Canon HG10 AVCHD High Definition Camcorder with Optical Image Stabilizer by Canon
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Digital camera reviews of Canon HG10 AVCHD High Definition Camcorder with Optical Image Stabilizer
Digital camera Review: Delightful piece of quality!
Summary: 5 Stars
When we recorded our son's chorus and watched the video on TV, we knew it was time to replace our old Hi8 camcorder so as not to lose any more precious moments. I started with Consumer Reports and after reading the pros and cons of different types of camcorders, decided a hard disk based one was what I wanted. In 2007 December, when HD TV is so prevalent, why not invest in a High-definition camcorder? The best buy Panasonic hard-drive based camcorder HDC-DX1'S price was attractive but was too bulky. I generally don't carry a camcorder with me due to it additional bulk. As I read and read reports on Amazon I converged onto the Canon HG-10, due to a combination of price and the 40G hard disk capacity. The reviews were pretty good on sites such as camcorderinfo.com. I read the only drawback was its low-light performance. After using it for nearly 3 1/2 weeks, here are my impressions/findings:
Why I love the HG-10?
- Small size. It fits into the palm of your hand. However, it is not so small that it detracts from getting a steady shot.
- The image stabilizer got the best ratings among HD camcorders on camcorderinfo, which is a great plus due to the smaller size.
- The bright light clips are awesome. The quality is unbelievable compared to the quality I used to see among Hi8s. It is just another whole new level of details. As I went beyond the woods and got a shot our home, the details of the bare tree branches through which I was seeing the home was incredible.
- You don't need a separate lens cover. Once you turn the camcorder on, the shutter opens by itself and closes when you switch off. Nice.
- The scroll wheel based menu navigation needs a bit of getting used to, but is convenient to flip through a lot of clips at a time (to get to the one you want to amongst many hundred clips that you have recorded).
- The LCD view finder is compact and flips and rotates like many others.You can flip it and make it sit smugly on the side, so that others can see what is being shot.
- The 3.1 mega pixel camera is definitely handy. I don't have to carry a separate camera. All these built-in cameras do not provide the same quality as a comparable digital camera, but I find that we rarely print digital photos. To see on-screen, this is more than enough for us.
- You can choose between Auto and Manual mode. This will work well for those who want to tweak the settings themselves, but I rarely have used it except trying out in low light conditions.
- The menu for the video is fairly simple; but the camera's menu options can need some time for getting used to.
- Transferring videos to your computer via a USB cable is fairly easy. The provided software is more than adequate to transfer. You can also backup and restore the videos back to your camcorder.
- I haven't seen the videos in high def as I don't yet have a HD dvd player or not yet ordered the mini HDMI-HDMI cable. This camcorder only supports variations of Blueray HD. The video quality burnt onto regular DVDs were quite impressive, especially those shot outdoors or in bright light.
- It comes along with software to edit your movies that work, given the many complaints I read about editing HD movies. The ULead DVD Movie factory . I found I was able to joins clips, add music, tittles and chapters and burn DVDs aftermy first two videos in a relatively easy way. But I am also computer savvy, working with them for daily bread!
- The ZoomBrowserEX software for transferring still images is a more mature application that the DVD Movie factory. I don't use all its features, except for transferring I admit.
- Price (about 750) is reasonable for a High-Definition, 40 GB near top of the line digital camcorder. For my first Hi8, I had paid nearly 1500 with unnecessary additional insurance. Of course, the price will drop in two months, but that is inevitable.
- The battery gives you about 40 minutes of recording time. You may want to carry the supplied adapter along which shouldn't be a problem due to the smaller size of the camcorder itself.
- The 40 GB hard disk records about 5 1/2 hours of high definition video at the highest resolution. I could no t be happier as I rarely shoot 2 hours video in a month.
