VIXIA HF G10
4.4
5
19
19
JUST BOUGHT IT - Learning to use it
I just aquired this camcorder in prep for Alaska tour this summer. I have been reading(?) the manual that came with this camera. LOTS of info. I am not a video pro but hope to take some great vids of Alaska. It looks easy to run and just playing around, found that the batery that comes with the camera is a little weak. Ran down to 75% after 10 minutes of use (vid and pictures). I am ordering two extra large cap bateries (BP818 I think) plus a separate charging station. I have also ordered the two SD 32gb extreme pro cards to suppliment the onboard memory. I may use the camcorder to record concert that I record for audio. The camera seems to be a great fit for what I want to do and should do well in all of the coming video situations. I will file another review when I get back from Alaska this summer. My fingers are crossed. Canon products have never let me down yet!
January 30, 2013
super flexibillity
I switched to the HFG10 and loaded it up with 2 more 32 GB SD cards and the largest original manufacturer battery available for continuous recording. Power consumption is very low and 96 GB continuous is perfect The low light capabilities are outstanding. In a room with a 32 watt energy saving bulb the colors and contrast from shadow to lit areas is very smooth and the image is sharp The auto-focus is best when set at a slightly lower speed than normal because it gives your eyes a chance to take in the detail and the power of the AF. The LCD monitor has given me a a direct understanding of the differences between having more mega-pixel vs larger size of pixel. I found the touch screen response was good after getting used to the pressure required. My only 2 complaints are the lens cap needs a string and choices for the custom buttons are limited but at least the HFG10 has the option to customize.
December 15, 2012
Versatile Tool with limitations
Everyone said all the good so no need to recount all the details about how versatile the camera is. The down side is the "Noise". The camera is almost unusable in low light condition (speaking from a semi-professional stand point). And when I say low light, I am talking even with aprox 300W lit room, the subject still has lot's of digital noise. It's almost as if the moment you increase the gain, the sensor become sub par. Only in a highly and well lit situation does the camera shine, within the context.
September 30, 2012
Good but frustrating
I'm an amateur videographer and a control freak. I use to use canon XH-A1 but decided to switch to solid state.
Performance wise it meets my expectation.
My biggest gripe is the touch screen. It requires more effort to use than expected. Sometimes I have to touch a button twice to get it to respond, or slide a few times before the screen starts to scroll. To avoid breaking the screen off the hinges, I have to put my fingers behind the screen, and use the thumb to operate the screen. This compounds the fat finger small button issue. I wish it has a better touch screen or a control wheel interface like XH-A1.
My second gripe is still related to the user interface. The menu is not very intuitive. For example, in the setup menu, there are 3 tabs labeled with icons: camcorder, film, and wrench. I could never quite figure out which features belong to camcorder and which belongs to film. Also, while in manual exposure mode, you could control the gain using the control wheel but to set it up to do that requires: hold the custom button for a second, select the M mode. Then each press of the custom button cycle between aperture, shutter speed, and gain. If you can figure this out without reading the manual, you are a genius. I have to bring the user manual wherever I bring the camcorder.
The spot ight mode sounds very useful, for example when shooting a brightly lit stage surrounded by a large, dark theatre. The default exposure mode would overexpose the stage. Unfortunately, in spotlight mode the exposure compensation cannot be increased much, so if the subject is underexposed, there's nothing you can do. I ended up having to use manual exposure mode because it allows me to increase gain freely. What a pity.
The chain memory card feature allows the camcorder to record a long show and switches memory card when one is full. Annoyingly, this feature is turned off everytime the camcorder is turned off, and it requires a long sequence of buttons to turn back on again.
One thing I miss that is available on the XH-A1 is plenty of buttons. With this HF G10, everything has to go through the unintuitive menu and unresponsive touch screen.
There is a nice feature not found on XH-A1: when on AC power, it automatically fallback to battery power if AC power is lost.
As of today (9/16/2012), there is no firmware update for this camcorder.
September 16, 2012
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