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Canon Vixia HF11 (Owners Thread) - Page 2

post #31 of 335
10/22/08 at 5:37pm
Thread Starter 
Hey OSV, hows that 5.1 mic going? I am considering buying one of those...great review btw...
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post #32 of 335
10/22/08 at 8:28pm
thanks, i like the vive mic so far, i just wish that there was a way to edit each track discretely.

it works pretty well at the drag strip, here is a video clip where i have the tower audio signal plugged into the vive mic, using an fm receiver... in this video you can see a big speaker next to me, but without the tower audio feed into the vive, you wouldn't be able to hear the announcer nearly as well... there is some static from the radio, and you can hear the tower mic clicking on and off:

Drag racing video of pro stock front wheel drive cars
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post #33 of 335
10/22/08 at 10:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ptr727 View Post


I copy the internal drive contents to my machine, about 1.5GB of MTS files, using Windows Explorer, the transfer took more than 10 minutes, very slow.

I tried again, this time using robocopy, and the copy was a bit faster, but still very slow 1.553GB, 9 minutes 19 seconds, at 2.98MB/s or 23.84Mb/s.
That is a bit slower than the 24mb/s recording speed!

I am very dissapointed with the data ransfer rate between the camera and my PC.


Can any other owners comment on data transfer speeds?

P.

Quote:
Originally Posted by osv View Post

i noticed the same thing.

i'm wondering if the transfer speed from an sd card to the computer will be quicker... maybe that should be the recording medium, instead of the internal camcorder memory?

I just copied over 1.5 GB from the internal memory to my PC. It took 5 minutes.
I tried both through the Pixela software and through Windows Explorer. Both took 5 minutes.
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post #34 of 335
10/24/08 at 2:28am
How is the low light performance? I played with Sony SR11 and it was horroble in the low light.

I am looking into buying either HF11 or HG20.
The argument to buy HG20 is that it is bigger and easier to grip and hold steadily. Also it is about $250 cheaper.
The argument to buy HF11 is that the solid media is safer and I heard it doesn't drain as much battery power as the HDD cameras.

Any other strong reasons to go for HF11 vs HG20?
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post #35 of 335
10/24/08 at 7:27pm
Thread Starter 
Low light is all dependent on the settings you use...

If your using say 24fps mode and mess with the aperture (2.0 is widest you can go manually btw) you should be ok....With all these HD cameras there is going to be some noise naturally...but everyone wants GREAT low light performance...

These cameras on the prosumer market just cant get there yet...maybe about 3-4 more years and youll see some nice sensors BUT until then medicore low light performance on camers $1,500 and less (ie both of your choices)

I have the HF11 and I love it...
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post #36 of 335
10/25/08 at 5:14am
shahavchik

Canon HG20 can record >of course< on SDHC card
well then , where is a problem ?

HF11 internal memory is not worth over 200$ ! ! !
for this money u can buy 4x8GB SDHC class 6 and five pints of lager

buy HG20
at this money is the best choice


by the way

about low light condition.........
have you ever been in TV guys
even professional camcorders needs lots of light
for example , room 20x20 feet need minimum 6x100Watt bulbs
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post #37 of 335
10/25/08 at 7:16am
Hey, what version of ImageMixer comes with that camera? Check the Help menu and note the two version numbers, one for the program and the other for the library. I'm curious to see of it's newer than what comes with the HF10/100 series. It's 3.1.0 and 1.1.0.47.
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post #38 of 335
10/25/08 at 8:17am
ImageMixer 3 SE ( Ver 3.2.1 )
Library 1.1.2.11
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post #39 of 335
10/25/08 at 10:18am
if the hard drive on the hg20 crashes, i'd guess(and hope) that you could use the sd card instead, no need to fix the drive.

i'm curious to see how the power useage compares between the hg20 and the hf11... these little batteries don't last very long, i just carry it around in my pocket as a backup, and use the nimh aa battery pack instead.
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post #40 of 335
10/25/08 at 10:25am
Probably HF11 can work 5-10 minutes longer , that's it .
if my HardDrive die
For 60 quids I can buy 120 GB 1.8'' Hard Drive .
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post #41 of 335
10/25/08 at 11:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bemx2k View Post

shahavchik

Canon HG20 can record >of course< on SDHC card
well then , where is a problem ?

HF11 internal memory is not worth over 200$ ! ! !
for this money u can buy 4x8GB SDHC class 6 and five pints of lager

buy HG20
at this money is the best choice


by the way

about low light condition.........
have you ever been in TV guys
even professional camcorders needs lots of light
for example , room 20x20 feet need minimum 6x100Watt bulbs

Thanks for your replies. I guess I will have to play with different modes. What I remember seeing on Sony was the compression artifacts in the low light along with greenish static. That looked very horrible.

