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

• Great Camcorder, but Complicated Files

  
  By AK7SS6NJZIK9M on 2008-05-30
  This is a long review because I took a lot of time in researching the camcorder I wanted, so I think my knowledge and use of this thing should be beneficial to SOMEONE out there. I had my eye on this thing before it was out, and saw reviews from some lucky people who got their hands on it before its release. Once I was able to order, Amazon shipped it in a not very well packaged box, but everything worked. It comes with a little remote, by the way, which came in handy when I connected the camcorder to our TV.
  
  Preface: I am an intermediate video editor. I use Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5, sadly not CS3, and I easily figure out menus of electronics without needing to read manuals. So with that said, this camcorder was perfect for me. For beginners, it is still easy to use, but the more advanced features take some button pushing to access. Still, the basics are out in the open.
  
  (By the way, I purchased the sapphire blue and it's more pretty in person than in the photos.)
  
  I researched for a long while online, and after using the in-laws' Panasonic DV, I knew what I really, really wanted right now in a camcorder.
  
  These were my requirements that I wouldn't budge on:
  Small and Lightweight
  Microphone input
  Less than $500
  Records to Flash Memory (Card)
  As-close-to-great quality footage
  
  These were optional:
  High Definition
  Cold/Hot Shoe Attachment
  Ability to add other lenses
  Digital Camera
  
  So, the FS100 is compact. I knew it would be small, but I had no idea that the whole thing could sit in my hand. It also fits in my purse (and my purse isn't a huge "hobo" bag that many girls carry around these days). Because there are no "moving parts" and everything is recorded to a little memory card (SD), the camcorder is also very light and quiet. If it's still not quiet enough for you because you're in an extremely quiet surrounding, use an external mic.
  
  I required an input for a microphone because, in the future, I'll want better sound for commercial purposes. Especially for when I want to upload my videos to the internet for promotional advertising (or perhaps Amazon reviews?). Or maybe for recording footage of my first child's birth - curses and all. ;D This is one of the very few "consumer" camcorders that allows mic-in.
  
  DV is said to still be of great quality, but SD memory cards are just too cheap and reusable to pass up nowadays. Unless you're a pro editing video for professional purposes, your end-user isn't going to notice the difference between DV and flash memory. Memory cards are also lighter, smaller, and quiet. They make it easier to actually get my footage onto a disc, or stored on a NAS (Network Attached Storage) so that I don't have a stack of unlabeled DV tapes that haven't been watched since they were recorded.
  
  Because the FS100 uses flash memory, recordings are stored as separate digital clips. Do you know what this means? This means my footage WON'T GET RECORDED OVER. You don't know how many times this has happened to me because someone picks up the camcorder and thinks the tape is blank.
  
  The clips can also be placed into a playlist; you can choose where you want the clip to start, and voila - some basic playback editing without ever leaving the camcorder interface. You won't have to waste an entire DVD (or bore a viewer with vacation footage of your spouse snoring).
  
  I used the FS100 *all day* in Hollywood, CA during an outing with two little girls and my friend. We were indoors, outdoors, in overcast, sunny, and shady areas. I also tested out the camera around our house and home office. I set the camcorder to its highest setting (using a 16GB card) and widescreen format. I fiddled with the lighting options depending on where I was so that I got the most natural color. It handled like a champ and I will go into quality details in a bit.
  
  Zoom works amazingly well, obviously still has a bit of a shake in the end, but the stabilization seems better than other camcorders.
  
  I worried about the battery life because it seemed short on paper, but using it all day without its Quick Start option (letting it hibernate so you can just open the screen and instantly record something), was dandy. The battery used up about 25% of its power! (By the way, you can view how the battery is doing without turning the camcorder on by a press of a button.)
  
  Okay, CONS:
  
  The programs it comes with are...crap. Sorry, but don't plan on using them for much unless you need very, very basic editing capabilities. Don't even consider using the still-photo camera. I don't know why Canon even bothered with it at all. Some cell phones take better pictures.
  
  Since I have Premiere, I just wanted to use my reader, but a 16GB SD card requires me to purchase a newer reader because it's so large. I tried USB direct to my computer: WAY. TOO. SLOW. So I thought I would install the program for now just to transfer my footage, but that also was too slow. I ended up purchasing the Transcend reader on Amazon for ~$9 and it worked great.
  
