Customer Ratings & Reviews

I have tested and researched plenty of HD camcorders (including the Sony SR11, Panasonic SD9, and JVC HD6). None of them has such a balanced feature set and the image quality to match in such an intuitive package as the Canon HF10. One thing that sets this camcorder apart from the rest is its use of internal flash memory (16GB). This is beneficial because of its outstanding durability and low power consumption vs. a traditional hard drive. Canon didn't stop there and also enabled the HF10 to record video and still images on an SDHC card. It has a 12x optical zoom, optical image stabilization, and records in full 1920x1080 resolution (which are things rarely seen in a camcorder this size). About the size... This thing is TINY! Compared to other camcorders in this size range (Sony CX7 and Panasonic SD9), this Camcorder delivers much better image quality and inboard storage. About the image quality... As of right now, I can assert that this is the best camcorder that records in the AVCHD format. I will also say that the image quality is just as good (if not better) than most consumer HDV camcorders, including the Canon HV30. Another plus is the ability to record in the standard 60i framerate, as well as 30fps and 24fps for a more "film" look. The user interface is very intuitive and the controls are easy to reach and understand. On thing that I wish was different was to have the joystick controllable with your right thumb, as opposed to the left (next to the lcd screen). It would've also been nice to include a bigger screen as well, but I assume that the size is a limiting factor for some of these requests. All in all though, this camcorder is a standout performer with its small size, great image quality, and generous features. You won't regret this purchase...

first of all, i am a sony junkie, but this camera won me over. i was contemplating on getting the entry level samsun hd camcorder sc-hmx20c or the sony cx7 or cx12. i had been wanting a camcorder for a while now and had been testing out the features for the last past month at the stores. . what really sold me was the fact that --- . samsung didn't have a bigger capacity battery option and they didn't record in avchd (however did have a cool slow mo effect), and personally samsung's model seemed cheap in quality with the swiveling hand piece (which i think will loosen in a few months of extended use and possibly break). . sony was very solid in feeling (all the buttons and knobs are great and don't feel like cheap plastic). they had exclusive recording capability for mem sticks (which i had already). and it had night shot which is a fun effect to have when going out camping or whatnot. Touch screens were cool, but again, not very cool when u'r fingers can't access the right menus because the icons on the screen are too small- this is probably my biggest concern, just plain pressing too hard and then ruining the lcd screen. BOT LINE- OVERPRICED. . Canon hf10 really caught my attention when i realized almost all the features were the same if not better than the sony cx series. it also had an internal memory of 16gb(2hrs hd quality, 4-5 hrs low quality- which is still great in my opinion). the layout of the buttons makes functionality and use very easy. those who aren't used to high tech gizmos will love this camera, it has simple 4 way knob for 1)3mp camera stills 2)camcorder 3)video playback 4)reviewing still pics. and if that wasn't simple, they really have an 'easy' button for not hassle taping. I, on the other hand, like to use all the effects and options for taping so this camera really stretches out the $. The only thing I didn't like was the overall picture quality in the dark or dim lit rooms. the camera showed all the details in the lcd screen, but when played back on the tv screen, it was way too dark. I have been customizing settings and have been able to increase light in dim lit rooms, but it's just a hassle to keep doing this, so as of right now, I'm looking into getting a light accessory for the shoe for the camera. Once I have that, the only regrets I'll have are no Slo-mo capture and no Night Shot. i mean comparing it to an old Sony hi8 camcorder that's over 10 years old (the old viewfinders) that old cam can record very well in dim lit rooms- so why can't a new present day camcorder do that (this applies to a lot of the hd cameras out there). I definitely recommend this and this is hard to say b/c the majority of my gear and electronics are Sony based, but save some money and buy this camera. you can use the extra money and buy the ext warranty and a big capacity battery with the money saved and it will cost just as much as the Sony cam by itself. plus the min reqr for sdhc cards is a type 4 card. so the cost of ext cards are fairly inexpensive. type 6... 16 and 32gb.. you're looking to pay extra $100+ for the newest and latest sdhc cards. . I bought this cam 10/12/08 and the price was 799. about 1000 with warranty and batt. i could have bought this cam at another website, but i really like bestbuy's accident coverage which was a good enough factor to buy at this store.