I still would like to hear more about camera ergonomics. How stable is HF11 in your hands. Is it stable? Easy to zoom in/out without shaking the camera too much. It is so tiny.

I am checking the prices every day and they are going down however if you look at Japanese Yen in the last few days, it is climbing against US dollar pretty fast. I wonder if this will affect electronics prices.
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post #42 of 335
10/26/08 at 8:10pm
I just recently got the HF11 and I'm now looking for a soft case for the camcorder. I'm not looking for a big camera bag, but rather a small protective case so I can then put the camcorder in another bag.

Does anybody here have any ideas?

Thanks.
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post #43 of 335
10/27/08 at 7:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by osv View Post

if the hard drive on the hg20 crashes, i'd guess(and hope) that you could use the sd card instead, no need to fix the drive.

The hard drive and SD card slot are independent; at least on the Canon HG20. If the hard drive were to die, the HG20 would still work with the flash card.

I think HDD camcorders are unjustifiably getting a bad rap. The hard drive in a camcorder will never be used as much as the hard drive in a computer. How many hours could you possibly use it per week? The same type of hard drive in a notebook pc will be in constant use.
With a camcorder, the burden is going to fall mostly on the hard drive in your desktop computer being used to edit the files. I guess an exception might be if someone uses the HG20 as a constant playback device hooked up to their HDTV.

Don't get me wrong, having the built-in solid state of the HF11 is awesome. But, on average, are the HF11's going to outlive the HG20's? I think if a half decade of use takes it's toll on a camcorder - it will be comparatively the same for both cams. The HDD camcorders have been around a few years now. I think we would have heard an outcry by now if there was some blanket failure rate.
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post #44 of 335
10/27/08 at 10:44am
with the hf11 i paid a premium for a memory card instead of an hdd, and i find that rather irritating, lol... canon cleaned our clocks with this hf11 pricing.

i think that everything you said is true, however, remember that slinging a hard drive around while it's recording data is probably the worst thing that you can do to it, next to dropping it on the floor while it's recording data.

the distance between the read/write heads of the hdd and the spinning drive platter is less than the width of a human hair... if they touch, it's disaster.

by comparison, most laptops are stationary while the data is being written... i opted for the reliability of memory over hdd, because most of my shooting at the track involves a lot of camera movement... although i will say that the firestore has been perfectly reliable, but i have it in a foam-padded container.
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post #45 of 335
10/31/08 at 7:19pm
Hi!

I've been reading this thread for a while. All the comments were very helpful. This morning,
I ordered my HF11 and I should get it on Monday! I have a few of questions for those
who currently own the HF11.


#1
Is there a case that's specifically made for the HF11? (or the previous model, the HF10)
I want something that's really small for just the HF11, no battery and no extras.

The only thing that I saw was a carrying case on Canon's Japan website. But that case does not
appear to be available anywhere but Japan. Here's the case on Canon's Japan website:
cweb.canon.jp/ivis/lineup/hivision/hf11/accessory.html

It's the top one, included in the TBK-800, which also includes a battery and a charger.


#2
how long will the battery last if I use the HF11 with the VL-5 video light at the same time?
Canon's spec shows the HF11's power consumption as 4W in SP mode. I supposed MXP mode will be
at least 5W. Since the VL-5 light is also a 5W bulb, so using both at the same time will half the
state battery runtime.... or is this math wrong?

#3
I know I'll find out when I receive my HF11 next week... but I was wondering... is the HF11
completely silent when I'm videotaping with it? My previous camcorder was the HV20 (HDV
using tape) and it was somewhat noisy. I figured the HF11 has no moving parts, so it must
be silent, yes?



THANKS!!!
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post #46 of 335
11/1/08 at 5:28pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HenryC_51 View Post

Hi!

I've been reading this thread for a while. All the comments were very helpful. This morning,
I ordered my HF11 and I should get it on Monday! I have a few of questions for those
who currently own the HF11.


#1
Is there a case that's specifically made for the HF11? (or the previous model, the HF10)
I want something that's really small for just the HF11, no battery and no extras.

The only thing that I saw was a carrying case on Canon's Japan website. But that case does not
appear to be available anywhere but Japan. Here's the case on Canon's Japan website:
cweb.canon.jp/ivis/lineup/hivision/hf11/accessory.html

It's the top one, included in the TBK-800, which also includes a battery and a charger.


#2
how long will the battery last if I use the HF11 with the VL-5 video light at the same time?
Canon's spec shows the HF11's power consumption as 4W in SP mode. I supposed MXP mode will be
at least 5W. Since the VL-5 light is also a 5W bulb, so using both at the same time will half the
state battery runtime.... or is this math wrong?

#3
I know I'll find out when I receive my HF11 next week... but I was wondering... is the HF11
completely silent when I'm videotaping with it? My previous camcorder was the HV20 (HDV
using tape) and it was somewhat noisy. I figured the HF11 has no moving parts, so it must
be silent, yes?