  The footage comes in .MOD files, which you can supposedly rename to .MPEG, but I downloaded SDCopy and it does this for me, as well as marks the footage as widescreen so that they play in Windows Media Player *in widescreen*. Without SDCopy, WMP plays the files in 4:3 format, which means everything looks squashed.
  
  BUT, my Premiere doesn't see the files as widescreen at all. Windows Movie Maker does, but I really don't want to use that for editing. I tried Avidemux, and it didn't pull in the audio. So, I still have a problem to figure out.
  
  My Premiere also didn't recognize the audio - in the MOD or MPEG files. I searched online and my version (Pro 1.5) picked up the audio once I uninstalled PowerDVD. (I know if you have Premiere CS3, then you can add a .DLL file that recognizes the audio.)
  
  The camcorder doesn't like low light. Quality goes a bit downhill. It does have a light you can turn on, but it doesn't make that much of a difference.
  
  I haven't played with the settings to see if I can fix this, but the camcorder also meters for the brightest thing it's looking at - which means a person in front of a window, or even if the window is off to the side, will be very dark. The light through the window just gets blown out, so I had to angle the camcorder away from such "direct" light to catch my subject-in-shadow nicely.
  
  SUMMARY:
  Great camcorder with lovely features, but complicating issues with retrieving files, so I couldn't give it 5 stars. Still love it.
  
  

• The best camcorder purchase to date

  
  By AWZR0O65DL2Q on 2008-07-19
  I've been looking to update my old Sony Digital8 camcorder and have been looking primarily at Mini-DV. But, this flash camcorder caught my eye since the price of SD cards has become amazingly inexpensive. To transfer video from a DV recorder takes a lot of patience, gigabytes of storage, and hours of work. By contrast, a 4gig SDHC card in this camera can store an hour and 20 minutes at 6 mb/s. The camera will do 9 mb/s, but I don't recommend it if your final format is DVD since some players will have problems keeping up.
  
  My suggestion is to ignore most of the instructions which Canon provides and keep the software CD's in the box. There's a cute warning attached to the USB cable which warns NOT to connect it without first installing the drivers. I connected it to my MAC running OS-X 10.4 and a warning came on the screen to plug in the AC adapter. Once I did that the camera came right up as a disk drive. The manual warns not to access the folders directly. I did that, too and simply copied them to the local hard drive (more on that in a minute). Then, the camera warned NOT to change modes, or disconnect the USB cable, or disconnect the power. Ok... then, after I dismount the USB drive, how do I unplug the camera :) The manual gives a clue to disconnect the USB first, then power off.
  
  By the way, it's just much, much less hassle to purchase an SDHC/MMC card reader and copy the folders off.
  
  If you wish to mess with iMovie and other specialized software, then I suppose you'll have to keep your file structure proper and follow the manual more closely. I use Final Cut on the Mac, not iMovie, so my first concern was, What is a MOD file and an MOI file? That is what you're left with after you copy your card. The short answer is, toss the MOI files - assuming you are not using the on-camera editing features. I just record and dump to the hard drive and edit with Final Cut.
  
  A MOD file (not to be confused with the music format file) is just an mpeg2 file with audio included. This will confuse some Windows programs which expect the audio in a separate file, so use Media Player Classic. Quicktime on the Mac had no problem playing the file, although you may need to download the MPEG-2 Playback Component. Finally, the aspect ratio setting in a MOD file may not be correct for WideScreen format. You may need Mpeg tools to correct the header if you shoot WideScreen.
  
  Next, Mpeg2 is not an "editable" format like DV. It's about 1/5 the size on my system and a single 4gig card backs up nicely onto a single layer DVD-R. You'll need to do something with the MOD files. My program of choice on the Mac is Visual Hub which is quite reasonably priced shareware. I simply dragged my Canon MOD files to it, selected "DV" and "Ready for Final Cut" and "Start." I was left with DV files ready to edit, although 5x larger. There's even a setting to force 16:9 aspect ratio. The catch is that you'll need to re-encode back to Mpeg2 if you're burning for DVD.
  
  The nice thing is there aren't any tapes to get dirty and wear out. Flash cards may be used hundreds or thousands of times, unlike DV tapes which are used once or twice. The size of files are very small and easily archived, over an hour of video on a single DVD-R of raw footage. But, re-encoding to DV and back to Mpeg2 will sacrifice some quality. I think it's a good trade-off to using a DV recorder since you can do in minutes what it would usually take hours or days.
  
