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Canon HF20 / HF200 Official Owner's Thread

177K views 820 replies 197 participants last post by  Jan J 
#1 ·
Hey guys, I saw many other models had their own "official" thread...so, why not one for ours? I don't really care which direction this takes, as long as it's on the topic of this camcorder. I just bought the HF20 yesterday (and am also a quasi-newb), and will be reporting in the days to come. Some possible topics of discussion:


Discuss your experiences shooting different scenes (outside, indoor with low light, outside under street lights, etc.) and the settings which have proven most successful under those conditions. If it's a custom or manual setting that has best served you, please provide those settings, as well!


What are you experiences with the supplied Pixela software? What software have you had most success in editing, etc. with? What do you think is the minimum specs for a computer to smoothly edit/render these buggery AVCHD files? This seems to be a common problem.


Any comments on accessories. Off brand extra batteries/chargers, additional lenses (wide-angle, etc.), microphones, even tripods, camera bags, whatever!


Anyway, I hope you guys find some interest in this. I look forward to sharing/learning from you all! Alright, enough of the Kumbaya...Have fun!
 
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#77 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by barry v s /forum/post/17127133


I recently purchased the HF200 and am taking a 8 day trip to WDW next saturday. I dont have alot of time to experiment with it and would like to know if there are any particular settings I should change for recording certain events like fireworks, night parades, indoor shows etc.


Should I set recording to 17 mbps FXP to get the most efficient/quality use of my 16GB SDHC cards? Is 24mbps overkill?


Should I use Cine mode?


What frames per second should I use 24p or 30p or 60i?


I am just short on time and i think i am tech savy so any help would be greatly appreciated.


thanks


Good questions. I'm not trying to pass myself off as any kind of expert here but I'll give you my opinion.


I've tried several times to tell the difference between 17 and 24mbps recording. I hook my canon HF200 directly up to my Sony Bravia 46" 1080P tv via HDMI cable. Both recording modes look great, but I can't see a difference. I've asked other people to watch, and they can't see any difference either. The footage observed was from my trip to Arizona, and my wife's parents farmland in Nebraska.


I love cine mode. looks great in low light and in many indoor settings. It looks less grainy, but it tends to darken the footage so you don't want to use it in too low of light.


I've had the best luck shooting in plain old 60i. Not sure about the benefits of 30p and 24p. Canon says those modes are good for fast action footage and will make it look smoother. But, when I did some shooting while riding a four wheeler out in the country, I noticed the footage looked much more jerky in 30p mode verses 60i. Which makes sense, because 30p cuts the framerate in half, so It seems only natural that fast action would jerk around more with half as many frames recording. There must be some benefit to 30 and 24p, just not sure when to use them.
 
#78 ·
I played around with Cine Mode.... and noticed that in bright light it made the video appear to have greater dynamic range, by compressing the light and dark areas of the video.

But like the last poster, dark scenes were darker... I think more involved testing is necessary...

Since I had no issues with drive speed, I left the bandwidth at 24Mbsec.... My thinking is the least compression recording will show the most detail with least artifacts.
 
#79 ·
If you film a water fountain, you WILL notice a difference between 17 mbps and 24 mbps. But in other scenes with much less randomized fine detail, you'll be hard pressed to see any difference. Just don't go below 17 mbps. The recording's resolution drops from 1920x1080 to 1440x1080.


As for the other settings, use "P" mode at 60i for all daytime shots. For evening and dark indoor shoots, switch over to 30p and Tv Mode with a 1/30 sec. frame rate. That will help the camcorder produce a better image under difficult lighting conditions.
 
#81 ·
Do what Francois recommends. For any action shots use 60i. I just filmed a night football high school game and used 60i and Sports mode. It was low light and fast action from the stands and had no problems and it looks great on my 50" Panny. For those who have questions about the stabilization, it worked great even when I used telephoto. I was sitting in the stands with no tripod or monopod.


If going to WDW I would buy yourself some extra SDHC cards. They are so cheap you can easily have a few extra.
 
#82 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by thptrek /forum/post/17135531


Do what Francois recommends. For any action shots use 60i. I just filmed a night football high school game and used 60i and Sports mode. It was low light and fast action from the stands and had no problems and it looks great on my 50" Panny. For those who have questions about the stabilization, it worked great even when I used telephoto. I was sitting in the stands with no tripod or monopod.


If going to WDW I would buy yourself some extra SDHC cards. They are so cheap you can easily have a few extra.

Thanks for everyones help. I only get one shot at some of the footage i am going to take, and wont know if it is good or bad till i get home. I have six 16gb cards and 3 batteies (2 of them are 819's). I hope that is enough for 8 days.
 
