I recently purchased the Canon HF10 and wanted to give some thoughts for any perspective buyers.

First off the video quality is excellent. I took some video indoors at low light and then took some outside where it was a sunny day. Both scenes played back with excellent color reproduction and clarity. The outside video was very impressive, the color reproduction and clarity were spot on. Blue skies were a perfect blue and green grass was a vibrant green. The sharpness of the picture was very clean.

The inside pictures were not quite as good, but that is because of the low light in my house. I needed to do some tweaking first, but even at the factory settings the picture was very good.

The auto focus is quick and the image stabilization works like a charm. The 12x zoom really gets you in tight and brings in those distant shots fast. The camera really takes some fantastic video.

The menu is easy to navigate and gives you loads of options. All the controls fit well in my hand, and I would say I have average size hands for a guy. Love the small size and it hardly weighs anything at all.

One thing that really impressed me was the still photos, they are above and beyond what I expected. Now granted this isn't a DSLR, but I think most people would be impressed with these photos, especially considering they are from a camcorder. Honestly for me this is all I need, why carry a separate point & shoot when this camcorder does it all. Very impressive photo quality.

Just to be clear, I am just a novice. I am in no way a camcorder pro. But as far as I am concerned the HF100 is worth every penny. Nothing better than being completely satisfied with a purchase. Awesome camera top to bottom.

The HF100 is a good camcorder. It takes better photos than I expected, as Canon's camcorders generally take anywhere from terrible to almost acceptable photos, and the video quality is nice and sharp. The image stabilizer is wonderful, low light performance is all right, battery life is okay, and compression efficiency and quality is very good. Let's get more specific.

I'll just go in order of where I started and add anything else I can think of along the way. You don't want to use this camera for still photos. In fact, you'd be better off printing a frame of your video in many cases. Nonetheless, the photos are usable in most situations and the flash doesn't ruin them like it used to. It can make them less-desirable and I have yet to find an easy way to disable it (though there does appear to be one that isn't working for me--yet). One weird thing is that switching to photo mode doesn't let you take a picture right away. I have to press the video record button, let the camera tell me I'm not in video mode anymore, and then I can press the photo button with success. This may not be the case on all cameras and since I rarely take photos these days if not with my DSLR, I don't really care. But it's a nuisance and just bizarre. Lastly, it's sort of annoying to have to switch modes to record/play back videos and photos. There are four modes. There should be two. There are two separate buttons for photos and videos. If I have to switch modes, the video button should work as a photo button as well. It's just weird that they separated the buttons AND the modes. Two separate buttons is how I prefer it, without every having to switch modes unless I want to move between play and record.

I'm extremely critical about video quality, and my first impression wasn't all that positive when I saw the video that came out of the HF100. After I shot in decent light, shot a series of different subjects and lowered my expectations a tiny bit I felt differently. (I'm used to shooting on a Sony PMW-EX1, so expecting that kind of performance out of a consumer HD camcorder was very unrealistic.) The video quality is quite nice. Comparing it to my previous, smaller handheld (Sanyo HD1000), it's slightly sharper but lacking the nice contrast the HD1000 provides. That's fine because it provides a lot more data to work with in post, but at first I felt like the video didn't look that good because it seemed kind of...flat, I guess. Nonetheless, the video quality is quite good--especially after you've spent some time working with it.

Shooting modes are plentiful but not as good as they seem. The HF100 shoots in 30FP and 24FP modes, which is basically fake 30p and 24p. The footage it records is still interlaced, but once you de-interlace it looks pretty close to 30p and 24p footage. But it's not, and you can sometimes tell, and that's unfortunate. But I'm guessing 1080p didn't make it into this camera because it couldn't handle the heat of the sensors in such a small body with very little room for ventilation. The only 1080p camercorder offered at this physical size is a Panasonic, and it's not actually 1080p. It uses standard definition sensors and up-converts the image. If you're looking for the closest thing to 1080p in a small camcorder that you can get at the moment, this is what I'd go with (and did). Sony has a few nice options, too, but I like the images produced by Canon's consumer sensors over Sony's and Canon's cameras use SD cards rather than MemoryStick, which ties you to buying Sony Products or throwing away your flash memory when you switch.

