Canon FS100 Flash Memory Camcorder with 48x Advanced Zoom (Silver)

This camcorder has been great! I was debating between this one and the Panasonic SDR-S7 and Samsung MX10. Those camcorders had around 680k pixels whereas this one comes in around 710k pixels. What does that mean? Better videos. The 48x advance zoom is awesome and if you want only the optical at 37x, that is great too. You can't tell the 48x is doing some digital tricks. The quality looks just as good as just optical. The other camcorders can be found online for around $200 but with this one coming in at just over $300, you will be far happier with this one.When I was looking for this, I wanted to get a camcorder who's file format would play on Ubuntu without any conversion and also plays on Windows Media Center Vista. This camera does both! To copy the videos, I remove the flash card from my camera and insert it into the flash reader on my laptop. The only "conversion" I have to do to get the videos to play is to change the ".MOD" ending to ".MPG". This also makes the videos play fine on my WMC box. I then copy them to my WMC box over the network.I use to have a Sony Digital 8 camcorder that I connected to my computer via a firewire cable. The videos the FS100 takes are just barely better than those. However, to get the videos on my computer is way faster copying them from a flash drive. I never want to use my Digital 8 camcorder again. The videos I have taken with this easily upload to YouTube. My FS100 videos show up there with the "watch in high quality" option below them. They really look good on YouTube when you click that link... better than most other videos out there. The quality of videos is phenomenal outside at sporting events and is just okay inside with low light conditions.The videos I have so far record around 0.7 to 1.0 MB per second. That is why the 4 gig card gives will give you around 120 minutes of recording time. I have a "class 4" card and I haven't had any problems with it not being fast enough. I'd recommend at least a 4 gig card. If you can afford an 8 or 16 gig card, it would just give you more recording time before you have to copy them to your computer.When the files are copied directly off the card on to my Ubuntu desktop, they play in Movie Player in wide screen format like they are suppose to. However, after I copy them to my Windows Media Center PC, they play in 4:3 mode. I have to adjust the "Zoom" setting to "3", I think, and they look normal. This isn't much of a downfall. I've heard there is a "sdcopy.exe" file that will copy the files and correct the header information for WMC so they will play in widescreen format by default.I ended up going with the gray version because companies now seem to be charging more for the colored ones. It doesn't matter much because other than the color, they are all the same.The FS100 really is about the size of a can of soda, except with a large screen sticking out of it. Some people criticize the lack of a view finder but why would you want anything like this attached to your face.It starts up from a cold start in about 6 seconds. If you close the screen it goes into a low power mode which conserves the battery life.The menu options on this are pretty simple and the "easy" button makes things, well.. easy.If you are thinking about getting one of these... do it. The only type of camcorder that could create a better picture would be an HD one.PROS:Great Quality Videos - 710k pixels!MPEG 4 video format and AAC audioVideos Compatible with Ubuntu Hardy Heron with extension changeVideos Compatible with Windows Media Center with extension change37x Optical, 48x Advance Zoom (check YouTube for examples)Simple MenuCONS:Picture quality is kind of low... keep your digital camera for those.

I was so so excited to receive my camera! However, when it arrived, I plugged it in and the red light went on. I let it charge over night and it would not turn on. Then I bought a universal battery charger to charge the battery, but I didn’t charge and now I’m stuck with a camera that doesn’t turn on. I’m very sad about this.

I've been looking to update my old Sony Digital8 camcorder and have been looking primarily at Mini-DV. But, this flash camcorder caught my eye since the price of SD cards has become amazingly inexpensive. To transfer video from a DV recorder takes a lot of patience, gigabytes of storage, and hours of work. By contrast, a 4gig SDHC card in this camera can store an hour and 20 minutes at 6 mb/s. The camera will do 9 mb/s, but I don't recommend it if your final format is DVD since some players will have problems keeping up.My suggestion is to ignore most of the instructions which Canon provides and keep the software CD's in the box. There's a cute warning attached to the USB cable which warns NOT to connect it without first installing the drivers. I connected it to my MAC running OS-X 10.4 and a warning came on the screen to plug in the AC adapter. Once I did that the camera came right up as a disk drive. The manual warns not to access the folders directly. I did that, too and simply copied them to the local hard drive (more on that in a minute). Then, the camera warned NOT to change modes, or disconnect the USB cable, or disconnect the power. Ok... then, after I dismount the USB drive, how do I unplug the camera :) The manual gives a clue to disconnect the USB first, then power off.By the way, it's just much, much less hassle to purchase an SDHC/MMC card reader and copy the folders off.If you wish to mess with iMovie and other specialized software, then I suppose you'll have to keep your file structure proper and follow the manual more closely. I use Final Cut on the Mac, not iMovie, so my first concern was, What is a MOD file and an MOI file? That is what you're left with after you copy your card. The short answer is, toss the MOI files - assuming you are not using the on-camera editing features. I just record and dump to the hard drive and edit with Final Cut.A MOD file (not to be confused with the music format file) is just an mpeg2 file with audio included. This will confuse some Windows programs which expect the audio in a separate file, so use Media Player Classic. Quicktime on the Mac had no problem playing the file, although you may need to download the MPEG-2 Playback Component. Finally, the aspect ratio setting in a MOD file may not be correct for WideScreen format. You may need Mpeg tools to correct the header if you shoot WideScreen.Next, Mpeg2 is not an "editable" format like DV. It's about 1/5 the size on my system and a single 4gig card backs up nicely onto a single layer DVD-R. You'll need to do something with the MOD files. My program of choice on the Mac is Visual Hub which is quite reasonably priced shareware. I simply dragged my Canon MOD files to it, selected "DV" and "Ready for Final Cut" and "Start." I was left with DV files ready to edit, although 5x larger. There's even a setting to force 16:9 aspect ratio. The catch is that you'll need to re-encode back to Mpeg2 if you're burning for DVD.The nice thing is there aren't any tapes to get dirty and wear out. Flash cards may be used hundreds or thousands of times, unlike DV tapes which are used once or twice. The size of files are very small and easily archived, over an hour of video on a single DVD-R of raw footage. But, re-encoding to DV and back to Mpeg2 will sacrifice some quality. I think it's a good trade-off to using a DV recorder since you can do in minutes what it would usually take hours or days.As for the features of the camcorder, it has an external mic jack. Thank-you Canon. Finally, someone is listening. If you've ever had to record a conversation in a noisy room you will appreciate the ability to use a directional mic. No headphones, but it has an audio meter level display. White balance! Numerous white balance settings as well as manual. Auto and manual shutter speed, exposure, focus, and audio gain at your finger tips. And, an "Easy Mode" for full automatic for those who hate buttons or just need to grab a quick action shot - press "on", press "easy", press "record" and you're recording in seconds. No moving parts except for the lens cap, which is automatic and built-in. No more lost lens cap or one which is smacking into the microphone in the wind while you're recording. And, size - I can hide the camera in the palm of my hand. It's tiny, lightweight, and easy to shoot without getting tired.As for the not so hot stuff, the recording light is an LED. My old Sony Digital 8 camcorder used a tiny light bulb which appeared as natural light. The LED light is certainly better on the battery but makes everything blue-ish. Battery is internal, nice design but you're stuck with whatever capacity will fit into that size battery bay. Batteries and charging accessories cost a fortune, although SDHC cards are cheap. The built-in microphone will need some acoustic foam glued over it or check around for a strap-on wind sock. No viewfinder, not that I use one very much - you will need to shoot with the LCD open.

. . . unless you like grainy, smeary pictures. My kid's Flip camcorder is a better choice for low light.