Customer reviews from usa.canon.com
Canon - High-Definition Camcorder - Silver
Average customer rating
3.9
(13 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 13 reviews
5 Stars
5
4 Stars
5
3 Stars
1
2 Stars
1
1 Star
1
77%of customers recommend this product.
(
10 out of
13)
Customer Reviews for Canon - High-Definition Camcorder - Silver
Customer Rating
4
Great Video Camera - Limited Software
on March 22, 2009
Posted by: xman
from Quad Cities, IL
As far as performance and features and quality is concerned, this is top notch {except for low light issues}. Everything positive the previous reviewers said is true and I support that. The software for editing and viewing and burning these types of video files is limited. They're starting to come out with some now. But I've had this for almost 1.6 years now, and had to wait this long to edit the clips and burn to bluray!
Pros: Compact Design, excellent image quality, Easy TV Connectivity, Easy Computer Connectivity, Accurate, Vivid Colors, Great sound/audio, Ergonomic/comfortable to hold, durable, easy to use
Cons: Limited Software Compatibility, Poor Low-Light Performance
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
A Quality Product
on February 17, 2009
Posted by: Old Tom
from Riverview, FL
Used for personal travel videos for 20+ years. Had the HG 10 for 13 months. Video is excellent. Color is exceptional. Best camcorder we have owned. Enjoy the convenience of a hard disc. Accidently dropped unit and luckily was undamaged.
Record switch could be improved. Many pictures of my FEET! No trouble using a "Mac" for editing.
Pros: Compact Design, excellent image quality, Easy TV Connectivity, Easy Computer Connectivity, Accurate, Vivid Colors, Ergonomic/comfortable to hold, durable, Good Software Compatibility
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
4
on March 15, 2010
Posted by: smitch
from Fort Wayne, In
The HG10 takes great video. I bought the camcorder to record in car video of some of the racing I do. The little promotion video on Canons website said that it handles vibration well. It says the video stabilzation is great too. One trip around the block with the camcorder mounted in the car told me other wise. Just simple driving down the road causes the camcorder to go into a protection mode and shut off. I spent a lot of money for this camcorder to not work as advertised.
Out of the car it takes very good video.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
4
Great Camera for Beginners
on March 14, 2010
Posted by: Mapleleaf-Mick
from Saskatchewan Canada
I have used my HG10 for over a year. Overall, it has satisfied my needs. Very easy to hook up to a HD TV and gives very good picture and sound quality. I find it fairly easy to download files to my computer. I use Video Studio Pro X3 for editing and have had no problems to date. I have produced HD discs as well as Blu Ray discs. Very impressive picture quality. I would recommend the purchase of the Canon DM 50 external directional microphone. It virtually eliminates any wind noise and has settings to shoot straight out eliminating sounds coming from the sides. My main pet peeve is the poor quality external light offered by Canon. This camera does no work well in low light conditions. But hey, that is fine I just wish I could buy an external light that would provide adequate lighting for dusk shots. All in all a very good product. I can't offer an opinion on wether the hard drive or memory disc is better. I know I haven't had any problems to date with the hard drive but I do tend to "baby" my electronics. Good luck, I hope this review helps you in your decesion making process.
Pros: good battery life, Easy Computer Connectivity, Great sound/audio, Accurate, Vivid Colors, excellent image quality, Ergonomic/comfortable to hold, Easy TV Connectivity, easy to use
Cons: Poor Low-Light Performance, Limited Software Compatibility, no good external light source available
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Best HD Camcorder I Have Ever Owned
on December 27, 2008
Posted by: Comrade Tovya
from Fort Worth, TX
I bought the comparable Sony model first, and I was VERY disappointed. I therefore took it back to Best Buy and exchanged it for the Canon HG10... the video is amazing. Not quite as good as the small tape versions, but by far the best 1080i HD recorder to HDD.
My dad ended up buying the HG21, and he loves that as well (the upgrade to this model)
In closing, Canon is the best camcorder maker to date, and I look forward to upgrading it down the road.
