Canon FS100 Flash Memory Camcorder with 48x Advanced Zoom (Silver)
The FS100 is one of Canon's first Flash Memory camcorders. In addition to the advantage of added recording time, Flash Memory offers quick response time, because it doesn't have to wait for moving parts. The FS100's lower power consumption rate allows your battery to last longer. Measuring only 2.3" wide, 2.4" high and 4.9" deep, it combines big video storage capacity in a small, easy to carry body. The 2.7" Widescreen LCD on the FS100 lets you see more of what your camcorder is recording. With the FS100 you get a powerful 1.07 Megapixel CCD image sensor. The video you shoot will be sharp, clear and more true to life, as will your still photos. The Genuine Canon 48x Advanced Zoom on the FS100 extends the power of your zoom. In both wide angle and telephoto positions, there is virtually no loss in image quality throughout the range. The Canon DIGIC DV II Image Processor is the next generation of Canon's exclusive DIGIC DV signal processing technology to ensure optimal image quality for still images, even though video and still images have different color requirements. Focal Length - f=2.6-96.2mm Minimum Focusing Distance - 10mm (wide)/1m (tele) White Balance - Daylight, Tungsten, Auto, and Manual Programmed AE - Auto, Program, TV, Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, and Fireworks 2-channel Dolby Digital Audio (AC-3) 3.5mm Stereo Mini-jack Microphone Terminal Dimensions - Width 2.3 x Height 2.4 x Depth 4.9 (58x60x124mm) Weight - 9.2 ounces (260 grams)
Canon FS100 Flash Memory Camcorder with 48x Advanced Zoom (Silver) Accessories
 Transcend 8GB SDHC CARD (SD 2.0 SPD Class 6)
Transcend 16GB SDHC CARD (SD 2.0 SPD CLASS 6) with Compact Card Reader
Canon 2740B002 BP-808 Lithium Ion Battery for FS10, FS11 & FS100 Camcorders
Canon 2590B002 CG-800 Lithium Ion Battery Charger for 800 Series Batteries
A-DATA 16GB Turbo SDHC Class 6 Memory Card
Transcend TS4GSDHC6 4GB SDHC SD 2.0 SPD Class 6 Card
Sandisk MicroMate SD/SDHC Reader (Black)
SanDisk SDSDRX3-8192-A21 8GB Extreme III SDHC Card with MicroMate Reader (Black)
Lowepro Edit 110 Camcorder Bag
Lowepro Edit 100 Camcorder Bag
Canon FS100 Flash Memory Camcorder with 48x Advanced Zoom (Silver) Reviews
etc. 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. 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. Bad idea. 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. and still no change.
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. 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. 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. 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. At first everything was good, I could see the wall, floor, etc.
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. Bright light, dim light, different flash cards from other cameras etc. 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. 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 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.
I got it in hand, charged the battery for 12 hours and then fired it up and the image quality was terrible.
I love the wine version-being somewhat influenced by the "cuteness" of it. I have previously owned a Canon video camera and loved it so this camera was an obvious choice. It is lightweight and compact. This camera seems to work fine for taking home video. No motion sickness from shaky video. 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.
I took it out of the box and had no problems with using it right away.it is extremely user friendly. 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. 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. They are very nice looking cameras too.
Still the SD Card reader works, while the USB transfer seems to go fine but misses some files. Direct USB Transfer of files to PC from the camera went fast but didn't transfer 20% of the files. 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. 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. I love it. Awsome camera. 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. (Had to upgrade to Vista Ultimate since you can't upgrade from XP Pro version directly to Vista Home Premium). Had to use a $20 SD Card reader on a USB wire to get the missing files into the computer.
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. Seems odd. Use a tripod, then walk away from it as it records, and nobody is spooked at somebody taking pictures. Previously I thought composite video was supposed to be junk. The camera was probably faster than my 6 year old Pentium 4, so my PC choked on the data causing the missing files - maybe. Windows Vista's Media Player, Movie Maker, and DVD Maker all handle these.mod files perfectly. Awsome, just awsome.
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. 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". 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. Nope.
DVD+R is preferred because it doesn't skip, slide, halt, freeze - except that players older than 2002-2004 will not play DVD+R. . Older players will only do DVD-R but they skip. 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.
But that was fine with me. Once I figured these steps out, it actually was fairly easy. I wanted one that was small and portable. No, it is not a high definition camcorder.it is standard definition. It uses SDHC memory cards.no more tapes. This one was perfect. It tells you how to connect the camcorder to PC but that's about it.
I highly recommend this camcorder. I have burned several copies to give to family members, and they play back in my DVD and my PC without problems. After I transferred the video files to my PC, I thought I could burn the DVD from there. Warning-the manual is terrible. A 4 GB card recorded about 1.5 hours. I learned that you have to keep the camcorder connected to the PC via USB, in order to burn the DVD. The quality is very good (standard definition).
I wanted it to fit in a waist pack easily or else I would end up leaving in the hotel and not using it. Bought this camcorder for a family trip to Italy. And you have to use DVD-R and not DVD+R. Once I got home, it was fairly easy to transfer to my PC and then burn a DVD.
The low light resolution is a little disappointing. For the price, and for normal home movie stuff It is fine. In all other categories, I am very happy with my little camcorder. 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.
|