  As for the features of the camcorder, it has an external mic jack. Thank-you Canon. Finally, someone is listening. If you've ever had to record a conversation in a noisy room you will appreciate the ability to use a directional mic. No headphones, but it has an audio meter level display. White balance! Numerous white balance settings as well as manual. Auto and manual shutter speed, exposure, focus, and audio gain at your finger tips. And, an "Easy Mode" for full automatic for those who hate buttons or just need to grab a quick action shot - press "on", press "easy", press "record" and you're recording in seconds. No moving parts except for the lens cap, which is automatic and built-in. No more lost lens cap or one which is smacking into the microphone in the wind while you're recording. And, size - I can hide the camera in the palm of my hand. It's tiny, lightweight, and easy to shoot without getting tired.
  
  As for the not so hot stuff, the recording light is an LED. My old Sony Digital 8 camcorder used a tiny light bulb which appeared as natural light. The LED light is certainly better on the battery but makes everything blue-ish. Battery is internal, nice design but you're stuck with whatever capacity will fit into that size battery bay. Batteries and charging accessories cost a fortune, although SDHC cards are cheap. The built-in microphone will need some acoustic foam glued over it or check around for a strap-on wind sock. No viewfinder, not that I use one very much - you will need to shoot with the LCD open.
  
  
  

• Guy Serle's MyMac.com review

  
  By A1VLVWTLV3LVHR on 2008-08-22
  I've been avoiding buying a new camcorder to replace the 8 year old DVC tape unit for awhile now. There were plenty of tempting offerings, but none matched the feature set and price point that I was looking for until I happened upon Canon's FS100 model at an Apple Store. While giving it a once over there, I liked the light weight, the responsive and variable zoom, the microphone input, and that at $399, it was still very much reasonable in price. I almost bought it right there at the Apple Store, but resolved to sleep on it first and check out what other people were saying about it. I'm glad I did, and afterwards I almost gave it a miss but decided that no other camcorder available currently in the this price range would meet my needs.
  
  Let me say what I liked about it first. As said before, It's lightweight and small enough to fit in most pants pockets (or are you just happy to see me?) without making you walk funny. The unit measures 2.3-inches wide, 2.4-inches high, and 4.9-inches deep. It weighs about 9.2 ounces. It starts up almost instantly and is ready to record within a few seconds. It has a large 2.7-inch LCD display that is clear. It has a relatively easy menu system for setting up some of the various built-in features all of which a clearly displayed on the LCD. It has a variable zoom that can be as fast or as slow as the user might wish and there are some settings in the menu that allow you to adjust this even more. The battery lasted almost 2 hours of near continuous use for me (your usage will vary dependent on a number of factors). In it's highest video resolution mode, you can get nearly 2 hours of video from an 8GB SDHC memory card, though Canon states that you can get over 5 hours of video from the same card at a lower resolution. Keep in mind that while this camcorder does record in either 4:3 or 16:9, it isn't true high definition and if that's something you must have in a camcorder, keep on looking.
  
  
  
  There are a number of effects available from the FS100's menus, like fade-in/fade-out, Sepia, and Black and white recording modes, Mosaic, and a few others of varying effectiveness. Most of these probably sound like nice additions, but I doubt you'll use them more than once. There are a number of Automatic Exposure settings as well (AE in the menu) including TV, Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Fireworks, etc. Chances are unless you have specific needs, the Auto setting will work just fine in most conditions. You can manually set the White Balance as well as the unit having Auto, Daylight, and Tungsten presets.
  
  Canon does not supply any memory for this camera (though essentially the same camera models FS10 and FS11 has 8GB and 16GB built-in respectively for a higher price), so an SD (preferable an SDHC card) will be required. I put in an 8GB SDHC card from Transcend that cost roughly about $31 and if even more storage is needed the camcorder accepts 16GB cards as well.
  
  One of the main reasons I bought this camcorder was that it had a microphone input. The input uses an industry standard 3.5mm jack (there are adapters available for other sized inputs from places like Radio Shack) and as long as Phantom power is not required, the FS100 should be able to use nearly any non-XLR microphone. The built-in microphone is very sensitive and does a pretty good job, but is subject to some wind noise as most built-in microphones are.
  