You can fit a lot of video on an SD card these days, even in high definition. The Sanyo HD1000 I used to own fit even more, but the Canon HF100 fits an even two hours on a 16GB card. Even if you don't want to pay for a 16GB and go with an 8GB card, you can still fit an hour. I don't think the battery will even let you shoot for two hours :). Storage that large is more for if you're not going to be able to import between charges.

Speaking of charging the camera, it does so fairly quickly. I think it only takes a couple of hours after the first one. It's never been a problem, though I wouldn't mind if the battery lasted a bit longer. What is a bigger inconvenience, however, is transferring the footage from the camera. The camera MUST be plugged in to the power adapter when transferring or it will refuse to do so. This is very aggravating because it means more cords and that you have to take your power adapter everywhere you want to transfer footage. If you're a laptop user you will not like this. I wouldn't like this as a desktop user either but that may just be me. Anyway, the trick is to get a card reader and use that instead. If you have a laptop with an ExpressCard slot this is especially easy. Either way, just make sure you get a card reader with support for SDHC cards over 8GB.

Moving on.

Coming from the HD1000, which is about as stable as Michael Jackson, the HF100 is wonderful. It's about the best stabilizer you can expect from a handheld camera, and is amazing considering how small it is. No complaints, only praise. It makes your shaky shots look fluid.

And the instant auto focus they promise is, almost all of the time, instant. It's pretty nice.

Low light performance is okay. It's about what you should expect from a consumer-grade camcorder. It's not bad by any means, but isn't perfect. It's done a great job in the majority of the locations I've had it. Unless people complain about the light being too low for their own eyes, the HF100 should do a pretty good job. I'd like it to be incredible and jaw dropping, but it's a consumer HD camcorder. It does very well for that.

Battery life is sufficient, but it could be better. I'd like to be able to shoot for over two hours, maybe three. One and a half (give or take) isn't as much as I'd like, but it hasn't caused problems. Still, I'd like to see battery life--but who wouldn't?

The video compression is hardly noticeable, and if you want to notice it you have to move the camera quite a bit. I'm making all my comments about the highest quality mode, by the way. It's efficient enough to give you about 7.5 minutes of full-quality video per GB of storage. I think that's fair.

As for the sound, it's not bad. I might even say it's good for a built-in mic. I think these mics are getting much better than they used to be, because I remember when they were painful to listen to. Now they're loud, you can hear what you need to hear (in most situations), and the noise you get along with the audio you do want isn't that bad. In fact, I would probably call the sound this camcorder records good.

Lastly, the controls are a bit weird at times but Canon's been known for weird controls. I already mentioned the odd controls for switching modes. Menus are kind of split up in a strange way and the quick change controls, through the little joystick controller on the LCD, isn't as quick and easy as it was most likely supposed to be. If you're shooting in automatic this is all pretty much moot, but if you like to change things now and then you might find the controls a little frustrating. I've been through all kinds of HD cameras over the past couple of years and I think Sanyo does this the best with the HD1000. It uses a system that worked quite well in previous models, but made it more solid in the HD1000. Nonetheless, nothing is perfect. I certainly would not discount the HF100 because of the weird controls. For the most part, they're good. There are just a couple of choices that seem completely bizarre and inexplicable.

Overall, it's a very good camera. It's not the camera I want, but it'll do until they figure out how to do what I want in a mini cam :). Ideally, I'd like something like the HD1000 but with a stabilizer and autofocus system as perfect as the HF100's. The sharper image quality wouldn't hurt, either. I'd like it to do true 24p, or at least 30p, at 1920x1080. In fact, if I could have 720/24p in the HD1000 (currently it does 30p and 60p, which is great) with the Canon autofocus and image stabilization I'd be very, very happy. But for now, the HF100 is a very good option for me and probably a much better option for people who aren't as horribly picky :).

I've done more research on mass-marketed high-definition camcorders than any person with a job really should. After weeks of combing and considering the pros and cons of AVCHD vs. HDV, HDD vs. tape vs. flash, I decided on the HV30, since I was persuaded by arguments about and examples of video quality, especially in low-light. Got the HV30 and, indeed, the picture quality is stunning. The sound, though, was a great disappointment. Since I'm fond of capturing quiet moments - the subtle sounds of, say, my four-month-old daughter sleeping - the high-pitch whine of the tape motor present in my recordings with the HV30 proved to be a deal killer. (I'm well aware of wide range of solutions to this problem, from external microphones to post-production techniques, but I'd ideally like to avoid carrying around additional equipment and I only have so much time to spend on this hobby - I'll leave in-depth editing to those more dedicated, working towards different ends, and/or without family commitments.)

