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Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
01/05/09
btw, it looks like they put back viewfinders back on the vixia line with the hf s10. yay!
01/05/09
oops, my bad! those r not viewfinders on the back, its the mode dial.
but i wish i was right.......
01/05/09
01/05/09
01/05/09
01/05/09
I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that film is not immune to the same problem. Professional cinematographers are also aware of this and knows how to avoid it. However, average consumers may be disappointed.
01/05/09
I'd be interested to know when they ship and how much!
Also, is the only difference between the HF S10 and HF S100 the onboard memory (and shouldn't the "100" refer to the better model? It seems reversed)
While it mentions the zoom on the 200 series (15X) it doesn't mention it on the 100 series. But the model naming seems consistent, the HF20 comes with onboard flash, the HF200 doesn't.
Is the implication that anyone who gets these things at this point just uses cards like they'd use a tape, and never use the onboard flash anyway, so why not get the "empty vessel" 100/200 models?
I guess the real questions everyone will have is how much better is this generation of AVHCD than the last (does it rival tape yet, or is it still a consumery step down)? And is the HV40 a nod to tape stalwarts, representing Canon's grudging obligation to continue what for consumers is a dying format with little change over the HV30 (which had little change over the HV20)?
01/05/09
01/05/09
It's all about archiving, for me. There *still* isn't a cost-effective method of offline archiving of digital data beyond DV tape. I can't believe that some people are actually suggesting buying hard drives to store backups *offline*.
Blu-ray needs the economies of scale to happen sooner than later. An improved AVCHD codec + Blu-ray offline storage *might* cause me to revise my workflow. Until then, no way.
01/05/09
01/05/09
Also, tapes are terrible for work flow. Yes, they give you instant backup but you have to play them to get the video off. Grrrrr. That is my biggest complaint. All the moving parts of a tape device are bad as well. They are always the first to go.
But I don't see tape going away any time soon either.
For the average semi-pro-weekend-warrior-shooter... flash memory is just too good to pass up.
01/05/09
As far as onboard vs. card flash, that makes sense. I guess the onboard version is a safety net in case you don't have an extra card, and also for people who just want an all-in-one and don't consider using a reader. But for anyone with a modicum of tech smarts, cards are the way to go.
I guess my big question is how good (or bad) does AVCHD get. If you shoot something with it that's really really good, will you wind up wishing you used tape instead because the picture quality on tape still smokes AVCHD?
01/06/09
"When Canon showed us real footage taken with the Canon Vixia HF S10, it was difficult to discern between its footage and footage taken with Canon's $3,000 XH A1 prosumer cam. We think Canon is going to shred the competition in 2009 with the introduction of these highly promising models."
[www.infosyncworld.com]
01/05/09