Canon VIXIA HF10 Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 16 GB Internal Flash Memory and 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom by Canon
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Digital camera reviews of Canon VIXIA HF10 Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 16 GB Internal Flash Memory and 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Digital camera Review: Frustrating format makes editing nearly unbearable
Summary: 3 Stars
This camera has a lot of appealing features, but the AVCHD format makes it very difficult to work with files using a Mac and iMovie for editing. The files become unmanageably large when imported to iMovie, and take a lot longer to import than 1:1 even. Perhaps there will be software upgrades or improvements to handle these files with ease in the future, but for now it has made use of this camera a chore.
In fact, I am now planning to simply buy add'l SD cards for archiving of the footage we are taking of our new son, and will hope for a more user-friendly way to edit these videos in the future. At $25/8GB for Class 4 cards, which can hold 1-2 hours of raw footage, which is not unreasonable, but it beats the time investment required to deal with the files using current software.
Digital camera Review: Get Adobe PremierElements 7 or Pinnacle StudioPlus 12 to edit your AVCHD!
Summary: 5 Stars
While Adobe Premier Elements 7 is a big joke for the MP4 AVC/H.264 formats...it is a superstar with the AVCHD / .mts files this Canon HF10 generates.
Before I bought my own HF10 I was asked by a buddy to edit and burn some youth football footage from his newly acquired Canon HF10 with SDHC card. I was excited. Although I had no clue what an .mts file was Adobe PE 7 not only recognized it and imported it quickly...but I proceeded to edit both video and audio (together and separately)as well as burn to a regular DVD (not BluRay). My jaw just dropped and I said WOW!
I will add that while I am not a big fan of the GUI of Pinnacle Studio Plus 12 it also handles the AVCHD / .mts from the Canon HF10 just fine...and also handles those other MP4's just fine too.
The really important part is that while I have a nice amount of ram (4GB) my computer is nothing special at all. I am running Vista Basic on a Celeron 1.60Ghz processor (Dell Inspiron 530 desktop) with the 4GB of ram.
Now that I have purchased my OWN Canon HF10 AVCHD camcorder Adobe PE7 is my go-to program for this type of footage. Again, it handles the AVCHD / .mts file format flawlessly. Check out my other reviews for some other programs I have tried like Corel VideoStudio X2 and Magix - Movie Edit pro 14. If you are going to be working only with AVCHD, specifically from any of the Canon HF series camcorders that put .mts on sdhc flash cards...then I believe Adobe Premier Elements 7 is the best option.
Warning: If you are going to rely on ONE software solution for multiple formats other than AVCHD, Adobe PE7 is not the way to go! I use several little camera/camcorders other than the HF10. They all use the MP4 AVC/H.264 format...while the previous version of PE handled them fine, Adobe PE 7 HATES the MP4 format! You can't even add them to the time-line without it crashing! If you are looking for a single editing program to handle not only the AVCHD from the Canon HF10, HF11 or HF100 but other formats as well...specifically the MP4 AVC/H.264 format then I would go with Pinnacle Studio Plus 12. Like I said before, the interface and work flow is nothing like Adobe's but it works fin with the multiple formats.
Digital camera Review: Good Camcorder - Terrible Software/PC support
Summary: 4 Stars
The camcorder almost upholds Canon's tradition of quality equipment. The video is very good quality and the device is amazingly small and functional. The areas I've had difficulty in with menu operation and extracting the videos to my PCs.
Menu Operations: Fairly decent controls and functionality, but navigation and usability are not up to par as with other devices. Canon tried, but it takes too many hands and fingers to figure things out, especially when you're in the heat of the moment with a good shot or scene. Just to use the fade capability, you have to use your left hand and click a few things to activate the fade properly.
Software: This is its true shortcoming. Getting the video off of the camcorder can be a nightmare for someone who isn't technically savvy. The software used for their digital cameras is very intuitive and friendly to use for the most part. The camcorder software however isn't even developed by Canon, nor do they support it. ImageMixer by Pixela. If you have trouble with the 3rd party software, Canon refers you to Pixela and offers no assistance with the application. I was struggling with the video stuttering after ImageMixer imported the video onto my PC. The video was fine when viewing it on the Camera, but when ImageMixer transferred it to my PC, the video was choppy. ImageMixer-Pixela is of very little help and will take the first opportunity to get you off of the phone. Without any help from ImageMixer, as they differed the issue and told me my chipset wouldn't work with their software?!?, I resolved the issue with some trial and error. There were evidently 1 or 2 windows settings that need to be changed to fix this problem. Why Pixela didn't know this is well...typical. Unfortunately I did not get to record these settings...sorry. I installed one of the programs listed on the AVCHD site of Wikipedia.org (CyberLink Power or Sony Vegas did the trick). The Canon camcorder creates .mts files for High Def which may not play in Windows Media Player without downloading 'The K-Lite Codec Pack 4.1.6'. I now just copy the .mts files directly from the Canon via Window Explorer as the camcorder shows up as a device under My Computer when attached by USB. I just click into the CANON\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM folder and copy the .MTS files to my hard drive. Then I use Pinnacle or Adobe Premiere to edit them and burn them to .AVI files. Another great program to view and organize videos is Google's Picasa.
Canon Phone Support: If you do have a problem with the actual camcorder, Canon has excellent phone support. When you call you can get to a human who can help you with your problem.
General Items: Battery life is not that great but is sufficient for most day trips. The memory storage is also very good. Overall I like the camcorder itself.
Digital camera Review: Good camcorder with bad user manual
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm happy with this camcorder. Gives impressive video quality. It's also good for still photography if your digital camera battery dies. I did it sometime & I can say picture quality is too impressive. It does not have good wind filter. Its not too bulky but also not too compact. Lastly, downloading still pictures to computer is tough as we don't do it regularly and the manual does provide steps in detail. Its frustrating. Overall a good camcorder.Digital camera Review: Good camera - Software is poor
Summary: 2 Stars
There are only a few software packages which can be used to manipulate the video output from this camcorder on a PC