I should have stuck to my gut instincts and bought the HF100 the first time around. After sending the HV30 back (thanks to Amazon's excellent return policy), I purchased the HF100 and am simply delighted. Video *and* audio are pretty darn good if not excellent. Maybe someone can split hairs and demonstrate the "artifacts" present between video recordings of this AVCHD camcorder vs. an HDV one, but I simply can't see a difference when played at normal speed. The difference in sound recordings between this flash-based camcorder and comparable motorized machines is, to my ear, both obvious and dramatic. So if you're sensitive to white noise or if you're interested in minimizing/eliminating sounds from the recorder, think hard about the kind of camcorder you buy and what you're willing to tolerate or accommodate in terms of additional equipment or post-production.

A final note/aside on my own take on the HF10 vs. the HF100: I appreciate the allure of the black-body HF10 in terms of aesthetics, but I actually find the dual flash memory feature to be a turn-off. I'd personally rather just manage a single, removable media card. Seems like a minor inconvenience to deal with both internal memory and removable cards when recording hours of footage before transferring/backing-up to a PC (while traveling, perhaps?). I'd preferably swap and label cards. But this, of course, is a matter of individual preference and habit; I include my thoughts here in case anyone hadn't given this aspect some consideration.

5 stars for hardware, 1 for software

I had this camcorder and a canon HV20. The HF100 a much better camcorder in several ways that are important to me. 1) Tapeless - that means I can transfer to computer a lot faster and earlier. 2) Responsive - little time lag between press of record button and actual recording, compared to HV20. 3) Same great image quality - i can't tell much difference in quality between HF100 and HV20, even though HF100 had higher recorded resolution, and the HV20 had a larger sensor. 4) compactness. Similar to the HV20, the HF100 had not much of a wide-angle to speak of, but the wide converter lens (which i do not have) is lighter and cheaper.

The HV20 does have better battery life. The HF100 had about 1.5 hour. I never had to worry about battery in the HV20. The H.264 video recorded by HF100 plays fine on a core 2 duo 2.4 GHz, but cannot keep up on a dual core 2.0 GHz AMD box -- you need relatively fast computers. Not canon's fault though.

The bundled software is unstable to a point of being unusable (on two separate XP boxes I tried). After many attempts (amid reboots, etc) I finally managed to convert one video clip to a resolution for web use, but the image quality is shameful. I tried several software that claimed to support AVCHD without success, and eventually worked out a conversion workflow that involves storing downscaled uncompressed video, which is rather painful.

I spent a very long time researching small SD based high def cameras and ended up choosing the Vixia HF100. This after owning a Panasonic SD3 for a brief period last year. After a full weekend playing with the HF100 I am quite pleased with my decision.

My motivation for choosing this camera over the competition was Canon's very wise decision to include a standard microphone input (and manual audio controls). Why other manufacturers are removing this feature from consumer camcorders baffles me since good audio is such an important part of making good video! Canon also includes a mini hot shoe on the top of the device, and there's already a mini shotgun mic available (Canon 2591B002 DM-100 Directional Stereo Microphone for HF10 and HF100 Camcorders).

In many ways the HF100 is not much different from its competition. It's about soda can sized (although not as tiny as the new Panasonic SD9), has no view finder, and records video onto SDHC flash memory. Flash memory is so cheap right now that spending the extra money for the HF10 (with the on board storage) really isn't worth it.

VIDEO QUALITY & OPTIONS
Excellent and consistent with other cameras in its class. Color quality is rich and perhaps a little over-saturated (as most consumer cameras are) but there are settings to wind back the saturation a bit (like switching into cinema mode). Artifacts are minimal but remember that AVCHD is a highly compressed video format. Those looking for the absolute best quality in a consumer camera will want to look at an HDV tape based solution. There are settings for manual white balancing as well.

Low light performance is so-so.. Gets a bit grainy but you can make adjustments to compensate both in frame rate and shutter/aperture settings. There's also a mini-video light that can be turned on but it won't have room-filling range to it.

The camera has multiple video quality options but you'll want to select the highest quality as it's not on by default. I am getting about an hour of video on an 8 gig SD card in the highest quality mode.