  Now some of the things I don't like about this camcorder. The image sensor is only a little more than 1 megapixel. Still images look a little washed out and with both video and still images. The FS100 also does not do so well in low-light situations. I've used it now under some different lighting conditions and have had varied results. Fireworks seemed OK. The FS100 quickly adjusted itself from almost total darkness to bright bursts withe little effort. Also the FS100 had little trouble with typical stadium lighting, but any constant low-light situation was not that great.
  
  
  
  The FS100 does take still pictures as well as video and it can shoot up to 5 frames a second. The image sensor as I said is only 1 megapixel so this is more like a stop-gap convergence answer for digital photography than a dedicated point and shoot. If your main focus is taking pictures and you want them to scale well in various sizes, the FS100 is not the answer for you.
  
  The included software seemed next to useless to me or most likely any other Mac user that already has iPhoto for digital images. Once you have the camera plugged into a USB port and it mounts on your desktop, iPhoto should (depending on your settings) automatically start up. Downloading your still images using iPhoto is pretty straight forward like most digital cameras.
  
  OK, let's talk about what this kind of stuff this unit is really meant for: video. Honestly, even with the complaining I've done (and I'm not through yet), I liked the video this camera put out. While low-light certainly isn't a strong point, it does pretty well in every other situation and I liked what I saw. Here's what I didn't like though, .MOD files. Know what those are? Apparently they're some kind of modified mpeg-2 format that Canon uses. iMovie 06 and QuickTime 7 had no idea what to do with these files and it took a little research to find a solution.
  
  A company called Squared5 makes a software converter called MPEG Steamclip that is an absolute free download and that will take those .MOD files and make them QuickTime compatible files (in a variety of formats). Also iMovie 08 will import them as well.
  
  One other minor complaint is that if you want to download the content off the camera, you'll either need to remove the card and put it in a reader or connect the camera via USB. No big deal in itself, but if you connect the camera directly, you MUST have the power cable connected and supplying power as well. If you're out and about, that may not be easy. You might be better of having a few other memory cards to use until you offload them later. Also no battery charger is included so the only way to charge the batter right out of the box is to have it inside the camera and connected to power.
  
  I really like this camera even with all the complaining I've done and it will be my main family shooter for at least a few years. I can live with its shortcomings as it is light, easy to use, takes great non-HD video and it has an external microphone connection.
  
  MyMac rating:3 out of 5
  
  

• Nice little camcorder

  
  By ALLIL7DUQXJ97 on 2008-05-20
  Overall the camera is a good little unit with an exceptional zoom. I was very impressed with the zoom quality. I bought this as a replacement to my previous mini DV tape camcorder that quit recording sound. We simply use it to record family moments so I'm not doing any kind of professional video recording.
  
  I do like the idea of having the SD cards vs. a hard drive. I can change out and replace the SD cards even if they go bad but if the hard drive goes bad in a hard drive camcorder, it will probably be hard to replace. Also I will never be stuck filling up my hard drive and having no where to unload the video. After doing some testing, I had a newer SD 4G memory card and the recorder would let me record about 1 hour and 45 min. of video (I think that's right). I also found it VERY easy to transfer the video straight into my computer with an SD reader. This was a HUGE problem with my previous recorder because it had problems transferring the video from the mini DV tapes to the PC.
  
  I haven't used the still photo capability yet and don't plan to since I have a good digital camera so I can't comment on it.
  
  I only have a couple of issues:
  
  1. The SD software that comes with the recorder has a little glitch (ONLY with the colored units; the blue and red) when entering the serial number to register the software it doesn't recognize the serial number from the unit. You actually have to change the first 3 numbers from 822 to 808 to get the serial number to accept. I found this from an earlier review on this site.
  
  2. My other issue is the sound can be a little better. It was a little low but I can live with it.
  
  3. One last thing, it DOES NOT come with a separate battery charger so you are forced to charge the battery while it's in the recorder. [...]. Canon 2590B002 CG-800 Lithium Ion Battery Charger for 800 Series Batteries
  
  Overall, for the price and its capabilities, it is a good camcorder.
  
  
  

• Small, Handy, Quick - Needs better Stabilization and Low Light

  
  By A1M5LJSCJ19S6F on 2008-06-29
  The reviews I read on this are a little too generous. It's all right, but not spectacular. Mine is a replacement for a high-definition HV-20 that I share with my in-laws. I can never get my hands on it, so was hoping for something inexpensive, all-digital with good qualilty.
  
