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I bought this camera for baby clips. It has more HD resolution than I have ever used (for playback) but I like it. I just don't use it enough.
It records crystal clear HD video and takes wonderful still photos; I think its still photos are better than a lot of dedicated digital cameras i've seen out there. This is a very good camcorder. The software takes a bit time to get use to and it's not very user friendly, but it gets the job done. I highly recommend this to anyone who's looking for a good performing camcorder at a reasonable price. I bought the refurbished unit for $420 and, other than a slight surface scratch on the bottom, the unit works flawlessly. Overall, a very good buy. I am very satisfy with my purchase.
There is an accessory light you can buy, but it's really quite useless.Finally, I really am sad to say, that my old Samsung camcorder beat this camera in just one category, and an important one at that: zoom. Am i going to overwrite something I haven't put on VHS/DVD. And while the video was ok, I was sick and tired of dealing with the tapes: Which ones did I use. And this camera falls flat. If you put this camera on auto mode, during the low light hours it will automatically adjust the setting to allow more light in and really make it look like it's lighter outside than it really is. Nowadays, it's standard.
The video quality is absolutely like that on Discovery channel, minus the video editing and quality sound. Etc.Hence, I was ready for an upgrade to hard disk.The camera is absolutely light as a feather, even with a battery that lasts a long time and charges very quickly. Which brings me to the point of sound quality: After about 30 feet away from the camera, everything becomes quite hard to hear, and I'd reccomend getting an accessory microphone if you really need it. The menu options are very easy to use and set up, and reviewing and deleting a video is a snap. I always say: Dell computers, and Canon video/photo products and computer peripherals, CANNOT be beat for the price of the product.This is a high quality product that is insanely good for the price.I have had a Samsung Mini DV camcorder for a while now. And the video quality on my 4 year old and low-quality laptop is still amazing.Now, for some cons, although not many. Would've been great if there was a night video capability.
however, the darker it gets, the granier the picture, and the more "drag" there is as you move the camera side to side. There's no true night-video capability like some other cameras have, quite unfortunate. You can record about 8 hours full HD video on 40GB, and way more than that in lower quality. Which tape is spoiled, which is new. When I got the samsung about a decade ago, it had 22x optical zoom and way more digital.
No more worries about overwriting precious memories. And putting everything on your computer is as easy as plugging into your USB drive, it's very fast and convenient. 22x otpical zoom back then was practically unheard of for a handheld, personal, and realtively cheap camcorder. 10x zoom is really nothing, and I'm dissapointed as I do video of beautiful scenery that limits my shots of nature (you can only come so close to an animal before frightening it away).Besides these two issues, for a normal user this camera is very good nonetheless.
The color, clarity, and ability to manually adjust settings is fantastic. I have to copy the files to my external drive and then convert them which takes a long time. Way beyond what I expected. The only draw back is the file format. I am using Final Cut Pro 2 which is supposed to be able to handle the files but it doesn't. TIP for MACS: Toast Titanium has proven to be the best conversion tool for this particular file format.
This was a great purchase. We made the leap and have not looked back. This was to replace our ailing sony tape machine. We were a little concerned about the HD machines and about video editing capability on our Mac systems. The ability to record at many different quality levels is great, and exporting and editing, works seamlessly. It may be last year model but it's a great machine.
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