The camera also includes three frame rate options: 60i, 30p, and 24p. All of these are processed at 60i so you'll need an editor that can remove the pulldown for true 24P.

BATTERY LIFE
Like every other camera in its class, the included battery is pretty lousy. It charges quickly but you'll only get about an hour or so of recording time. Canon does make an extended battery which I plan on purchasing soon.

CONNECTIVITY & EDITING
I am a Mac guy so those of you using Windows will have to comment below on your success with it. On the Mac side both iMovie '08 and Final Cut Pro 6 recognize video from this camera even if I'm just popping the SD card into my USB card reader.

If you're coming from the HDV tape-based world, capturing video from an AVCHD camera takes a little longer than you'll be used to. I've found multiplying the original video length times two is usually about the length of time it takes to capture with iMovie on my Mac Pro (I haven't timed Final Cut's conversion yet but will update this review soon). I'm sure this will improve over time as computers and software get faster, but don't expect instant gratification when you're ready to bring some video over to edit.

CONCLUSION
I bought this camera to supplement some of the work I do shooting HDV video on a 'prosumer' Sony HDV camera. If you're serious about producing HD video you might still want to consider an HDV tape based camcorder like the Canon HV20 or HV30. You'll get better and more consistent quality along with nearly universal editing compatibility. Those cameras transfer video back to the PC or Mac over firewire, a standard that's been around for over a decade. The HDV cameras can also run live video back to the PC for editing or webcasting, something you can't do currently with an AVCHD cam.

If, however, you're in the market for a small flash based camera look no further. The inclusion of a mic port along with the multitude of shooting options make this a great choice for beginners and enthusiasts alike.

I bought this recorder, not from Amazon. I frankly do not see the difference between my "not so high definition" camera and this one. I do not think the noise reduction technology is works. It is a marketing gimmick. The picture is noisy under low light condition. Focussing is hard and goes out of focus. Over all performace is not what it is cranked up to be.

This is a great little camera but the OIS (Stability) is really sub par compared to other cameras that are much older and cheaper. So if you want really steady video, you may not get it with this camera.

Great buy works really well with my mac, some folks have had problems with it working on thier mac but guess what its avchd other processors cant handle it lol. I use imovie to download and it works like a charm. I was really surprised with the ease of use and editing, another homerun! I don't know what in the world freddy is talking about, if you knew anything about avchd then you know you need an intel mac. No surprise to us mac users, just the slow ones.

TO THE ENTIRE MAC FAMILY- if your buying this camcorder you will need several important things to be able to transfer video to computer.
#1- The most important!! An Intel based Mac(2006 models and up) Canon does not list that on their website for MAC OS X compatibility.
#2- Either iMovie 07/08 or Final "CUT" Studio.

The first phone call I made never mentioned the intel processor so after I purchased i-Movie I'm still not able to transfer video to computer with my iMac G5 bought in 2005.

This is my first video camera and I'm a geek so please excuse me if I get a little technical as I'm the kind of guy who shops by reading specs.

Before this, my only experience with video cameras where those that I borrowed from friends and family over the years to cover the family events - Betamax, VHS, MiniDV.. I probably have to also state that I've been shooting with SLR's for the past 25 years (all Nikons from the FM2 to the D3) so I prefer prints and web sharing and this is probably why I'm late getting into the 'video camcorder game'.

2008 saw the confluence of a my first high definition LCD TV, the release of an affordable true HD-resolution camcorder, and cheap flash-memory based storage (as opposed to tape or hard drives) so it finally got me thinking that *now* is the right time to get into recording life's sweet moments on "tape." (And at 16:9 1920x1080 resolution at that! I'm a geek remember?)

I live in a developing country in Asia so the only way to find what I want is to shop by specs and, boy, the HF100 sure got everything right on paper and after receiving my Amazon package 2 days ago, I'm happy to report that this little gem is EXACTLY what I wanted!

These are what I was looking for and which I happily got:

1. Flash-memory based recording on SD
I can't deal with tape nor am I comfortable with a spinning drive inside a piece of equipment that I might drop. And with Transcend Class 6 16Gb SD cards priced at only $74, the HF100 is perfect! At FX mode, 1 16Gb card can record 2hours of material. (Side note: the standard BP809 battery is good for only about 8Gb worth of material so you better stock up or rig your own battery.)

