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Canon FS100 Flash Memory Camcorder with 48x Optical Zoom (Blue)

Price:$319.88

Item attributes.
Brand Canon
Feature Array
Manufacturer Canon
Model FS100
UPC 013803098969

Product Description
   records high-quality MPEG-2 video to SD and SDHC memory cards * FPO 8GB holds approximately: 1 hour 50 minutes at XP setting, 2 hours 45 minutes at SP setting, 5 hours 10 minutes at LP setting * 1.07-megapixel image sensor (710,000 effective pixels in 16:9) * Dolby® Digital 2-channel audio * variable-speed 37X Canon optical zoom lens (advanced zoom to 55X, digital zoom to 2000X) *
Customers Reviews

2008-08-09
Video quality is very very poor...
I bought this to replace my aging MiniDV ZR200, and thought that stepping up to the newest format would be a good step since I copy the videos to my computer and then burn them to DVD. I loved the MiniDV format, but thought that this would be a good move since I could hear the tape motor in the background on my old camera, and with flash there are no moving parts. Bad idea... I got it in hand, charged the battery for 12 hours and then fired it up and the image quality was terrible. I have a cheap Canon SD1000 digital camera (Which I absolutely love) that can take short movies, and it blows away the videos I got from the FS100. Also the five year old ZR200 can record short videos to it's flash card, and that video is again far far better than anything I got with this FS100. At first everything was good, I could see the wall, floor, etc. But then my son walked in and asked me what it was, and as he talked and moved around the image ghosted so bad you could not recognize him at all until he stopped moving. I had bought a brand new class 6 SanDisk SD card for it, so it is the best flash card money can buy right now so that's not the issue. Bright light, dim light, different flash cards from other cameras etc. etc. and still no change. After playing with it for two hours and reading the entire English section of the manual I boxed it back up and shipped it back to Amazon and bought the ZR950 MiniDV camcorder instead. It's image quality is incomparable to the trash I got from the FS100, and it is $100 less to boot. The one thing that amazed me the most was walking into my kitchen and simply panning side to side about once a second for a bit. As the image moved the camera dropped to maybe 5 frames a second at best, and then came back up to a more acceptable frame rate once it stopped, while blurring out everything in the frame as it moved. Maybe in a few more years they will have the flash format to the point where it can be useful, but it is not there yet. If you want video quality that is on par with a cell phone or cheap web cam, this is your camera. If you want a camera to record birthdays and vacations to watch on TV later you will be disappointed.

2008-08-02
Great for family use
This camera seems to work fine for taking home video. It is lightweight and compact. I took it out of the box and had no problems with using it right away...it is extremely user friendly. I have previously owned a Canon video camera and loved it so this camera was an obvious choice. My previous camera is almost 10 years old and still works wonderfully which speaks to the quality of Canon products. My movies look amazing and the stillness of the movie even with high zoom is perfect. No motion sickness from shaky video. The battery life has been long lasting and transferring the clips from a built in SD reader in my laptop was a piece-of-cake...rapid transfer and plays on Windows easily. I haven't tried the SD converter for MPEG as another reviewer recommended, nor have I tried the software but I am completely happy with this purchase! They are very nice looking cameras too! I love the wine version-being somewhat influenced by the "cuteness" of it.

2008-07-25
Perfect
Awsome camera. Unbelieveable zoom, incredibly quiet operation that picked up a violin player at an outdoor wedding who was 200+ feet away, making great background music for every scene. Use a tripod, then walk away from it as it records, and nobody is spooked at somebody taking pictures.

Windows Vista's Media Player, Movie Maker, and DVD Maker all handle these .mod files perfectly. (Had to upgrade to Vista Ultimate since you can't upgrade from XP Pro version directly to Vista Home Premium)

The Windows Vista DVD maker was a big suprise - it creates menus that are moving video automatically - very professional looking DVD's compared to what I was expecting. Thank goodness I didn't buy an AVCHD camera - with all the editing problems of handling that format which spills part of the existing frame into the next one, so that you need diesel computer power to put the spilled video back into it's frame.

Direct USB Transfer of files to PC from the camera went fast but didn't transfer 20% of the files! All the while the LCD on the camera said "Don't turn off, don't disconnect the USB cable, while attached to the PC" What the Canon FS-100 LCD meant to say was "dismount from the PC before you disconnect" (using that icon in your system tray that leads to the message on the PC that it's "safe to disconect". Had to use a $20 SD Card reader on a USB wire to get the missing files into the computer. The camera was probably faster than my 6 year old Pentium 4, so my PC choked on the data causing the missing files - maybe. Still the SD Card reader works, while the USB transfer seems to go fine but misses some files.

