the camera itself is the slowness when changing between video and picture modes. It can take 15 seconds before it is ready to take a photo or up to 5 seconds or so when switching back to video mode. I do not know why unless it is the fact that I have a 16GB card? Maybe Canon can provide a firmware update to speed it up.
HF100 vs HV20: observations on video quality trade-offs and editing/distribution June 30, 2008
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I have a one year old HV20 and a 2 month old HF100. First and foremost, I care about video quality, but convenience is also important.
Each year, we go to the Fraser Valley in Colorado - an area surrounded by pine-forest covered peaks. Last year, we took a ton of footage with the HV20. Did the same this year with the HF-100. Three fundamental things about the video quality strike me in comparing similair footage.
1 - the HV20, given any movement at all, still has a slightly better ability to resolve fine detail. In bright indoor shots and in in reasonably but not overly detailed outdoor shots, not sure I can tell the difference. However, the moment I have a backdrop with lots of pine trees on distant hills, there is a very noticable difference. The HV20 simply seems to resolve a lot more of the distant pine detail. The HV20 did (and does) create a "wow" factor with those kind of shots. The HF100 does not. The 100 is not bad, but I lose the ability to marvel at the distant detail. Of course, thousands of pines mean millions of needles. That's a lot of detail. And my camera is never completely still in real life - even if only slowly zooming or panning (or if there is some movement in the subject/s). This is not a small quality difference. (I should note I have a 65" 1080p projector - smaller screens may not reveal such a big difference).
2 - Movement is more fluid with the HV20. With the HF100, I noticed that I found even reasonably slow pans bothersome - there was blur and greater "blockiness" to the scenery. The HV20, on the other hand, seems both more fluid and to present more of a solid image as I pan - really allowing my eyes to track the scenery during a pan.
3 - Medium to low light shots are dramatically better on the HF100. With the HV20, I tried to do all kinds of things to compensate any time it was evening in doors (even with a few hundred lux of light) or nearing twilight outdoors. The colors seemed overly reddish on the full auto settings, the image got noisy, etc. I used cineamode to try and offset both to some reasonable effect. By comparison, I have found I never need to take the HF100 out of the "Easy mode" and the quality is far better than what I got with all my fiddling on the HV20. (I should note I do all my filming in 60i - so bear that in mind). This is no small quality difference. It's huge.
In the end, for video quality, I'm faced with having to let go of the occasional "wow" factor in higly detailed (and real world - with movement) shots for the much greater quality consistancy under varying lighting conditions. That's not an easy trade-off, but probably tips the scales for me to the HF-100.
If you are a hobbyist or such who can always assure ample lighting - the HV20 probably still reigns for best quality.
EDITING AND CONVENIENCE - another matter entirely. If you want to do a lot of post work, there's still no comparing the tools available. I do not do a lot of post work. I was pleasantly suprised by the packaged (Pixela) software. It's not great, but for scene deletions, trims and rearrangements, it works while doing smart-rendering, which is a big deal for time and quality. So that suggests the HF100 for me.
For distribution, the jury is still out, but it looks like AVCHD will win out. There is some suggestion that Hi-Rez MPEG2 (HDV) can be natively encoded to Blu-Ray disks. I haven't tried that. But I can say that that the AVCHD disks created on DVD from the HF100 play very well on the Play station 3 and several other Blu-ray players I've tried them on. All my connections are via HDMI - and there is no perceptible quality loss to me vs. hooking up the camcorder straight. That's promising.
INTERESTING NOTE
I took my Colorado HV20 footage and encoded to AVCHD (17Mb/s). I used Pinnacle Studio 11 - probably not the best encoder. But the important point is that, even though TWICE compressed with the re-encoding, the resulting footage was, in general, better than the AVCHD from the HF-100 for the highly detailed nature scenes described in point 1. That's really surprising and is good news for the standard. It suggests any quality trade-offs I'm seeing today may be more a function of processor limitations (doing it all in real time) vs. the protocol(s).
I'm still struggling, but in the end, I think the more consistant quality with low light and the distribution convenience probably will make me shift to the HF-100 and AVCHD.