2. True HD quality
I still have to get myself a HDMI cable but the component-out signal on my LCD is crisp! To my eye, it's as good as the prosumer-level models that I've been wanting to get but can't justify.

3. Fast focus
The focusing works darn well. It's not 100% but it's very close. I'm spoiled by the fast focusing of pro-level DSLR's and I'm not disappointed by the HF100's IAF.

4. OIS
Generally works, you gotta give it a half-second or so to stabilize and the LCD viewfinder is a great way to stabilize the unit with 2 hands.

5. Output files
The files are saved in MTS format and after Googling for half an hour, I was able to download a couple of freeware transcoders and converted a 46-second 89Mb 1920x1080 clip into a 16Mb 848x480 XVid AVI that I can play on my Mediagate player. I intend to store all originals as is and downsample the files that are friendly to most video playback platforms - Youtube, Windows Media Player, hard disk media players, iPhones, etc... - for easy distribution. Remember, I like sharing my stuff and I have to ensure the AVCHD files are easy to share.

6. Size and build
Yep, it's slightly smaller than a soda can and very, very insconspicuous. It's a welcome change from the routine harassment I get from overzealous mall security who thinks I'm out to make a quick buck selling pictures of mall scenes and architecture everytime I fish out my so-called 'professional' DSLR gear. I shot all day today and no one even noticed. The build is perfect, like what we're used to expect from high-quality, super miniaturized products from Japan.

7. User interface
I haven't read the manual yet as the basic camcorder stuff is easy. I concur with the observation that the START/STOP and CAMERA/VIDEO RECORD/PLAYBACK switches could have been better. I prefer the Sony approach where a rotating collar representing the different modes rings a big round red button. The on-screen menu can be better but it's liveable - I'm so used to the intuitive interface of Nikon cameras so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that (just) some of the quirkiness of Canon's camera interface design can also be found here on their camcorders. For example, there are way too many clicks to get a clip deleted. I also wish that there's a faster way to scroll through the clips.

8. Optics
Based on what I see on the LCD TV, they're great! I'm a wide-angle shooter so my next purchase is a 0.5x wide angle converter, but I'm now hesitating against buying the $50 models as they may not do justice to the camcorder. Information on photographic lens quality such as resolving power, MTF charts, etc.. are readily available online but there seems to be less on video-related optics, it's only now that optical quality is going to come into play with true-HD recording.

9. Control layout
I think the layout is okay. The AV jack, HDMI jack, and composite jacks are on 3 separate sides, I hope they can put them all on one side in the next iteration. Oh, the tactile feel, location and size of the photo capture button is awkward. Coming from a DSLR, how I use/misuse this button often results in blurred pictures esp when in dim light. There's just no way of releasing the shutter without causing camera shake. But then again, why use a camcorder as a camera? :P

10. Audio
I think the audio recording is okay, it records my narrative clearly. I will shoot my niece's beach wedding in a couple of weeks - I should know how the wind filter and audio pickup performs in such an environment.

I'm truly happy with this purchase. After 2 days, I'd rate this product a 10/10. The only thing I have to deal with now is perfect my MTS-to-AVI post production workflow.

Get one!

If you can wait a few weeks, the price may continue to fall. The price has fallen about 24 dollars in 12 days.

Anyway, overall I love this camcorder. It's small enough to put in a large pant pocket, but fits nicely in my hand.
I filmed a birthday party last night. I felt like I could almost conceal it, it's so small. Maybe it's less invasive than a larger camcorder.

Low light filming is Ok. I would like to see a larger sensor on the next iteration, but this thing is already very small. For what it is, it does an excellent job. With proper indoor lighting, you can get some very nice results.
Don't get me wrong, it's ok for recording with normal indoor lighting, but when you go outside with this thing, wow!


The other day, I filmed outside in bright light and this little tiny camcorder is AMAZING. I'm not an expert, but it seems close to broadcast quality. That's impressive for such an inexpensive little camcorder with AVCHD compression recording to a regular class 6 SD card. Funny, because the camera only recognizes it as a class 4. It may not have the ability to recognize class 6 cards. Still, It turns on almost instantly, and is ready to record in about 1 or 2 seconds!

Can you say 30P? I havent tried 24P, but should be good in low light situations without fast movement.

[...]