I bought this HF10 HD camcorder from Best Buy for our once-in-a-lifetime cruise through the Panama Canal. I'm extremely pleased with the results and am glad I picked this particular camera for our trip (which was fantastic by the way). The automatic focus and exposure settings were perfect 99.9% of the time and the video quality is superb (I recorded using the highest quality settings (17 Mbps, 1920x1080p, 30 fps). This uses about 8 GB of memory for each hour of video. With the 16 GB built into the camera and a 16 GB SDHC card (Class 6), you can shoot 4 hours of high quality video. This was more than enough for our entire 3 week trip. I had an extra 16 GB card I never used. While I bought this camcorder to take movies, I found that its still picture capabilities are good enough to do away with a separate point-and-shoot still camera. One recommendation: the supplied charger only charges the battery while in the camcorder. During my trip I regretted not having the optional CG-800 battery charger so I could be charging one battery while using the camcorder with my second battery. I bought the standard BP-809 as my second battery and I never ran out of power. If you're a heavy shooter, you might consider the larger BP-819 as your second battery. This camcorder is very light and small, making it great for excursions. It also does extremely well in low light, shooting in light levels I could barely see in (it does get grainier though). This camera is also very easy to use. Once I set it up the way I wanted prior to my trip, I just had to press the Start/Stop button. I feel that I really got my money's worth on this purchase and if I had to do it over again, I'd run out and buy this same camera.

I've had this only 4 days, but I've been waiting to get such a camcorder for a long while now. Canon has hit the sweet spot on image quality, fast startup, size and type of storage. I've had a MiniDV for 8 years now and I've shot less and less footage of my family because of the cost of tapes and the hassle of getting the footage to different medium like DVD. Do not get me started on the image quality, after seeing what this thing can do! Once you take your first footage of 'whatever' you will NOT be sorry you spent the money on this camcorder. Everything about this makes you want to carry it around and just shoot 'film' of every event in your life. Its just like when you got your first digital camera and realized how simple it was just to start taking pictures and not worry about if it was good or not, just delete the bad stuff, keep the good. Not having to rewind is a big change, works just like your digital camera, in segments. I would definitely recommend buying the secondary SDHC card to expand the memory, buy as much you can afford 16GB-80$. Also I spent a couple months looking over reviews and for some personal and technical preferences I chose this camcorder and I am not disappointed in my decision. Oh, and yes it's Apple/Mac compatible, iMovie handles the footage like a champ, I stayed away from Sony because of issues here and there with certain models on Macs. Do your homework, make your choice, if its this product my guess is you won't be disappointed. paseng

This is our second Canon camcorder. We bought our first one five years ago at the birth of our first child. It was nice, but it was cumbersome to transfer the image from the DV tape to my PC. With the HF10 I can easily transfer the video files to my PC hard drive to save and watch. Watching the video in 1080P is just amazing. It's almost looks like 3D. It automatically selects the best setting based on conditions. Looks great both indoors and out. Even looks great while filming fast motion. It would be nice to play the files from my Media Server through my PS3. The PS3 doesn't recognize the file format. Maybe this is possible and I have yet figured it out. For now, I use a mini HDMI cable hook up to my TV and use the HF10 as a player. The remote comes in handy. The HF10 is very easy to use and gives incredible HD video. I highly recommend this camcorder. Kudo's to Canon.

Relatively the same size and weight as a soda can, and decorated in a myriad of outputs and upgrade slots. The front allows for Wide and Telephoto Lenses to be added on easily, and the Mini Shoe mount on top is perfect for the optional Shotun Mic ($179 on Amazon). There's even AV/Mic output for professional camera users, HDMI output, and easy access to the SDHC cards. Built-in 16 GB of flash memory is perfect for most situations, and serves as a nice reserve just in case your SDHC cards run out. 32GB SDHC cards can store 3 hours of footage at the highest quality setting (1080p, 17 Mbps), but remember to get a card that's Level 4, minimum. Your standard SD card's write speed will be too slow. Most are level 2, so make sure to check the packaging. Video quality is superb, and even if you don't have Adobe Premiere CS4, there are free programs out there that will convert the camera's AVCHD formatted footage into MPEG-2 relatively easily.