  The video is good in BRIGHT light, so-so indoors, and very grainy in lower light, but it does a good enough job if you're just trying to preserve something right away. I don't think any of the video shot is usable as professional quality; not even semi-professional. Perhaps it could be used a secondary camera -- like if you were looking for a 2nd simultaneous shot to do a cut-away. But I would definitely suggest spending more on a hi-def camera instead of this if you care a lot about quality. The EASY button is nifty, though, for when you get tired of pushing buttons and sorting through menus for the perfect setting.
  
  As a camera that shoots still, give up. I was totally not impressed with that. You can turn the LED light on once you figure out where it's hidden among the menus, but it is no substitute for a flash. Don't think you're going to get a satisfactory 2-in-1 video/still experience with this device. Nor can you use this as a webcam or import video directly from the camera to your PC, unless you have a capture card that will accept the RCA video out.
  
  It does zoom in pretty good, but the image stabilization is a bit weird. And the focus can have a hard time finding it's mark. I've used a camera before where you could shake it like an earthquake and it hardly shows at all on the recording. Unfortunately, the FS100 kind of floats around the image when it's zoomed in. You'll be able to see what you're recording later, but wonder why the images sways around so much. Fully zoomed out, it does a good job. THERE'S NO VIEWFINDER, only the flip-out screen.
  
  I play with a lot of ideas in low light and the reviews I read were mixed for low-light quality, but they really should have been on the bad side. Yes, you can tell what you're looking at, but it's extremely grainy to me. I'm disappointed in that aspect the most. There's different white-balancing options. I don't get the point of widescreen on a standard definition camera. The video just looked squished when played back in Windows Media Player.
  
  The A/V out jack is not designed for regular headphones -- you'll get a loud buzzing in your ear if you try it. I suppose I'll have to find some kind of wire with stereo female RCA jacks on one end and a stereo female mini-jack on the other or splice something together.
  
  The Built-In Microphone does a pretty good job, I think. If you're taping yourself and flip the screen around to see, the handy input meter disappears for no good reason. The External Microphone jack requires a battery powered microphone. So, you'll get dead air if you try to use a headset or unpowered mic to record sound. I should have seen that coming, I suppose.
  
  The battery life is pretty good -- takes longer than expected to charge. The SD card is much more convenient than using tapes. After hooking up the USB cable and the power cable simultaneously, I can download the videos.
  
  The software included is pretty dumb -- Pixela ImageMixer is for video, while the Video Solutions disk is for still images only. Kind of confusing and backwards, fellas! If you've got Vista, then Windows Movie Maker will do a pretty good job of editing your videos.
  
  I don't know.... Overall, this camera is all right, I guess. But I had higher expectations for the price I paid. I got this camera from a BigBox store, but should have waited and gone with Amazon's better offer. It's definitely small and handy, but not going to get you any awards for artistic quality productions. I recommend it for anyone whose looking for something simple and consumer quality only.
  
  
• Great little camcorder
  By A13391EQ4F2QQV on 2008-04-23
  My family lives in another country, so I wanted a camcorder to take family videos that I could burn to DVDs and mail to them. I picked the FS100 because of the price, SDHC support, and because it uses MPEG2 and stereo AC3 to encode the video files--meaning you can put them on a video DVD without having to re-encode anything.
  
  I don't use the included ImageMixer 3 SE software (preferring to use the open source Avidemux and DVDStyler applications instead), so I can't comment on that.
  
  If you plug the camera into your computer using the included USB cable, it shows up as a removable drive, which is nice. However, it won't do that unless you plug in the camera's power adapter at the same time--this means if you want to copy files to a laptop while on the move, and you don't have access to a power outlet, you'll need to read the data off the SD/SDHC card directly instead. This isn't a big deal for me since I find that using an SDHC card reader is a much easier solution that plugging the camera in every time anyway. You can get USB SDHC readers for around $7 on Amazon.
  
  I've never owned a camcorder before (digital or otherwise), so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I can say I am very happy with this one. It's small, light, easy to use, and produces quite acceptable video quality, even at the medium 6mbps setting.
  
  It is useless, however, as a digital still-photo camera. It doesn't have enough megapixels for any kind of serious work, doesn't have a flash, and photos will usually end up blurry if you don't use a tripod to stabilize it.
  