I use Sony Vegas Platinum 8 to edit the AVCHD files and it works very well. HD does require a pretty fast computer, but it still works on my Pentium 4, 3.2 GHz single core computer. Playback can be a little choppy, but I only have 1 GB or Ram.

You may want to buy a HDMI to Mini HDMI cable to connect to your HDTV.

One last thing. You may want to look into the Canon DW-100 DVD recorder. It's very easy to burn HD dvds on regular dvd-r discs. It holds about 30 min of HD content on a single layer dvd-r, and I believe it burns close to real time. So 30 min of content should take about 40 min to burn. I've been using mine, and have found it to be an excellent companion to the Canon Vixia HF 100.
Good Luck!

I bought the Vixia HF100 for the fantastic all-in price of $750 at Amazon/J&R. I chose this Canon over comparable flash-based Panasonic and Sony cameras because it had better reviews, and I liked the external microphone option because I record a lot of concerts. After 2 days of experimentation, my conclusions:

PROS: Small, light, quiet. Also, it wasn't clear from the reviews, but you can actually adjust the volume of the built-in mikes, and not just external mikes. Audio level control is a big plus for recording loud rock concerts without distortion. Sound was clear. Daylight and bright light video was crystal clear. I didn't notice any "purple fringing" or any distortion when viewed on my 50" plasma. Unlike another reviewer, I had no problems snapping multiple photos while recording video -- I'm using a class 6 SDHC Transcend card, so it may be function of using a higher speed SDHC card. For 2/3 megapixel snapshots, the photos look decent, slightly better than one would expect if you took a screencap of the video. The autofocus works as advertised, superfast.

CONS: Doesn't include mini-HDMI cable, only component and RCA. Most important, I was not pleased with the video shot in indoor lamp light (around 200 watts incandescent lighting for a 20'x15'room). There was a lot of noise, which suprised me because most reviewers gave this camera above average low-light performance. The low-light video looked a little better when you changed the default settings -- decreasing the sharpening or using cine mode. Also, I'm a video amateur so I can't explain why, but the low light video quality was less noisy in 30p mode versus 60i mode (I thought this setting would only affect fast motion scenes). Ergonomically, I wish it had some rubber on the grip for comfort, and that some of the functions which require the joystick could be accessed using the same hand holding the camera.

I haven't played around with the bundled software so I can't comment; but I was perfectly willing to shell out the extra cash for Pinnacle or Sony Vegas software to handle the AVCHD format.

For me, the poor low light performance is a dealbreaker, so I'm sending this puppy back. I don't see the point of having a high-def camera which produces a lot of noise/grain on the video. I'll wait for the next gen AVCHD camcorders, and will make do with a standard def HDD camcorder for less than half the price for now.

4 stars because everything else besides low-light video was great, the price isn't too outrageous for new technology, and the audio input flexibility is welcome.

this is the best HD camcorder at this size and price. I also had the Pan sd9 but like the low light performance better on this. Make sure you know the difference between CCD and CMOS.

Got it and immediately brought it on a vacation to South Florida. Upon coming home I plugged it into my iMac and effortlessly loaded clips onto iMovie. Also, connected it to my 1080 40" LCD display -- and played back in full HD resolution. Lightweight, great battery length and a very simple to use!

I bought the Vixia HF100 for the fantastic all-in price of $750 at Amazon/J&R. I chose this Canon over comparable flash-based Panasonic and Sony cameras because it had better reviews, and I liked the external microphone option because I record a lot of concerts. After 2 days of experimentation, my conclusions:

PROS: Small, light, quiet. Also, it wasn't clear from the reviews, but you can actually adjust the volume of the built-in mikes, and not just external mikes. Audio level control is a big plus for recording loud rock concerts without distortion. There are also windscreen and mike attenuation options, but I haven't had any loud outdoor concerts to test these as yet. Sound was very clear. Daylight and bright light video was crystal clear. I didn't notice any "purple fringing" or any distortion when viewed on my 50" plasma. Unlike another reviewer, I had no problems snapping multiple photos while recording video -- I'm using a class 6 SDHC Transcend card, so it may be function of using a higher speed SDHC card. For 2/3 megapixel snapshots, the photos look decent, better than one would expect if you took a screencapture of the video, but not really good enough to make enlarged prints. The autofocus works as advertised, superfast.

