Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 159
 For $250 it's ok. August 24, 2009
D. Makula (Panama)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
For $250 it's ok, but for 300 or more, brrrr.
For ytube ok. Of course software included it's worthless. You download videos then you change file extension to mpeg or avi, and can see it using any player (and for this you don-t need software). For editing you have to look for some software that edits mpeg or avi. Don't even install the software.
 Ok, but could be so much more. August 23, 2009
S. Rivera (Hanoi, Vietnam)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Briefly, if you haven't figured it out already, this camcorder is flash card based, and records MPEG-2 files directly onto a SD/SDHC memory card. This means that tranfering files to your computer is a breeze, although you may need to download a utility to help since the files are labeled .MOD
This camcorder records at 720x480 resolution, so it's not high definition.
This camera has a few things going for it, briefly, they are:
*Great optical zoom. 37x optical zoom.
*Camera is small and very handy.
*Mic Input allows you to connect an external Microphone
*standby mode allows you to almost instantly capture movies/pictures
*Easy to use and figure out. Some of the controls could be better, but overall, this camera is very user friendly and easy to work.
Now for the "sin which doth so easily beset" this camcorder.
*Absolutely attrocious low-light recording capability. even recording in my room, which has (6) 100w lights, the camera displays a lot of noise and artifacts on the screen. Daylight shooting is fine; the picture looks great and there's no macro effects or jerkiness noted. Step inside a pretty well-lit room, however, and you will immediately notice artifacts on the picture. There is a decent LED based light on the front of the camera that will provide decent illumination for four to six feet, but past that, forget it. If you plan on primarily shooting outdoors, this is camera is a good choice. If not, forget it.
* Still image taking mode is almost worthless. I was incredibly disappointed with the built in digital camera. I realize that's not it's primary function, but the ability to take semi-decent stills would be nice.
* Controls are fairly well placed for smaller hands, but if you have paws bigger than a twelve year old girl, you might have some issues reaching the "still image capture button" or with controlling the speed of the zoom. Again, most of these issues are related to the size of the product, but should be noted.
* No optical image stabilization. There is some form of electronic stabilization, but it's not all that great.
____________________________________
Small observations and bottom line:
If you are using a tripod with a quick-disconnect, you won't be able to open the battery cover door to replace the battery or the SD card.
Aftermarket batteries abound for this model camcorder, and can be had for approximately 20 USD each. The only problem is they don't support the Canon battery monitoring software so you won't know how long you have before your camcorder craps out.
If you can find this camcorder for 170 USD or less, I think it would be worth it.
If you plan on shooting indoors a lot, keep moving.
Crappy video camera, cool featues July 30, 2009
Faustus (NJ, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
For the price you'd think they actually focus on making a decent camera sensor. I mean all the features like zoom, different camera modes, and the SD recording are great but the one thing it fails in is what it was made to do, that being recording video. Low light sucks, and for a cheaper camera like the Flip I have seen 10 fold better quality. You need to either have lots of light or sunlight to take decent film.
If you plan on going outdoors a lot then this camera is fine because it works best in lighted areas otherwise if you plan on doing a lot of family films or even recording in a place where there is lots of light but no white light then don't get it. In general even well lit videos come out poorly and considering the price of the camera you want something that can shoot good video which this does not. It is almost like Canon was trying to emphasize all the features of the camera to overshadow the crappy film quality.
 Good Unit but has a devastating single point failure July 6, 2009
Jon Lopez (Houston TX USA)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
The camera itself is really quite good, with proper lighting the unit is capable of recording high quality stills and moving footage. The microphone is also above average. Essentially this is a really good unit, but it is susceptible to an extremely devastating single point failure. If the ac adapter breaks the unit essentially becomes an expensive paper weight. This is due to the fact that one cannot find replacement parts for this camera, so I would recommend a different unit.
 Very happy to have this camera July 2, 2009
Henry G. Fiorentini (USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
[...] I suggest you buy a tripod along with this camera or make/buy a steadycam.
Some free video converters are:
Any Video Converter
Super Video Converter
Format Factory
Some free audio editing studios are:
Audacity
Wavepad
Windows Movie Maker is free and usually comes with your PC.
Sony Vegas 9 Pro, the latest version, can be found at Gradware.com for [...] dents and [...]for all others.
iMovie does NOT come with your Mac (I believe) and can be bought for [...]
If you are interested in Greenscreening, Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere have that capability, but so can Movie Maker 2.6 for Vista. (the version with the multicolor film on a reel) Ask how in the comments section.
Showing reviews 6-10 of 159
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