#84 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Audio_Newbies /forum/post/17119436


Were your wearing long baggy shorts, or short shorts? I'm just trying to really gauge the size. Did it noticibly stick out? Maybe someone has some reference pics they could post? Sorry for the questions, but for me portability is an extremely big issue.

Cargo shorts -not too baggy, but not short running shorts either. I'm used to carrying my wallet in that same front pocket, so it wasn't that much heavier or bulkier.
 
#86 ·
Yes, when I got mine out of the box and put the battery in the settings were P (Program mode) and 60i.
 
#87 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by sailakfan /forum/post/17122638


Hello,


A new proud owner of HF200. I need suggestions for a Sandisk card. I can get a 8GB Extreme III Class 6 for the same price as a 16GB Ultra II Class 4. Since the manual suggests anything Class 4 or above, what are my drawbacks of using the Class 4 instead of Class 6?

Thank you

Class 4 is fast enough for the highest recording speeds of the HF200. From the SD Association :
Quote:
Class 4 guarantees a minimum transfer speed of 4 MB/s

- 4MB/s = 32Mb/s (8 bits per byte)

- highest quality setting on the HF200 is 24Mb/s


So Class 4 is fine. If it wasn't, Canon firmware wouldn't let you record with it...


Which brings us to Class 10, and a huge problem with Canon's current firmware for all Vixias. Class 10 is faster than Class 4 and Class 6. Appears to fit the recommended Class 4 or above. However, Canon's firmware rejects recording onto Class 10 at 17Mb/s and above. Unbelievable, but true. It currently accepts only Class 4 or 6.


Class 10 is relevant to your question because SanDisk has switched the designation on Extreme III cards from Class 6 to Class 10...and the packaging/printing on the box hasn't necessarily been updated. See posts 9, 13, and 14 on the first page of this thread for more.


So, if you do go with an Extreme III card, make sure you actually get a Class 6 card inside the box, not a Class 10.


Canon clearly needs to update their firmware. Whether they will or not...
 
#88 ·
My new HF20 arrived before my 16gb class 4 cards, so I tried out an older 2gb Sandisk Extreme III card (with no class ratings but with the imprint "20x") originally used in still cameras. It and a no-name 1gb card worked just fine in the HF20.


I don't think you'll have to worry at all about class 4 cards.
 
#89 ·
I was un-aware that a problem existed with Class 10 cards....

Did you inform Cannon Support, and what did they say???


Jan


Quote:
Originally Posted by oilblue /forum/post/17155685


Class 4 is fast enough for the highest recording speeds of the HF200. From the SD Association :


- 4MB/s = 32Mb/s (8 bits per byte)

- highest quality setting on the HF200 is 24Mb/s


So Class 4 is fine. If it wasn't, Canon firmware wouldn't let you record with it...


Which brings us to Class 10, and a huge problem with Canon's current firmware for all Vixias. Class 10 is faster than Class 4 and Class 6. Appears to fit the recommended Class 4 or above. However, Canon's firmware rejects recording onto Class 10 at 17Mb/s and above. Unbelievable, but true. It currently accepts only Class 4 or 6.


Class 10 is relevant to your question because SanDisk has switched the designation on Extreme III cards from Class 6 to Class 10...and the packaging/printing on the box hasn't necessarily been updated. See posts 9, 13, and 14 on the first page of this thread for more.


So, if you do go with an Extreme III card, make sure you actually get a Class 6 card inside the box, not a Class 10.


Canon clearly needs to update their firmware. Whether they will or not...
 
#90 ·
cool forum, i just got a hf200 myself.


has anyone been able to view the video on their computer with out any choppiness?

i record in 24 mbs and 60i and when i try and watch it, it looks choppy.

i also put it on a dvd in avchd format and played it on my ps3. the video looked choppy

also. i have a pc with core 2 duo 3.06 ghz with 3gb of ram.


what program do you use? the pixela software it came with is what i've been using.
 
#91 ·
to francois caron,


great video.

what program do you use to manage/edit your videos?

what are your computer specs?

my videos are choppy when i download to my hard drive and watch them.

any suggestions/fixes. i dont have a blue ray burner but would like to put them on

a dvd as avchd and it looked choppy on that also.
 
#92 ·
To idocmike:
  • Thanks!
  • Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Edition. It'll use the original camcorder files with no need to convert them to another format.
  • Asus RS100-X5/PI2 barebones rackmount server with Intel Dual Core 2.66 GHz processor, 640 GB hard drive, 2 GB of memory, integrated video, and a Creative PCIE-1X sound card.
  • You need a quad core computer to eliminate the choppiness, and even that may not be enough. Final rendered videos will play flawlessly however.
  • Sony Vegas includes DVD and Blu-Ray authoring software. When you "Make Movie" and choose the appropriate disc format, Vegas will properly encode your project and automatically launch the disc authoring software when it's done. NEVER just dump the original video files on a disc. From what I've read on different forums, that never works.
 