CONS: Doesn't include mini-HDMI cable, only component and RCA. Most important, I was not pleased with the video shot in indoor lamp light (around 200 watts incandescent lighting for a 20'x15'room). There was a lot of noise, which suprised me because most reviewers gave this camera above average low-light performance. The low-light video looked a little better when you changed the default settings -- decreasing the sharpening or using cine mode. Also, I'm a video amateur so I can't explain why, but the low light video quality was less noisy in 30p mode versus 60i mode (I thought this setting would only affect fast motion scenes). Ergonomically, I wish it had some rubber on the grip for comfort, and that some of the functions which require the joystick could be accessed using the same hand holding the camera.

I haven't played around with the bundled software so I can't comment; but I was perfectly willing to shell out the extra cash for Pinnacle or Sony Vegas software to handle the AVCHD format.

For me, the poor low light performance is a dealbreaker, so I'm sending this puppy back. I don't see the point of having a high-def camera which produces a lot of noise/grain on the video. I'll wait for the next gen AVCHD camcorders, and will make do with a standard def HDD camcorder for less than half the price for now.

4 stars because everything else besides low-light video was great, the price isn't too outrageous for new technology, and the audio input flexibility is welcome.

UPDATE 5/2/08: After mulling over this overnight, I've decided to keep this camcorder as the pluses outweigh the minuses for me. If you're considering buying this model, I would STRONGLY suggest you go to a bricks-and-mortar retailer and test drive this camcorder yourself, not in the well-lit camera display but in a darker section of the store, like the home theater section. You will be able to see the noise even on the small 2.7" LCD, and you can judge for yourself whether you find it acceptable.

I bought the HF100 as a replacement for the 720p Sanyo Xacti HD-1. The Xacti is compact, but has poor video quality indoors, its smallness results in a lot of camera shake, and it required repair after a few months, indicating poor manufacturing quality. The Canon HF100 kind of fits in a jacket pocket or in the side pockets of baggy pants or shorts, but it weighs down your clothing significantly. But the key point is that the video is stunning when viewed on a 24" 1920x1200 computer monitor. The sharpness is incredible, with good sensitivity for indoor movies. Image stabilization is pretty good as I was able to obtain sharp images of craters on the moon at full zoom. I was pleased that iMovie '08 recognized the SD card immediately and I had no problem transferring and playing movies on a high-end desktop (Mac Pro 3.2 GHz). The 24p mode seems like a gimmick given that you have 30p, and the "cinema mode" merely gives you less saturation and the appearance of higher dynamic range, which is useful in sunlit situations. I like the video light, which is quite strong, and I consider an "effect" a la the Blair Witch Project. I wish that these types of camcorders had a better built-in wide angle capability, but the wide screen aspect does give you back some of that in the horizontal direction. Also, a 2-yr old SD card that I had worked fine, but could not record at the very highest data rates (yet the picture was still very sharp). Photos are very good, rivaling a 7 MP Kodak point-and-shoot that I recently bought (V712), which goes to show the benefit of having a good Canon lens.

This is realy a fantastic camera, I never saw video so detailed clear and colorfull, even the Photo function has better results than my Minolta 5 Mpx, because this camera is very sensitive in dark places.
I connected my camera with the LG50PC55 plasma TV and it was breathtaking.

I'm sure some of you will be annoyed with me for writing this; however, several reviewers have written how they are happy they are with using Vegas Platinum 8 to "handle" the AVCHD. I'm not writing this to distract from Canon's HF100; however, the lack of clarity by previous reviewers will likely result in more people buying Vegas with the assumption that it edits and Creates AVCHD projects. It Doesn't.

This IS a big deal now that other software packages DO allow you to Create edited AVCHD projects that can be placed on a standard 4.7 or 8.5 GB DVD, which gets BluRay formatted by the software (such as Vegas Pro or Pinnacle Studio 11) and can they be played in most BluRay players; or you can transfer that image to a flash memory card or a PS3's hard drive for playback in a PS3. Vegas Pro (which is quite expensive) can do this and so can Pinnacle Studio 11; but Vegas Platinum cannot.

Beware! Vegas Platinum 8, which costs a hundred dollars, does not Create AVCHD projects. At best it will create an HDV project from your AVCHD files; or it will create an edited Non-High Definition DVD.

Sony didn't ever explicitly state Vegas Platinum 8 does not create AVCHD projects; yet they say It Edits AVCHD for project creation. I am VERY upset with Sony over this.