Pros: Compact Design, excellent image quality, Easy TV Connectivity, Easy Computer Connectivity, Accurate, Vivid Colors, durable, easy to use, Good Software Compatibility, great price
Cons: Short battery life, Poor sound/audio
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
4
avchd
on November 11, 2008
Posted by: dave
from canada
it's a good camera, but in retrospect I think I may have chosen a dv tape one instead because of 2 reasons,
1. through usb it takes 6 hrs+ to transfer to the computer (3ghz amd box w/ 3gb ram 7600 gt video card, usb2.0) thought that varies w/ software
2. The bigger reason - software that lets you work with it,
a. adobe premiere 4.0 doesn't support it, (last I checked about oct 2008),
b. pinnicle software supports it but requires a quad core computer! btw, I ignored that warning & thought I could work with it anyways, it simply wasn't usable, it would play 1 sec of video, about 7 sec of audio then hang
c. I finally tried the new corel version, it does a good enough job that you can play and edit video on the above system, but it could use more features, 30day trial available anyways which is nice to see if it would work. Pinnicle wouldn't refund once bought so... the trial is nice :).
1. through usb it takes 6 hrs+ to transfer to the computer (3ghz amd box w/ 3gb ram 7600 gt video card, usb2.0) thought that varies w/ software
2. The bigger reason - software that lets you work with it,
a. adobe premiere 4.0 doesn't support it, (last I checked about oct 2008),
b. pinnicle software supports it but requires a quad core computer! btw, I ignored that warning & thought I could work with it anyways, it simply wasn't usable, it would play 1 sec of video, about 7 sec of audio then hang
c. I finally tried the new corel version, it does a good enough job that you can play and edit video on the above system, but it could use more features, 30day trial available anyways which is nice to see if it would work. Pinnicle wouldn't refund once bought so... the trial is nice :).
The picture is very nice, expecially in daylight, inside it's good also under normal light, try not to zoom too much, you'll see some image deteriation then, but I expect on par or less then the others out there, also the instant focus works very well comparitively.
Thanks & having tried a panasonic as an alternative, this is head and shoulders above it, I would only consider a canon as an alternative to this :).
David
PS. If a canon rep reads this please lean on some of the editing software producers to provide better support for this format :-)
Pros: excellent image quality, Accurate, Vivid Colors, good battery life, Good Low-Light Performance
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
3
Software Not So Good
on February 17, 2009
Posted by: vic
from East Bay, California
The camera is excellent but the software is very poor which is difficult to use and poorly designed. The camera is fabulous. Great handling and high picture quality.
Pros: Compact Design, excellent image quality, Easy Computer Connectivity, good battery life, Great sound/audio, Ergonomic/comfortable to hold, durable, easy to use, Good Low-Light Performance
Cons: Limited Software Compatibility
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
2
too bad about format
on February 13, 2010
Posted by: hdtrial
i am happy with everything about this camera while filming. easy zoom, easy handling, good low light.
but to actually get to the files is IMPOSSIBLE!! i do have the disks and was able to download to my main computer. but right now i only have a netbook, so using a CD is impossible (no drive). canon does not supply the utilities on the download support page, so i can't access any of the film i shot. what's up with that?
why did there have to be a proprietary format (mts) anyway? this is the big drag with HD as far as i can understand, and really puts a damper on working with this camera. too bad.
but to actually get to the files is IMPOSSIBLE!! i do have the disks and was able to download to my main computer. but right now i only have a netbook, so using a CD is impossible (no drive). canon does not supply the utilities on the download support page, so i can't access any of the film i shot. what's up with that?
why did there have to be a proprietary format (mts) anyway? this is the big drag with HD as far as i can understand, and really puts a damper on working with this camera. too bad.
Pros: good battery life, Good Low-Light Performance, Compact Design, durable, Ergonomic/comfortable to hold, easy to use
Cons: Difficult Computer Connectivity, Limited Software Compatibility
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com