Canon VIXIA HFS100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom – 2009 MODEL

Full Description

5 Reviews

1. I had one of the original JVC harddrive cameras and was so unhappy with the picture and the cumbersome transfer of data. I love this camera, the picture is amazing and the SD card portability is soooooo easy. I’m very happy with this purchase and recommend it to anyone looking for a great home owner vid cam.

2. My husband and I ordered this camcorder from Amazon after researching a bunch. We’re traveling around the world and wanted to be able to capture personal videos as well as youtube videos for our business. I have to say this camera blows the little flip cameras out of the water. It also takes great pictures so when you don’t want to bring your camera as well it’s so handy!

   We had a friend test it out for us during our wedding ceremony. We paid someone in Costa Rica to film our wedding professionally and the quality we got was grainy and really poor. Our friend used this camera and we were SO thankful, it saved our memories. We got the external fluffy mic for it which really picks up sound. Our friend played guitar for our reception and it was great to have this personal concert recording in great video and perfect sound.

   We use this video all the time for our youtube videos now and the sound is great for being outside and doing tours or even being out on the open water. We’ve used it to film dolphins, helicopter tours, sunsets, Polynesian dances etc. We will definitely be glad to bring it on our world trip to Europe and Asia later this year.

   The only thing is we want to get an extra battery for it, because it’s nice to have just in case you forget to charge it. Cannot find a battery at a typical camera store. Looks like we’ll have to order online.

   I highly recommend this camera for capturing your memories or doing business.

3. LOVE this camcorder! Positives defeat the minor negative! No need to carry a digital camera Canon’s VIXIA Replaces it all! Great Camera to capture all those precious memories of your children and important events! Whether your capturing in photo stills or movie mode, images come out in amazing high quality & HD. Only Neg is the battery that dies about 2 hours of straight run time but that can easily be fixed with a higher capacity one. (And it hasn’t died out on me yet while i was still using it.)

   COMPLETELY RECOMMEND THIS CAM TO EVERYONE!

   I had originally bought JVC’s Everio GZ-HM550 with Blue-Tooth. It was a problem right from the start. The screen broke on the first day of use and it’s “fancy features” Were not ENOUGH to OUT DO the VIXIA HF S100. Canon is just way more advanced in their camera development & HD quality.

4. We have had the camcorder for several weeks now and we love the product. I haven’t tried to watch the videos on my windows based computer yet…but with the I-Mac, it was SO EASY to download the videos we shot. I’ve seen negative reviews on this product and I just chalk that up to “you aren’t going to please everyone”…but for us, for basic use and medium editing…we love this camcorder.

   I would definately recommend this product to others!

5. I purchased this camcorder to replace a MiniDV camcorder that began failing which was purchased to replace a failing Mini DVD camcorder. Each time I went with a different media type after losing faith in the the one I currently had. I finally went with flash memory because unlike the others it has no moving parts. So far it’s been fantastic.

   As for the technology, no longer am I finalizing Mini DVD’s with minimal editing capability or connecting my camera to my computer to physically play the tape in order to download footage. Just take the card from the camcorder and plug it in my computer and go. iMovie recognizes the format and uploads it seamlessly.

   As for the camcorder, I love the color, clarity and image quality. The menu systems are very intuitive. I’ve only had to refer to the manual for one or two things. Everything else is pretty self explanatory if you take some time and step through the menus.

   If I had any cons it would be the that the only way to charge the battery is via the camera itself unless you spring an extra fifty bucks for a charger. This seems to be a pretty common theme if you read enough reviews. Canon, are you listening?

   Also it seems like Canon tried to make the lens cover too high tech, and with my aversion to moving parts this only seems like one more thing that could break. It’s nice that it only opens when the camera is in use but it doesn’t lock closed. So be careful, if the camera is packed in a bag with other things, depending how they’re situated, things can push the cover open and touch the lens. For this reason alone I would have preferred a basic lens cap like you’d see on a 35mm camera. My other gripe with the lens cover is that when it’s closed it sounds like a marble or something rolling around inside the camera. This gives this great camera a bit of a cheap feel. But honestly, with all the things that could be scrutinized on a camcorder, if the worst of it is the lens cover than how bad can it be? It can’t. In my opinion Canon did an incredible job with this unit.

   I’d also like to say that I was extremely pleased with Amazon’s service. I’ve purchased things at Amazon before but have been hesitant when it comes to bigger ticket items (like a camcorder). I finally went with Amazon because of the great price they offered plus they threw in free shipping and free second battery. Problem was when the camcorder arrived there was no free second battery. After double checking everything and then going back online I realized that it was my error. I failed to read the conditions closely enough which tell you to add the battery to the order which would be discounted after checkout. Knowing that it was my error I didn’t have much hope when I contacted Amazon’s service. My fear was they would tell me it was my mistake and I was SOL but they couldn’t have been better. They took care of the problem and sent the battery right out. Thank you Amazon! You were wonderful!