#93 ·
Hey guys! This is rather ironic, seeing as how I started this thread...but, I'm in a position where I need to sell my brand new HF-20.
I was saving for a new laptop (my current computer isn't powerful enough to process these monster files), and it turns out-my wife is pregnant.
So now, the savings and the money from the sale of the HF-20 need to go towards our little blessing! Needless to say, I'm willing to take a little bit of a hit on it...so, if you or anyone you know might be interested send me a message and make me an offer. I'll also thrown in a mini flexible tripod and nice camera bag. I thought I'd put this on here before I listed it on Ebay and Craigslist. Also, I'm in the Baton Rouge area, if anyone interested is close enough to meet. The camcorder is about a month old, and probably has less than 2 hours of use. Thanks!
 
#94 ·
Ok, we are having a baby in 3 weeks and looking to buy a camcorder...



I am concerned about the sound complaints and was trying to shop for a microphone...


I like the canon DM-50 and was wondering if it would work with the HF200.


Also, looking for a light - If you have any suggestions for a light - that will be great.


I think I will go with 2 or 3 16GB class 6 cards instead of a internal HD - One more thing to break, right?



Thanks!
 
#95 ·
Hello,


Posted up a question a couple weeks back but it got lost amongst a conversation.


I have the HF20 and just bought the Rode Videomic (still need to get the right mount for it). Sister asked to see if I could record at her wedding and thought I would get a light as well. Like the above user, I am looking for help on a light and a double mount to buy. Originally I was looking at the Canon VL-5. However, I called up BH Photo and they suggested the Bescor LED 14 and the Cool Lux MD-3000 double mount. Suggestions?


TIA
 
#96 ·
I just bought an HF200 from newegg.com and with just an hour or two of use I'm pretty impressed with the video quality and features. For now I'm just using the XP+ setting and even that is a big step up in quality over my Sony Dig8 that I had been using. I still need to experiment with the different video qualities and see what my current PC can handle. I'm also planning on archiving the video on the SDHC chips themselves so using XP+ instead of a better video quality makes the cost bearable. In 6 months the cost/GB will be half what is is now and I can bump up the quality then.


I love the size too. It's small but it fits well in my big hands. The 3-second record buffer is great for recording my son's soccer game when I only want action that he's involved in.


So far the only thing I don't like is the lack of a viewfinder but I knew that would be the case when I ordered it.


I bought the mini-HDMI cable from monoprice.com for next to nothing and I'm using my old digital point & shoot camera case to carry it in. I already have external microphones, battery box, tripod and monopod. Now I just need to find a good generic battery. I tried the one from SterlinTek.com but it won't charge in the camera so I'm sending it back. It appears that if you use a generic battery, you must have a generic battery charger. That's too bad.
 
#97 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jan J /forum/post/17180499


I was un-aware that a problem existed with Class 10 cards....

Did you inform Cannon Support, and what did they say???


Jan

From what I have read, the camcorder only reads the first digit of the card class. So it is reading 1 instead of 10. One would think this would be simple firmware fix.
 
#98 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Francois Caron /forum/post/17200264


To idocmike:



You need a quad core computer to eliminate the choppiness, and even that may not be enough. Final rendered videos will play flawlessly however.

Francois, what do you mean when you say final rendered? Are you able to put it in a format that is 1920x1080 and will play on your computer? I have a dual core 2.4GHZ and it's choppy. I thought something was wrong with my computer!
 
#99 ·
Boston, what he means is that after you do your project work on the raw file right out of the camera you then have to render the file. Render means to convert the file to a video file.


I use VideoStudio X2 for my editing. When I play the MTS files right out of the camera my computer plays them choppy ( I have a quad core). Once I render the files to a video file then the computer can play them. I render the files to MPEG using VideoStudio.
 
#100 ·
Can someone help me out on this. I know this is easy and am just missing it. I want the camcorder to order all the video segments sequentially. It does this now but everytime I transfer the files from the SDHC card to my computer, the camera counter resets back to 001. Then when I take more video the files have the same filename beginning with 001. What is the setting to change this. Thanks.
 
#101 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by thptrek /forum/post/17239246


Boston, what he means is that after you do your project work on the raw file right out of the camera you then have to render the file. Render means to convert the file to a video file.


I use VideoStudio X2 for my editing. When I play the MTS files right out of the camera my computer plays them choppy ( I have a quad core). Once I render the files to a video file then the computer can play them. I render the files to MPEG using VideoStudio.

thptrek, thanks for clarifying. I thought .MTS files would automatically play without any problem. I am using the software that came with the camera to edit some of the files and it seems really slow. I'm going to check out some software now like VideoStudio or Sony Movie Studio. Do you know of something that offers a lot of bang for a little buck?
 
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