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About this episode

Testing: Canon's new <$700 Canon SD Card video camera is put through its paces in the wilds of New Hampshire. Beaver, Turkey, a rare Wood Duck, spring flowers and an old barn are used to test frame rate, scene mode, white balance, macro, on-board mic. and assist light. Is it a video bloggers dream? I got this camera off Amazon with one Transcend brand 16GB card/USB reader, and a Pelican 1200 case for about $800 in late May 2008. I shot most of this test in the highest quality 1920x1080 and 60i (interlaced) frame rate. Conclusion: It's this video blogger's dream. Easy to use, impressive controls and ports, nice interface, good price, useful assist light. The video looked amazing played directly to an HD TV off the camera using component wires. It edited smoothly on an Intel Mac laptop with Final Cut Express. It was a bear to digitize the huge files, but a smooth process. I'd shoot in 30p next time, and maybe not at 17mbs data rate to save the space and time. I didn't try an external mic, but I have faith. I noticed some white balance "offness" inside, it seemed to love nature shots more than inside shots. Background: The Canon HF100 (official specs) is a tiny 13oz HD video camera that saves AVCHD video directly to little 16GB SD cards. No tapes or drives. But it has pro features such as mic and headphone ports, manual overrides, flexible battery size, 24p, and a hot shoe. The HF100 is the cheaper sibling of the HF10 that is black and has 16GB of memory built into the camera as well as a SD Card slot. The HF100 just has the slot. That being the only differences, I went with the HF100 since it was about $200 cheaper. Both both cameras have exactly the same body and functions. I'd shoot in 30p next time, and maybe not at 17mbs data rate to save the space and time. I didn't try an external mic, but I have faith.

• Category

• Release Date

  Jun 5, 2008

• Runtime

  09:38