Picture quality is outstanding in the video and photo department. More amazing is that the sound is high quality with out sounding like you are in a bathroom and no constant hiss sound. When the camera is on a tripod it is difficult to reach the battery release to change out batteries so you may have to modify your tripod so you can reach the battery release. One review I read on this site is that it doesn't work with Windows movie maker so you have to use the software that Canon gives you. First off Windows doesn't work at all let alone to edit a movie cause it's junk, second, is that Windows movie maker must be the one that is proprietary software. Easy solution is get a Mac. Mine works great with my Mac in iMovie 08, Garageband for podcasts, iPhoto, QuickTime, iWeb, buy the way all that software comes on a Mac right out of the box. and in Final Cut Pro.

Intially I bought a FS100 SD camcoder. I was very dissatisfied with the video quality so I opted for HF10. The video quality was very good and I like it very much. But there was some problem I faced while buying this camcoder. The BEST BUY website said HF10 is not Vista compatible. After a lot of research I found HF10 is vista compatible. It was a real pain. When I played the video on the 64 bit Vista the video was stopping regularly. When I changed the color scheme to 16 bit from 32 bit it was better. Next I tried to make a video CD the bundled software wasn't able to do so. I tried free verasion of Sony Vegas and Coral to conver to mpeg but the output picture quality was huge disappointment. So the bottomline is the editing and movie publishing is still a huge pain. There is still a lot of loss in video quality during coverting to mpeg format. I feel market is still not ready to explore the full potentail AVCHD format.

This tiny camcorder shoots video that looks awesome on my 52" Sony LCD XBR4 hi-def TV ! Very portable. Excellent quality build. I'm shocked that a camcorder this small can make such nice quality video. Stabilization works great. Huge 12x optical zoom. Super accurate and stable auto-focus. Shutter/Aperature priority. Fast access to essential functions (mic. volume, manual focus, exposure compensation). If you have a fast SDHC card, you can download to your computer card reader without hooking up the power cord and USB cable to the HF-10. I'm glad I waited for this little gem and am very satisfied with it.

I've now had this camera for a day now but been able to put it through rigorous testing in the various night/day lighting situations. After reading the instructions and going through clips of all the various settings, there are ways to have this camera set up for GREAT pictures every time. The 24p frame rate with Cinema View really does create a great picture and feel to your video. Your 60fps setting is also great for your sport/car shots. Camera works well also and looks great on TV. BE SURE TO VERIFY YOUR SETTINGS ON THE TV BEFORE BLAMING THE CAMERA FOR BAD QUALITY!! I WAS DISAPPOINTED BEFORE DOING SO. Overall, I would definitely recommend this camera at the pricing available right now. Not a good web video camera due to the AVCHD format.

I was searching for a great camera for what felt like forever. I was playing the ping pong game with websites, trying to get the most *bang for my buck, and I stumbled across this great gadsby. I've loved it since the day I brought it home. I have everything from sentimental holiday pics, to a hospital delivery. Cheers! Here's to all the moments I have yet captured.

This is my first movie camera and I purchased it along with a mac to learn more about movie making. The camera is very easy to learn, with enough additional settings to keep me reading to to find out additional features that can enhance what is already very very good. The learning curve has been fairly easy which is good, since I'm impatient with such things.

My friend has this and I used it while we were trying to film something for her. Anyhow, the quality was excellent and for using it a short period of time, I was convinced to buy one for myself.

This is a great camcorder, I would have to say the best picture quality of any of the HD cams. Perfect size fits nice in all size hands. Good battery life.

This camcorder is so current, right now. It is pretty easy to use. I love it.

Be warned: Only the proprietary software that comes with the camera will work to edit the video. To say it is rudimentary is a huge overstatement: The Windows Movie Maker software will not work on these files, which is a real shame as that would make this a perfect product. The quality of the video appears to be superior to DV-Mini but the inability to edit, modify, title, or manipulate the video in any way makes that advantage less than useless. In this day and age of plug and play the horrible user-friendliness of this product makes me say DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA. Sorry...