THANKS!!!

Congrats on the purchase....

Ill try and answer to the best of my ability...

1.) I ordered a bag off ebay for 6 bucks...very small fits the camera and a few filters and maybe a battery very small still....just search ebay for hf10 camera bag some of the sellers add those tags to the bags....
2.) Dont waste your time with the included battery (especially if you plan on using a light) btw what will you be using the light for? the onboard light is very bright in itself) Buy yourself the BP-819 double the life maybe more. You do lose the contours of the body but the bigger battery is well well worth it....I tried to use the included battery its only good to use as a backup for the bigger one....I would reccomend getting the one from canon..it is expensive BUT its a intelligent battery..Meaning you can see realtime status as to much juice you have left.

3.) The camera is DEAD SILENT no noise whatsoever....absolutely dead quiet

Heres a pic of mind with a DOF adpater and a 52mm Lens hood...also a small rod support
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post #47 of 335
11/2/08 at 10:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ3118 View Post




3.) The camera is DEAD SILENT no noise whatsoever....absolutely dead quiet


Thanks! That's exactly what I wanted to hear. actually, I want to
hear absolutely nothing from my new HF11. I've had enough from tape-based
camcorders like my old Canon GL-2(DV) and HV-20(HDV), which always had some form
of tape transport noisse...

finally time for me to step into the 21st centruy with a tape-less,
flash-memory-based HD camcorder..........

by the way, that's a huge lens you got there... what exactly does it do?
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post #48 of 335
11/2/08 at 8:11pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HenryC_51 View Post

Thanks! That's exactly what I wanted to hear. actually, I want to
hear absolutely nothing from my new HF11. I've had enough from tape-based
camcorders like my old Canon GL-2(DV) and HV-20(HDV), which always had some form
of tape transport noisse...

finally time for me to step into the 21st centruy with a tape-less,
flash-memory-based HD camcorder..........

by the way, that's a huge lens you got there... what exactly does it do?

The lens is actually only the last 2 inches on the end of the rig....Its a homeade DIY 35mm Depth of Field adapter....try searching on youtube and vimeo.com for 35mm depth of field adapter...it allows you to use a SLR or Photo lens to control depth of field......it gives it a very cinematic look

The very end is a square lens hood that helps keep stray light entering the lens when using the adapter...

The back or where the actual camcorder starts has a achormat or in this case a HD Macro Lens which helps the camera focus in on the image that is produced by the lens on the end of the adapter....

the image is projected onto a piece of glass (Ground Glass) inside those extension tubes and then the camcorder films the image off the glass....some of the rings you see on there are just adapters or Stepping Rings in order to attach the entire adapter to my camera....

I love the thing but dont use it all the time...

Anyways good luck with the Cam....im on this thread daily so any questions please ask and I hope you shae your favorite settings and some footage as well!
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post #49 of 335
11/2/08 at 8:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ3118 View Post

Anyways good luck with the Cam....im on this thread daily so any questions please ask and I hope you shae your favorite settings and some footage as well!


Thanks!

One thing that I haven't yet looked into is the 30p vs 60i modes.
My previous camcorders are the GL-2(DV) and HV-20(HDV).
The HV-20 had 24p mode, which I rarely ever use...

Can you point me to some thread so I can learn the difference between
shooting in 30p vs. 60i using the HF11?

also, I was wondering about the internal memory and the SDHC memory.
If I start shooting using the internal memory and the memory reached
the 32GB max, will it automatically switch to the SDHC card in the slot...
or do I have to manually switch it over?
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post #50 of 335
11/3/08 at 12:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by osv View Post

i noticed the same thing.

i'm wondering if the transfer speed from an sd card to the computer will be quicker... maybe that should be the recording medium, instead of the internal camcorder memory?

Is the USB port on the camcorder USB 2.0 High-Speed?


Also, is it possible to copy the video clips from the internal flash memory
to the SDHC card inserted inside the camcorder?

Thanks!
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post #51 of 335
11/3/08 at 2:32pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HenryC_51 View Post

Is the USB port on the camcorder USB 2.0 High-Speed?


Also, is it possible to copy the video clips from the internal flash memory
to the SDHC card inserted inside the camcorder?

Thanks!

Yes its high speed(but high speed USB is an oxymoron...firewire 800 should be Standard in all cameras)...it sucks that it doesnt have firewire.....

Yes you can copy
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post #52 of 335
11/4/08 at 7:44am
you can choose to use the sd card instead of internal memory when shooting video.

i wasn't aware that you tell the camcorder to copy from internal memory to the card, but i'd sure like to see how that affected the file exporting to computer time.

lets see some footage from that dof adapter, its way cool!
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post #53 of 335
11/4/08 at 11:18am
is there a simple lens hood(rectangular-shaped) that will work with the HF11?