  If you're looking for an affordable, decent widescreen standard def camera with direct-to-dvd burning in mind, this is fantastic.
  
  
• Video quality is very very poor...
  By A1Z8HBA24OKT2E on 2008-08-09
  I bought this to replace my aging MiniDV ZR200, and thought that stepping up to the newest format would be a good step since I copy the videos to my computer and then burn them to DVD. I loved the MiniDV format, but thought that this would be a good move since I could hear the tape motor in the background on my old camera, and with flash there are no moving parts. Bad idea... I got it in hand, charged the battery for 12 hours and then fired it up and the image quality was terrible. I have a cheap Canon SD1000 digital camera (Which I absolutely love) that can take short movies, and it blows away the videos I got from the FS100. Also the five year old ZR200 can record short videos to it's flash card, and that video is again far far better than anything I got with this FS100. At first everything was good, I could see the wall, floor, etc. But then my son walked in and asked me what it was, and as he talked and moved around the image ghosted so bad you could not recognize him at all until he stopped moving. I had bought a brand new class 6 SanDisk SD card for it, so it is the best flash card money can buy right now so that's not the issue. Bright light, dim light, different flash cards from other cameras etc. etc. and still no change. After playing with it for two hours and reading the entire English section of the manual I boxed it back up and shipped it back to Amazon and bought the ZR950 MiniDV camcorder instead. It's image quality is incomparable to the trash I got from the FS100, and it is $100 less to boot. The one thing that amazed me the most was walking into my kitchen and simply panning side to side about once a second for a bit. As the image moved the camera dropped to maybe 5 frames a second at best, and then came back up to a more acceptable frame rate once it stopped, while blurring out everything in the frame as it moved. Maybe in a few more years they will have the flash format to the point where it can be useful, but it is not there yet. If you want video quality that is on par with a cell phone or cheap web cam, this is your camera. If you want a camera to record birthdays and vacations to watch on TV later you will be disappointed.
  
  
• Mac and the FS100 - Card Reading and Compatibility Issues
  By A2RJBF4KXYPFIG on 2008-05-17
  It's a beauty of a design - rests lovely in your palm, light as a breeze, good-looking, ergonomic (well, good enough), with the promise of Canon digic-ii goodness...And then the plug-in struggle begins...I'm using a Mac core 2 duo, with iMovie 7.1, running with current updates. Will other iMovie versions work? I don't believe so.
  
  The problem - the video is coded as a unix file - that is, it's m-peg2 video with a shiny Windows coating. No native Apple program recognizes or plays it. You can rename the suffix from .MOD to .AVI, and witness the low-res results.
  
  The Mac, with iMovie '08 running, Will Import your files, IF:
  
  * The camera is plugged in and charging (A real flaw - Binding us to a power-supply for transfers. Needs to be remedied by Canon.)
  
  * You then turn the camera to the "video Play" mode, once attached via USB umbilical to the computer...
  
  * And then, if you select the correct "output" source. You'll be asked (on the camera's fold-out viewer), to choose the "output" source: DVD or Printer/PC.
  
  Choose the "PC" option... and iMovie should recognize the files, but it can be a little touchy. I've had to go through the process a couple/few times to get recognition.
  
  Note: iMovie will not recognize the very same files, on the very same SDHC card, if that card has been Removed from the Camera, and placed in a card reader, thus defeating the purpose of removable flash memory.
  
  This is a Flash Memory Product. All Flash memory products - cameras, Mp3 players, Phones, etc - are built so that their easily-swappable internal memory can be jettisoned, and the files read by a card reader on a PC, while you go fill up your empty card on your liberated hardware. Swappable. Or why bother with Flash Memory at all?
  
  I went through several Canon representatives (1 800 OK CANON) before encountering one who understood my complaint, and agreed to pass on my notes to technical.
  
  As to the rest - Built-in mic sound seems good. There's an audio-meter, and an audio/mic-input. Have not tried that out, but will soon and report on quality.
  
  The zoom is very strong, great reach. Stabilization seems very good.
  
  The image is hit-and-miss. This camera does not like low-light. It shoots significantly better in bright sun than on a cloudy day - a painful loss of detail occurring in the second scenario.
  
  The image is terribly aliased when played directly out of the camera into the computer (into the iMovie pre-viewer - before transfer), but looks much better once transfered. I'll look for a way to upload a bit onto amazon in the near future.
  
