Canon VIXIA HF G10 Full HD Camcorder

***UPDATE****

After owning this camera for over a month I must say that I am beyond impressed with the quality and features of this camera. Initially, yes I was a bit lost as I had never worked with a video camera that gave the user so much control over the settings. It does great in full auto, but it would be a shame not to take advantage of the plethora of options and control available to the user in manual mode. The footage it creates is stunning for the price. I jumped the gun a tad when I wrote my original review regarding the convoluted menu. After a few days of tinkering the menu becomes second nature and is actually very easy to navigate through, you just have to familiarize yourself with it. If you’re on the fence the only thing I would suggest is to wait a few weeks for the price to drop even lower. (The price fluctuation on this camera in particular is interesting)

The more I use this camera the more I like it. The only issue/complaint I still have is like everyone else, I feel the original battery is a total joke. Get a spare or two if you plan on using this for more than 30 minutes, as the supplied battery will be drained within a half hour. One other issue is the location of the custom dial; I still don’t like where Canon put the dial, but I have gotten used to it and it works like a charm.

Otherwise, this is a great camera. I don’t have the time or patience to deal with a million things in post, and this camera makes post a breeze as one doesn’t have to spend days enhancing scenes to get a higher quality image; it produces great shots right off the bat.

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Excellent camera for both amateurs and the seasoned pro. Whether you’re making a professional flick, a die hard low/no budget filmmaker or simply looking to film the family vacation at Disneyland, this camera will deliver. Hands down.

NOTE: The frequent complaint about the complicated menu is in fact true to a point, but it should be noted that this problem is really just the annoyance of a learning curve and pretty much limited to the ADVANCED features of the camera in MANUAL MODE, so don’t let that scare you off, as one can shoot in full auto all the time and still produce stunning results without ever having to even switch to manual mode, but once you learn and become familiar with the camera you will never want to shoot in auto mode again.

You will WANT to shoot in manual mode most of the time, so prepare to be frustrated for a few days as you learn the advanced menu features. I think Canon decided to pay homage to Stephen King by modeling the menu system after the hedge maze from ‘The Shining’ – The good news is you catch on quick, but it will test your patience the first few times.

PROS
Excellent Video Quality
Shoots great in low light
Excellent sound from internal mic
Auto features and smart technology work great
Advanced options and manual control for pro shoots or auto for simplicity
Custom white balance with added Kelvin temp scale options that allows you to balance for basic lighting and then get creative by being able to cool or warm a shot as much as you want.
Cinema Mode allows instant creativity without 10 hours of menu tutorials.

CONS

The BATTERY – Yes, it’s a total joke. Smaller than a 9 Volt and lasts about .5 hours – Less if you review footage or have to navigate through the menu system. (Which you will)

LCD Screen – It’s touchscreen (which is convenient) but within 5 minutes the screen will be smudged up. Sun or bright light + smudge = a screen cleaning every 5 minutes. Cell phone screen protectors are an option, but a cheap protector can fuse to the screen in the sun and bubble.

User assigned buttons and wheel/dial are good in theory, but Canon designed them for people with 5 left hands, so using them usually produces shake and noise.

Still Photos – Save the photography for the DSLR rig – The photo quality is good but that’s about it.

Price – Pro if you haven’t bought it yet – Con if you paid $1500.00 for it a few months ago only to see the price drop to under $1000.00 – That hurts.

Long winded review after 12 hours of testing, filming and familiarization:

I put emphasis on the ease of use because I have read so many horror stories about how one practically needs to have a degree in rocket science to navigate through Canon’s convoluted menu system in order to set up the camera to crank out good video. I quickly learned that this is not the case. If you can send a text or update your Facebook status, you will have no problem with the menu. You just have to LEARN it. Regardless of your background, the menu becomes a breeze after you learn it.

HOWEVER

For the advanced settings, don’t get me wrong; the menu can and will be a tad overwhelming at first and even the pro camera folks will probably find themselves muttering some creative profanity as they learn the various menus and how to navigate through the plethora of available manual settings. The settings themselves are very easy to adjust, ONCE YOU GET TO THEM –

My biggest problem was the initial ‘treasure hunt’ through each layer of settings to manually adjust the settings where I wanted them, then going back in and trying to remember the sequence of events to get to one setting. You get the hang of it real quick though and it will become second nature. You can also store your custom settings which is great for run and gun shooting when one doesn’t have time to dial everything in.

Manual Mode is great (in order to not go totally insane in this mode you need to learn the menu and understand the basics of aperture, shutter speed, focus, etc) Shooting in manual mode involves time and know how. You can’t slack off here. Each shot might involve changing several settings – Mess up one setting and your shot can turn into fecal matter.

Internal microphone is great and suited fine for home videos. Buy an external mic if you’re doing anything beyond that for best results.

Buy the camera and skip the cheap “kits” found online. For the most part everything in the kit is worthless, no name cheaply made garbage and usually breaks easily. The biggest problem are the cheap tripods in these kits – It’s a crapshoot. You might get a decent no name tripod that lasts 50 years, or you get one that fails with your brand new $1k camera on it. Skip the kit and invest in:

Extra BATTERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A good tripod
A good camera bag
A 58mm UV Protective Lens Filter
I’d recommend an AWB Lens Cover – They work far better than a white card and are great when shooting in mixed light.
A collapsible 5 in 1 reflector

And lastly, download, buy, borrow or steal the book “A Field Guide to Canon G10 and XA10 Cameras” by Warren Bass – This book is a lifesaver and should always be with the camera. The factory manual is written well but like most manuals, they are written by folks who assume the reader actually knows a lot about the subject. Set the factory one aside and grab Warren Bass’ book instead. He explains everything in basic and easy to follow steps in a language that won’t confuse the beginner nor bore the pro to death.

After 2 years and only used 5 or 6 time didn’t even record 2 memory card , and it stop charging battery . Adapter is fine .
I had old sony for like 12 years and still good . So this camera is NOT RELIABLE !!! Remember this , now they charge me $ 302 to fix . DONT BUY IT !!
In 2014 same problem occured again even after just fixed from cannon , they told me to give 6 month warranty but when camcorder came ,they only give 3 month , as you see castomer service wasn’t truthful . Now they they ask me again $302 to fix , when I called and ask what was problem with it ,they have answer but yes do charge money ! After talking they drop price to $245 , without even know what’s wrong with it . For me it’s the same problem happen again !
So may be camcorder is defective ,I don’t know ,but nobody care about it . So you buying at your own risk !
Don’t buy !