Lows:
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- Low light performance is a deterrent. First I thought I don't shoot in low lights. But we all do. Your home on the inside during evenings with the fluorescent or incandescent lights on. This is low light for the HG-10. I found pictures to be grainy. Not much of an improvement here compared to the old Sony Hi8 I had. But at an indoorplace such as Arnold's Go karts, where the lighting was bright, the quality was not an issue.
- The movie editing software is fairly basic, which is okay as I could burn DVDs with it which is all I want to do with some music. BUT, the application crashed twice when I had too many chapters. The application is also a resource hog. Of course, we are editing videos. My 2 GB, dual core, 9100 Inspiron (laptop) took more than 7 hours to burn a DVD with about 40 minutes of edited video. Just be aware you need a nice, geek-impressing desktop to do video edits. Once upon crashing, most of my video edits were lost. After I removed many chapters (every clip becomes a chapter) the application was more stable.
- The user manual for the DVD Movie factory is just fair. It doesn't explain the process of editing using the application well. The context sensitive help is something that a school boy would have written better. It looks like a hastily written user manual.
- You want to order a mini-HDMI to HDMO cable if you want to see the video in High Def. The component video cable is provided.
Overall I am happy realizing no camcorder will be without drawbacks in the price range, I as a consumer/amateur, is willing to pay. At least with a high definition camcorder I don't have to worry about getting outdated in the next several years. The Canon HG-10 is a delight overall.
Digital camera Review: Does not deserve the average 4.5 stars
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought an HG10 after seeing so many good reviews on this camcorder. However, I was disappointed by the video quality. The video of my almost two-year old Sony SR5 hard drive HD camcorder is so much better than the HG10 -much higher resolution and better color. I than bought a Sony SR11 and compared the SR11 with the HG10 head to head. The SR11 also produced much better video than the HG10 in all lighting conditions -indoor, outdoor, good and low light conditions. I have to say the HG performs pretty well at low light but the resolution and color is still not as good as the Sonys (SR5 and SR11). I also found that the 24P was not useful. HG10 also has some other features that the Sony's don't have, for example, a wide range of manual shutter speed. Although a wide range manual shutter speed is very important for a still picture camera, I don't think it is useful for a camcorder unless you are a "pro". I found the standard shutter speed (1/60 second) is appropriate for all of my need for family video.
Many of the reviews claimed that HG's video quality is excellent. I am not sure how many of those reviewers had compared the HG10 head to head with some other HD camcorders. I returned the HG10 and kept the SR11 and I have taken tons of videos with the SR11. I am happy with the amazingly good videos taken by the SR11.
Digital camera Review: Easy to use, great to edit/delete/fast forward on the camcorder
Summary: 4 Stars
Our 1st camcorder purchase. We needed a HD camcorder. We'd heard bad things about minidv tapes malfunctioning in high humidity and abrupt changes in temperature (for e.g. while in Hawaii on going from the A/C hotel room out onto the hot humid beach). So we decided to buy a Hard drive sort of camcorder. The plus side of this is the easy editing/deleting on the camcorder itself. Playback on a TV (regular TV or HDTV) is easy and it lets you choose scenes (rather than having to rewind a minidv tape). Battery life is good, focus and zoom adequate. Sound quality is good. The picture is very good especially in movie frame and HD mode.
Overall, a very good buy. Works well for a family needing a good point and shoot camcorder with user friendly features and HD quality. Paid $ 639 for it. Bought it from Marcus Audio Video - order arrived in time and was packaged well.
Digital camera Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
Excellent Hi Def Camera. I wish it had a firewire to use with my MAC. You can only download recorded video using USB. It would be nice to capture streaming video as it was hooked up to my computer.Digital camera Review: Excellent Buy
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent product that I have purchased. The controls are easy and intuitive, the picture clarity is very good, and it integrates very well with my Samsung 40 in LCD TV. It is a giant leap from my old Cannon ZR 60, which was a miniDV based non HD camcorder. I don't know why I did not buy this before.