The camera seems to create unnecessarily complex file numbers - uses Hex for example, then occasionally adds an extra A or B to an existing file name. Seems odd.

Attached to the composite video ports on the side of my Philips tube HDTV, I was suprised at the quality of the video - seemed like HDTV - filled the screen. Previously I thought composite video was supposed to be junk. Nope. And, once started it didn't need any button pushing to continue to the next file, although the remote would control the action.

Caution: read Wikipedia on the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R. Older players will only do DVD-R but they skip. DVD+R is preferred because it doesn't skip, slide, halt, freeze - except that players older than 2002-2004 will not play DVD+R.

Best Buy store last week had all three colors - wine, blue and silver at full list price $399 plus tax. Nope. Go Amazon - mine arrived in perfect condition. Awsome, just awsome. I love it.

2008-07-25
great for family vacations
Bought this camcorder for a family trip to Italy. I wanted one that was small and portable. I wanted it to fit in a waist pack easily or else I would end up leaving in the hotel and not using it.

This one was perfect. No, it is not a high definition camcorder...it is standard definition. But that was fine with me. It uses SDHC memory cards...no more tapes! A 4 GB card recorded about 1.5 hours.

Once I got home, it was fairly easy to transfer to my PC and then burn a DVD. Warning-the manual is terrible. It tells you how to connect the camcorder to PC but that's about it.

After I transferred the video files to my PC, I thought I could burn the DVD from there. I learned that you have to keep the camcorder connected to the PC via USB, in order to burn the DVD. And you have to use DVD-R and not DVD+R. Once I figured these steps out, it actually was fairly easy. I have burned several copies to give to family members, and they play back in my DVD and my PC without problems.

The quality is very good (standard definition). I highly recommend this camcorder.

2008-07-23
Nice home movie camera
The low light resolution is a little disappointing. In all other categories, I am very happy with my little camcorder. For the price, and for normal home movie stuff It is fine. For outdoor Kids sports etc. It is really much better than I would have thought for this price. It takes much better video's than my old VHS camcorder which was almost triple the price.

Canon XL H1S And XL H1A Digital Video Camcorders

Canon, a leader in digital technology, has succeeded in its high definition HD XL series and now introduces XL H1S and XL H1A high definition digital video models with new advanced features for professional cameramen. canon_xl_h1s_left_1.jpg The new XL H1S and XL H1A feature Canon 20x HD Video Lens with zoom, focus and iris for manual adjustments. The lens system offers aspherics for reducing flare,canon_xl-h1a_lens.jpg fluorite elements to decrease chromatic aberration, and Super Range Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) to correct camera shake. In addition, cameras use HDV tapes – the most affordable video digital media for shooting prolonged occasions, such as wedding or film making. Both XL H1S and XL H1A produce outgoing HD image quality with:
  • Canon XL interchangeable lens system
  • 1/3 inch 1.67 Megapixel 3CCD Image Sensors
  • DIGIC DVII HD Image Processor
  • 6-pin IEEE 1394 terminal to external hardware
  • XL H1S model incorporates HD-SDI (SMPTE 299M/272M) output with raw and uncompressed 1.485 Gbps signal to meet live production needs, as well as SMPTE Time Code ins/outs and Genlock output.
Video can be captured in various frame rates:
  • 60i aimed at mainstream production
  • 30F for Web delivery or qualitative grabs
  • 24F to imitate motion-picture film
There is an optional upgrade to get 50i and 25F frame rates. All frame rates are between HD 1080-line 16:9 aspect ratio and SD 480-line 4:3 aspect ratio. A total of 23 custom presets available for color adjustments with step-by-stem tuning to achieve professional subtleties. 20080410_thumb_xlh1s_3q1.jpgThe new XL H1S and XL H1A HD camcorders are carefully designed for professional producers, cinematographers, and know how to benefit the best quality of Canon HD videocams. No wonder that Canon’s consumer camcorders gained number one position until sales above 200$ in January and February. Also Canon's new XL H1S and XL H1A digital video camcorders will be exposed at 2008 NAB Show. The new Canon XL H1S HD is planned to be available in June for an estimated retail price of 8,999$, and the Canon XL H1A will have an estimated retail price of 5,999$ and will be available in July. For detailed information visit USA Canon

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