For what it's worth.
A great choice for HD June 28, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I looked for over 3 months before purchasing a camcorder. I looked up cnet reviews and any other site that could offer information and finally ended up with the HF100. My final decision was based on the fact that the price is reaasonable for HD (only a couple hundred more than SD) and flash memory, I was interested in the HG10 also but settled on this one instead because of the fact that it offered flash vs. a hard drive. Depending on what you plan on using your camcorder for, what your budget is and what you require will determine what will work best for you. This is what I found so far from my HF100:
Pros:
The Canon HF100 HD camcorder is a good overall camcorder. The controls are easy to reach and the manual is readable and brief. The software to edit your video footage takes some getting used to and you have to have very high performance PC to work with the HD footage you record. I recommend a large capacity external hard drive also because the files recorded in HD get big fast.
Unless you have or plan on buying a blu ray disc player and burner, stick with a standard definition camcorder. Canon offers the HF15, I believe which is hundreds less than the HD version for those who are happy with dvd quality and don't wish to upgrade in the future.
Cons:
It's a little pricey but not bad, the battery life is only about 1 hour so you'll definately want to purchase the larger capacity battery (bp819) and it will stick out a little further but it gives you about 2 hours of recording time. The editing software takes some getting used to, I'm still working with it on my 3 year old laptop and it is very slow...thinking about upgrading when blu-ray r/w come down a little.
Good luck with your search for a camcorder!
 Excellent Camera - Mac Ps3 Friendly June 28, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Hi all, I've been using my friends HV20 for some time, and I just picked up my own Canon HF100. This camera is amazing. I'm not going to knock tapes, but I simply can't believe how easy this Flash Drive makes things. I've done some recordings around the backyard and house, then you just take the SDHC card out and pop it into the Ps3... they start playing and are simply gorgeous.
I'm using iMovie 08' and FCE 4.0 for editing on the Mac. I also brought these files into my PC using PowerDirector 7, that was no issue at all either. On the FCE 4.0 side... I was shooting video in the 1440x1080 mode, instead of 1920x1080... the reason for this is that FCE is 1440 by default. So, the clips are copied in, using Log and Transfer, at about 1 to 1 speed. And you can add them all to the timeline and preview them, without the need to render them, which is awesome.
I have much to learn, I'm not that good at FCE yet, at all. iMovie works just fine, but it's very limited. The HF100 also takes amazing still shots at 1920x1080 widescreen, they came out fantastic.
Hope this helps someone... don't be afraid of the AVCHD, I've had no issues at all using the Mac or the PC so far... oh, one more thing. My SDHC 16 meg card came with a USB adapter. So, I just plug that into my Mac and FCE and iMovie both think it's a camera... never need to actually hook the camera to the Mac. Before I even bring those files into the editor. I copy the whole directory, as is, to a Disk Image I created on the Desktop. Label the folder by date. That way, I have the full AVCHD files stored away for use later. When the disk image becomes 4.3 gig, I just burn a DVD of it, and put it away, or use a Dual Layer and make the disk image 8 gig... either way. You have the original untouched footage stored safely away.
Tom
Great camera, some limitations June 28, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Canon Vixia HF100 is a great camera. I have not purchased a camcorder in 10 years and the jump in technology is magic. I am using the quality setting that can record 3 hrs per 16GB card and 30 frames progressive and the result is amazing. The zoom and image stabilization is also very good. I recommend this product and you should seriously consider it, however here are some gotchas:
1. the battery last only about 1hr
2. changing the mode to picture takes 20-30 seconds as the camera reads the card
3. if you are walking around a town or need to take pictures over a longer period of times you will tend to leave the camera on with the lid closed, this will give you a couple of hours of operation, depending on usage
4. the video is highly compressed and while the quality is good for me it takes lots of disk space and CPU to process. Also you may need to invest in new video editing software.
I do not think that the issues above are specific to Canon's AVCHD camera. I hope they will improve on the start time in picture mode, until then I will carry around an separate digital camera.
Enjoy :-)
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