I tried a 37mm round rubber hood at the store, but it doesn't work. It does fit on the lens thread... however, if the HF11 is at the widest zoom, the left
and right side of the hood is showing up on the screen...
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post #54 of 335
11/4/08 at 11:42am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HenryC_51 View Post

is there a simple lens hood(rectangular-shaped) that will work with the HF11?

I tried a 37mm round rubber hood at the store, but it doesn't work. It does fit on the lens thread... however, if the HF11 is at the widest zoom, the left
and right side of the hood is showing up on the screen...

Yes just purchased these from fotodiox.com

heres the link http://www.fotodiox.com/shop/product...roducts_id=567

its $17.95 great hood to fit right on the camera....
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post #55 of 335
11/4/08 at 11:44am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by osv View Post

you can choose to use the sd card instead of internal memory when shooting video.

i wasn't aware that you tell the camcorder to copy from internal memory to the card, but i'd sure like to see how that affected the file exporting to computer time.

lets see some footage from that dof adapter, its way cool!

Hey yes..let me upload the DOF test ..i did a compare contrast with the MBL filters....

its only some shots from my deck outside...alot of camera shake because I was holding the camera handheld....
ill post link in a sec...
EDIT: the file is way too big 2.4GB Im going to have to downgrade it somehow and try and make it the 500MB limit vimeo allows...I wont pay fopr the Vimeo Plus ..not at least yet

Maybe ill cut the video into 4 parts then....just dont have time to do that until tonight---dont worry OSV ill get them up ASAP!!
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post #56 of 335
11/5/08 at 5:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ3118 View Post

Yes just purchased these from fotodiox.com

heres the link http://www.fotodiox.com/shop/product...roducts_id=567

its $17.95 great hood to fit right on the camera....

Thanks! I just looked at the 37mm hood on that website.

Does this hood affect the built-in flash and focus sensor?
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post #57 of 335
11/5/08 at 6:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HenryC_51 View Post

Thanks! I just looked at the 37mm hood on that website.

Does this hood affect the built-in flash and focus sensor?

It does not affect the focus sensor whatsoever....but when using the onboard light and flash (one is right above the other) it does have a slight effect ...

But wont you be using the lens hood in bright conditions anyway?
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post #58 of 335
11/5/08 at 11:21pm
I just got the HF11... got everything figured out except that when I xfer the video over to my PC... rename to mtx or m2ts, the video color is somewhat dull. I played back the file with a few different players (power dvd/windvd) and it's the same result.

However, on the camera itself, and when I view it on my plasma, the video is vivid/perfect/exactly as I recorded it.

What gives?

I xfered the files over, then I thought I'd try & xfer them back over to the camera but, because the thumbnail/db/something internal does not match up it does not see the .m2tx file back in the camera memory/does not produce a thumbnail/etc. So basically I'm forced to delete that clip off of fthe memory (with out diving in too deap on how it builds the thumbnail/reference to the vid/etc.).

So, how do I transfer the video to my PC and preserve the color?

Any help would help

Thanks.
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post #59 of 335
11/6/08 at 4:36am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cgerikh View Post

I just got the HF11... got everything figured out except that when I xfer the video over to my PC... rename to mtx or m2ts, the video color is somewhat dull. I played back the file with a few different players (power dvd/windvd) and it's the same result.

However, on the camera itself, and when I view it on my plasma, the video is vivid/perfect/exactly as I recorded it.

What gives?

I xfered the files over, then I thought I'd try & xfer them back over to the camera but, because the thumbnail/db/something internal does not match up it does not see the .m2tx file back in the camera memory/does not produce a thumbnail/etc. So basically I'm forced to delete that clip off of fthe memory (with out diving in too deap on how it builds the thumbnail/reference to the vid/etc.).

So, how do I transfer the video to my PC and preserve the color?

Any help would help

Thanks.

Are you using the inluded pixela software? Im not on a PC so i really cant help that much....

Please dont use windvd and or powerdvd they arent made to play AVCHD clips like this...

Try quicktime and or WMP....I would recommend getting some editing software....you can search these forums Sony Vegas is great and Premiere for PC...but then again so is video studio and etc...

Anyways,...in order to move the clips..you need to maintain the file structure that is on the camera...


When you copy your files over..do not touch the files themselves...just copy then entire AVCHD folder
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post #60 of 335
11/6/08 at 6:42am
thanks... that's what I thought that I'm missing some video data/files that go along with the actual video.

I'll cary over the directory structure & see if it makes a difference (and maybe look in to whatever CDs that came with the camera... as you can tell I didnt because I was too excited to get going, and already had other software that supported h.264).

Those recent applications that have full support for h.264 to import the video gave me the same result. I guess that's what happens when an amateur like me plays with professional stuff with out reading the instructions manual first (though I don't think they explain this in the manual).
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