  
  In the meantime, Canon, please supply a software fix to allow transfer of files into PC/MAC movie editing, without binding it both to hardware, and to AC plug - that is, make it a true FLASH memory product, amigos.
  
  Truth is, I'm now undecided about whether to keep this, or upgrade to the stronger (but twice-priced) Canon VIXIA HF100.
  
  
  
  
• Canan Fs100
  By AS02U020MGBSV on 2008-05-13
  Just got this and here are my 1st impressions.
  
  Very small yet feels solid. The test footage so far looks good for standard def video. I just take out the sd card and plug it into my media reader and I am able to import the files.
  
  They have a .mod extension so no program on my XP computer can view them. I had read that you can rename them to .avi which i did and was able to play them in windows media player. They looked horrible and all jagged.
  
  I then tried adobe premiere elements 4, hit the import files and this import window came up and imported them to a folder on my computer. It then dumped them into the editing program where i was able to view and edit!! They played very nice in this program. I did a test render to avi and they looked great.
  
  I have read lots of reviews about how the included editing program is horrible so i have not even installed it. The still photos are not great but good enough for web or email.
  
  I will post more once I have shot some more footage.
  
  
• FS 100 is a bang for the buck camcorder
  By A34SD0AHLIPZJ6 on 2008-06-26
  I bought this from amazon recently. It's simply as good as the other folks have said it is.
  
  Battery life :awesome, above 2 hours of charge (have not charged it again in a week). Taken 1 hr or so of XP, SP quality videos. Windows vista simply rocks....plug the SD card in my HP entertainment PC and it takes care of everything. No file modification/renaming etc required.
  
  Size/Ergonomics: Perfect, just like holding a 200ml can of red bull. sideways,that's all :)
  
  Very easy1 handed operation, I am not worried about arthritis since the thing is soooo light even with the batery included. just handhold one of them sony dvd camcorders and you shall appreciate the small footprint of this thing.
  
  NOW, the ONLY reason I am giving a review here is cos of reading the other folks consistently talk about the "night" "indoor" quality of the camcorder. Ok, I do agree to a certain extent that the indoors/lowlight videos are grainy. But I ask you folks, in what MODE ? P, Night,Sunset ? I am prettysure that that would be your answer.
  Being an avid photographer, I never use any of the preset "Scene" modes ever even on my slr or this camcorder. So,my solution to *reduce* the grainy quality for you would be to try the "Shutter priority mode" , Tv, turn the shutter down to 1/30, 1/15(indoors), or even 1/8(handholding will be tough at the slowest shutter speed). BUT, if you use this mode and increase the exposure to say +2 or 3 , I am very certain that your low light videos will turn out pretty pretty usable and less grainy. Please try it out guys and let me know.
  
  Anyway, I just wanted to rescue the camcorder from the night video quality complaints.
  
  What else....it's a bang for the buck camcorder. Amazon is awesome. They have refunded me all the price differences within 30 days of shipping. I have saved $15 already. Buy it folks, this should be a great camcorder. I am a hardcore canon user (cameras, camcorder). Battery life of canons is one big draw for me. Let me know how the "Tv" mode works out for you guys.
  
  
  
• make that 3.5 stars
  By A26FAUJO8V2AG3 on 2008-05-02
  Update 05.18.2008: Contrary to first impressions (below) this camcorder is capable of remarkable video quality - even in EZ mode. Example: I shot a jackrabbit from more than 200 feet. Resulting video is sharp enough to see it blink.
  
  Pixela installation problem (red and blue models only): Replace the first three digits of the camcorders' serial number with 808.
  
  Another quirk: the "Digital Video software" (from the included "Digital Video Solution Disk") is for still images only. It cannot import or edit digital video. Go figure.
  
  To work with video, you need the aforementioned Pixela. It's bare-bones, so you'll need better video editing software. Problem is, both Roxio and Nero mistake these 16:9 clips for 4:3 and squish them accordingly. PowerDirector keeps the proper aspect ratio.
  
  After Market Lenses: Not threaded to accept filters or lens attachments. Too bad because shallow lens setting makes it susceptible to glare.
  
  FPS: You can set the video shutter speed, but that's NOT the same. Canon Vixia HF100 has 24p Cinema Mode.
  
