Comments about Canon HG10 40GB High Definition Camcorder:

I had done some homework and saw that for the dollar this is one of the best options for an HD cam corder. I wanted to use this cam corder for our wedding and honeymoon. Turned out our videographer also uses this cam corder as a secondary to their primary equipment. If it is good enough for them, its good enough for me. The quality of video is simply amazing, and looks great on the big screen. You read about the sound quality not being the greatest, and in fact our videographer said the same thing, but it can interface to additional audio equipment to compensate. We are using it for personal use and the audio is more than adequate for our needs. Overall, for the price you wont find much better.

Comments about Canon HG10 40GB High Definition Camcorder:

This was supposed to be between the Panasonic SDR-26 vs. the Canon FS200 Camcorder, so what am I doing with the Canon HG10 Hi-def Camcorder?I was looking of a decent camcorder in the sub $300 region. After numerous reviews and several trips to Bestbuy, it came down to the SDR-26 or the FS200. The SDR-26 has O.I.S, but the FS200 produced quality. This was a hard choice. I wished I could have both choices in one package. As a Panasonic fan, this was a hard choice as I was leaning more towards the FS200 due to superb video quality (for this price range). I nearly forgo the O.I.S. for the digital stabilization. I went back one more time to Bestbuy and after still undecided; I decided to look at the camcorders with HD quality. Of course the quality blew me away with all of them having O.I.S. I went back to camcorderinfo to review HD ones and Canon kept blowing the competition away. Then all of a sudden, one of the advertisements caught my eyes that for [$], I can get the HG10. It is about 2 years old, but the quality still surpasses my previous contenders.[...]After a thorough review, I was sold. I purchased it brand new. HG10 it is!When this bad boy arrived (free shipping included), I was very impressed. Build quality felt sturdy. Without even reading the manual, I started taking videos right away. Ahhhhhmazing! Even with low light conditions in my basement, it was soooooo much decent than my previous Panasonic PV-DV203 camcorder. It is slightly bigger than the regular camcorders, but I love it as I have big hands. Please go to the store and actually put the camcorder in your hand to see how it feels. Play with it as well. I was glad I did with one of the newer Vixias. The HD quality was just superb. I was also in Chicago this weekend using it and oh......superb videos plus HD stills as well. I did not have to use another camera to do this. I also did a review of the video editing software out there and it turns out that Corel, which comes with the HG10 is #2 and costs about $70. I am not a professional by any means, but the menus we easy to navigate. Put it on auto and you are good to go. I plan on reading some of the functions to be able to use it in manual mode to harness most of the capabilities. I am not sure when the HG10 would finally sell out, but I highly recommend this camcorder. Trust me, it is the cheapest out there with such superb qualities. The O.I.S………………..what a world of difference. You definitely won't want to compromise video quality for anything else. I used to, but with my 5-month old boy, I am now ready to take priceless superb video quality that will last a life time.

Comments about Canon HG10 40GB High Definition Camcorder:

I researched for weeks to find the best mid-level camera for low-light situations... namely, recording bands in dark clubs. I knew that nothing under $600 would be perfect for this, as they all have their limitations. But I was determined that I would find the best possible option, and I feel confident I did, since this one has a larger sensor than just about any other camera in this price range. The sound is clear even in high-volume situations, the picture quality is excellent even in dark clubs with moving lights (I don't notice any autofocus delay even when lights are moving on stage), and the hard drive is plenty big enough to just set it up, turn it on, and not think about it again until the end of the show.

The only drawback I have found so far is that it requires a MiniSD card to be able to take still photos, and apparently that media isn't a popular one, as none of the electronics stores in my area carry it. They carry only regular SD cards and Micro SD cards, which are even smaller, for cell phones. They looked at me like I was a bit crazy when I asked them for this in-between size, the MiniSD for my camera... which means I had to go back and order the card online. A bit of a pain, but not dealbreaking. Overall, I am THRILLED with this camera!

Comments about Canon HG10 40GB High Definition Camcorder:

I am a semi-professional audio/visual artist and musician who manipulates movies in real-time, usually on 6 foot screens. The picture quality from this camera is perfect for what I want to do, and the audio is not bad at all for a small camcorder.

Importing videos is NOT as easy as you would think—I would recommend knowing what codecs are and how to install them if you are trying to convert these to any other format beside watching the videos on your computer/TV or burning them to DVD. (I don't understand why there's a Quicktime box if Quicktime doesn't understand the files). Also, the "Easy Transfer" is photos only.

Be sure to play around with the quality settings! By default, it's NOT on the highest quality.

Comments about Canon HG10 40GB High Definition Camcorder:

I just used this to document the cruise I just went on. The picture quality is stunning and there was plenty of hard drive room to get the entire week. The only thing is I don't know what to do with 20 gigabytes of video that I can't edit because of the file type.

Comments about Canon HG10 40GB High Definition Camcorder:

Excellent product

Comments about Canon HG10 40GB High Definition Camcorder:

The camcorder took excellent video under most conditions, but the controls were not easy to use and not intuitive. It's a good camera, but I would try to always use it on a tripod, to make the controls easier to use.

Comments about Canon HG10 40GB High Definition Camcorder:

great product.[...]

Comments about Canon HG10 40GB High Definition Camcorder:

Downloading files to the computer takes considerably long, especially if you're doing an hour-or-longer session. This is not for people who need a quick video transfer. I would recommend the Sanyo Xacti model instead.