If you buy a HD camcorder; what's the whole point if you output to Non-High Definition?! Save your money and don't buy a High Def camcorder or if you do buy a AVCHD camcorder then DON'T buy Vegas Platinum!

This camera is awesome. Flash memory and awesome video quality. It doesn't get any better.

Disclaimer: This is my first camcorder.

Using with 2x Transcend 8GB SDHC CARD (SD 2.0 SPD Class 6), works fine.

I think MSenn "Max" (Miami, FL)'s review above is pretty spot on. Low light performance is really the only weak point of this camera is my opinion, but I don't have anything else to compare it to. Reviews have given the camera an adequate mark for low light, and it's certainly still watchable. (The frame rate seems to be lower than 25fps in dance floors from a wedding I attended... I don't know if that's because the exposure is really long) Certainly still watchable footage, but no where near professional quality.

Well lit scenes is a different story... very nice footage. Got better color from setting the white balance manually when filming in the shade however. (It seemed a little blue otherwise).

People commented that the audio from the built-in microphone was good, despite being 3m back from the ceremony.

Been using Vegas Platinum for editing to a DVD. As pointed out by Chris C. Topolovich "Chris" above, Vegas Platinum doesn't write AVCHD, and only reads it for (time-consuming) recoding. Hopefully they update the output formats in the future. I've been outputting to windows media and mpeg2. I watch the AVCHD clips on a computer (haven't made the HD TV plunge quite yet) The clips chug a little on my 2.4GHz AMD Opteron from time-to-time... it really is CPU intensive.

I haven't used the included software for anything other than quick playback. Perfectly functional on Win XP SP2 (32bit).

The photos are fine (Using the photo button to take pictures while recording was off by default however), and it's very handy to only carry one camera.

Summary: I love the camera, the software (which hopefully gets better in time) and low-light perf are the only things that come close to an issue. Debating whether to take off half a star, but I do really like the small size, flash memory, and other features.

Mine broke on the second day of light use. The image in the LCD viewer and the recordings are now completely black (and yes the lens cover is opening). Otherwise, it looked promising. Also note, the proper spare battery is the BP-809S not the BP-809B as the title on amazon would have you believe. I'll update on how my replacement unit fares.

Before I bought an HF100, I first bought an HV30 due to reports of it having better video quality. But I ended up returning that camera the moment I heard the audio play - the tape noise was LOUD and distracting. Totally unacceptable.

I knew Canon made the highest quality HD cameras, though, so I went with the HF100 as a replacement based on good reviews and the fact that it had no moving parts that create noise (like the tape drive on the HV30 or the hard disk drive on some other models.)

Having now shot several things (a baby shower, a friend's farewell party) I can tell you with confidence that I absolutely made the right decision. I think the video quality is just as good as the HV30. I was worried it wouldn't be, but it absolutely is. (Low light footage is expectedly a bit grainy just as it was with the HV30 - and always is with small handheld models - and daylight footage is near perfect.) And the audio quality is as good as I've ever heard from a consumer camcorder. No unwanted noise.

And then there are the bonuses:

- This camera is noticeably smaller and lighter than the HV30. Very very nice.

- The AVCHD format is 100% functional with a current Mac (I tested footage shot with this camera on a MacBook and the lastest version of iMovie). The process is seamless, in fact. Absolutely handier than importing from tape.

- I was worried that I wouldn't be able to backup the footage for long-term safe keeping. What would I do without mini DV tapes? Well, problem solved (for Mac users). You can simply create a little disk image copy of your camera footage (using Disk Utility, which comes with all Macs) and drag that image over to a blank DVD. Burn the DVD and voila - perfect backup. I even tested the process of loading footage into iMovie from the backup DVD and it absolutely worked. iMovie thinks the backup disk image is a camera and will let you import from it no problem.

- If you happen to have a PS3, you can pop your HF100's memory cards right into the system and the PS3 will play your footage in full HD immediately. Talk about handy! Yes!

That's about it for me. Oh, I also HIGHLY recommend getting the Transcend 16GB card that amazon recommends near the top of the page. Not only does it work great, but the card reader it comes with is awesome. It enables me to pop the card directly into the PS3's USB slots (as I mentioned above) and also works for popping the card directly into my Mac's USB slots (so I don't have to fiddle with hooking up the actual camera to import footage.) Gotta love it!