Canon FS100 Flash Memory Camcorder with 48x Advanced Zoom (Silver)

Ok, I am writing this small review to people who are like me who look everywhere for the lowest price on an item and live and die by customer reviews. This camera is great for everything it does but I am mainly focusing on the file problem. I read at least 100 reviews on this item from professional sources and customers until I finally purchased it. Anyway the files come in as .MOD files which need to be converted into .MPG or .AVI or something else that can be read by your editing software. After trying multiple FREE converting software, I found the easiest and fastest one was sdcopy. It did not degrade the quality of the video and allowed choice to convert into 4:3 or 16:9 which is very handy.

I have been most impressed with this camera. It is easy to operate, quick to record, tolerant of user shortcomings, and gives good picture and sound. The control position and activation are well thought out and the camera has a secure feel when held. I have used this around the house, local travels, for documenting events, and on a long cruise. The battery life is excellent. The 8gb chip records a large amount of footage. The optical zoom is impressive and clear but a steady hand or tripod is best used. I considered the FS-11 with built in memory but for the cost difference went with this model. So far quite pleased. Lack of a viewfinder has not been an issue. Seeing the view screen in bright light can be difficult, but can plan around it, point-and-shoot has worked for me. The Canon has done well in low light, and has the automatic lens cover closing compared to the new Sony 30gb HD mini-cam my wife uses. I think it outperforms her camera, but that is a subject of debate, though I see her borrowing the Canon more frequently.

This is the best camcorder on the market. Has great grafics and has an extremely reasonable price. It will connect to Mac's and iMovie with ease. This is one of the only camcorders i could find that would do that. It also can connect to PC's. If you have a mac, don't bother downloading the software they give you, but just use it with iMovie. It has amazing zoom and after one day of owning it i had already made a great video. Don't waist your time with other lame camcorders. This is the best one available.

First impression of it is how small it is. I had read reviews and knew that it was small, but this thing can EASILY fit in your pocket and is shorter than a soda can!!



PROS:

-Very fun to use

-EXTREMELY comfortable to hold (mesh on inside of hand strap instead of leather makes it really comfortable to hold for hours), also fits the shape of your hand really well

-Menu is very similar to other recent (last few years) Canon camcorders and it's easy to navigate

-Better quality

-Good zoom (although surprisingly slower than previous Canons, not by much though)

-Blinding LED light!!

-No motor noise!


CONS:

-Good luck figuring out how to use the .MOD files in WMM (Windows Movie Maker)...
After hours of endless research I decided to go with the $30 Movavi Video Converter [...].
Unless you can understand codecs and everything else there is to simply converting these files to non-MPEG 2 format, there's no free software that can do this (or if there is, let me know...) unless it's some trial version. I had tried [...], but that takes forever for each clip and doesn't even put out very good quality.

-Lots of 'noise' inside, even if room is well lit

-Cannot take pics while recording video (as was possible with my previous MiniDV camcorder, the Canon ZR830)

-Editing software with camcorder is pretty much useless, although it may not seem so at first. It's only for VERY limited editing (maybe cut a bit here or there, but that's it) and just putting all the files together. Probably is a bit worse than WMM even (is that possible??)


I would definitely recommend buying this camcorder if you can find it for about [...] or less. Only reason I didn't give it 5 out of 5 stars is due to the .MOD file issue. (IF you only plan to get video and leave it in a folder somewhere on your computer, then ignore the entire file extension issue and get this camcorder.)

Okay, I have had this camcorder 4 months, I couldn't tell you the zoom range, the memory it has, it's battery life or anything very technical about it. I got it on am impulse before a Disney vacation as I was looking for something simple, small and cheap. It wins in all three categories.
My big thing was can I record my own DVD's without a lot of hassle?
Glory be, yes you can!!! I decided I wanted to send my mom a DVD of the kids and sat down to try and figure it all out. Using only the downloaded software that came with the camera, it took me about 20 minutes to figure it out and get a DVD made. Albeit I had already downloaded the discs and some video, I just had no idea how or if I could make a disc myself. But if I could do it, I am sure 99% of you can. I can't edit, no fading, no fancy stuff for me.
The only not so great thing about this camera is the lack of image stabilizer. Yikes, my kids take video as they walk and talk and you would think there was an earthquake going on. But I knew it didn't have that feature when I bought it.