Canon HG10 High Definition HardDrive Camcorder

Canon - CAHG10

4.1 stars from 40 review(s)

$499.99 - $849.84 from 3 sellers Price RSS

Tags: 2.7in 2.96mp 3.1mp 40gb avchd frame hd hdd hdmi lcd optical silver widescreen (combined)

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HG10 is a great camcorder at a great price

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Canon HG10 High Definition HardDrive Camcorder

First a little background then a detailed review. I am a serious casual video user and a more serious amateur still photographer. I have had two previous camcorders, a full size VHS and then a Sony Digital 8. Going on vacation for two weeks to the Philippines I decided to get this Canon HG10 after reviewing everything I could find on the Net. Bottom line, Sony's were too expensive for the same thing.

I had my concerns about going Hard Drive but this thing worked flawlessly whether it be from bumpy automobiles, small boat rides, or walking and banging on my hip (for a few minutes when I accidentally left it on). And after two weeks of filming on high def setting, I only used 10 of the 40GB.

I've viewed the HD video two ways; directly connecting the camcorder to my HD TV through the HDMI connections which is the most convenient; and making a HD AVCHD DVD and playing it through a HD DVD player connected again to the HDMI ports. The video quality is stunning, as true to life as you

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can get and I appreciated that especially when filming relatives and really beautiful places like the white sand beach and crystal clear waters on Boracay Island). I've tried viewing via component video set ups and they are not bad either.

I had three batteries and if all I had done was film, I think they would have lasted the entire two weeks but I did a lot of reviewing and playing back which really used up the batteries. The size of this camera is just right, it fits in a medium sized shoulder bag with all my other things and no one around me would ever suspect I was carrying a camcorder. It can even fit in a large pants pocket but that would be too conspicuous and then the thieves would notice. The controls were easy to use and I like the jog wheel on the side of the viewing screen which then stayed clean the entire trip. Tip: this camcorder fits perfectly inside a quart-size ziplock bag which really helped to keep it protected from dust, sand and water.

A feature I never had before was taking still photos and it performed better than I expected. I was most impressed with the lack of shutter lag and the brightness of the built in flash. I didn't miss bringing a digital cam along at all and had so much fun taking video I didn't take all that many stills anyway. I had it set at the highest setting and didn't come close to filling the 2GB memory card.

One little quirk, if the zoom is set to variable setting, the speed of zooming out is much faster than the speed of zooming in using the same finger pressure for each. I don't know if this is on purpose or if my camera is set improperly but I can deal with it by either remember this or switch the speed setting to either slow or fast fixed speed instead of variable which is what I did. I don't like to zoom that much anyway since zooming in and out is often overdone.

All in all I am very satisifed with this camcorder and my purchase through Amazon. I hope this camcorder lasts me a long time. I will never use tape again.

Andy
San Jose, CA USA

40 review(s) | 0 comment(s) |

3 price(s) | 333 days ago at

Does not deserve the average 4.5 stars

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Canon HG10 High Definition HardDrive Camcorder

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

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40 review(s) | 0 comment(s) |

3 price(s) | 34 days ago at

great camcorder-softwear kills all the fun

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Canon HG10 High Definition HardDrive Camcorder

the camecorder is great , but softwear truly sucks, after hours of fighting with the Corel product I give up, do not even download into your comp. just throw it away

40 review(s) | 0 comment(s) |

3 price(s) | 75 days ago at

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