  Manuals: Must cross-reference 3 separate manuals to learn everything you need to know. The main one spends way too much time on the basics and glosses over the advanced features.
  
  Tech support: good, so far
  
  Durability: Amazon sent it (free) in a huge box with too few air pillows to keep the camcorder box from bouncing around on its 11-day journey from Lexington to Albuquerque. Camcorder seems intact, so it must be tough.
  
  Photos: Pro - focal range starts at 1 cm. Cons - no macro preset; max res of 1152x648.
  
  Bottom line: Video quality - a bit disappointing. Lots of jagged lines (interlacing effect) and slightly washed out colors. Fast-moving subjects come out particularly messy. Not a huge step up from 1.5 mbps .mov clips shot with a cheap old diMage camera. Maybe if I tweak the settings, I'll get better results. But like I said, the manual glosses over the advanced features, so must rely on trial and error.
  
  
• FS 100 and Mac
  By A3AGK5KXACLPTL on 2008-06-02
  Great camera, but the .MOD movie files were not compatible with my G4 iBook running Mac OS 10.4. I did a lot of forum reading, though, and find an answer.
  
  You need to download the free MPEG streamclip program from www.squared5.com AND buy the QuickTime 6 MPEG-2 Playback Component for Mac OS X from Apple for [..] (http://store.apple.com/us/product/D2189Z/A?fnode=home/shop_mac/software/apple&mco=MTA3OTA2
  
  Once I had both of these installed, it translated .MOD into iMovie compatible stuff easily.
  
  A guy at Apple store told me that buying iMovie 08 would work, too, as it would be compatible with .MOD. But I figured my approach was cheaper, and let me work with the computer I already have.
  
  Otherwise I love it. Small and lightweight, great pics and movies.
  
  
• Poor Autofocus, Bad Low light, JVC 330 Comparison
  By AEVH0N5MCNWA1 on 2008-06-13
  I want to save anyone from buying this product. I bought the JVC Everio 330 prior to this, but was interested in the Canon because it had a mic input. I bought the Canon FS100 at Walmart and of course started filming right there in the parking lot. On a sunny day, the camera struggled to get good focus on a zoom in the many many tests that I put it through. At full Optical zoom, it never focused completely. I took it home and put it throught many more tests, indoors and out, same problem. It had poor low light capabilities too, and of course equally bad autofocus indoors. If only they would have used the same Instant Autofocus system and optical image stabilization that they put in the High-Definition Canon HF10, they'd have a great Standard Definition camera here.
  
  Just to let you know, I am a professional filmmaker, and two of my films have made it to television, one on PBS. But I wanted a really simple no frills hard drive camera to record video notes and just for fun.
  
  Now for the JVC Everio 330. After two weeks owning it, I am amazed with it. It records great in low light with Electronic Gain Up, and it focuses SO WELL, that most of the time it appears that there is never anything out of focus. It does it so fast. AND, unlike the Canon FS100, when you take it out of manual settings to auto settings, then back to Manual, it REMEMBERS the last settings. The Canon FS100 clears them.
  
  The only thing I can say good about the Canon is their electronic image stabilization is better than JVCs. But with the focus problem, does it really matter? I love my JVC Everio 330!
  
  
• All you could expect...
  By A1L64KDYO5BOJA on 2008-05-09
  I have had the mini DV tape, and mini DVD camcorders and I like this SD card camcorder much better. Gone are the hassles of tape sticking and skipping, DVD finalizing and being limited to 30 minutes of recording plus the expense of tapes and mini DVD's. This FS100 has a zoom to kill for. The video it takes is as sharp as any I've seen on a camcorder. It's small and easy to carry around and starts up instantly. The Joystick control on the outside edge of the viewing screen is very easy to get used to for accessing various menu items. Yes, the included video editing program sucks, but don't all camcorders come with bare bones editing? I own editing programs as do most experienced camcorder users for decent editing. I find I must edit what I've shot using the included editing program or the video is distorted, everybody looks tall and thin on the raw video. The included video editing program corrects this distortion without loss of any detail. You will need a tripod or mono pod when using the big zoom that it has. The picture taking feature on the camera is just so-so. Not of good printing quality but OK for e-mailing, but do you honestly buy a camcorder to take pictures? Get a Canon SD1000 for that. In conclusion, shoot the video, plug in the charger, plug in the USB cable from the camera to your computer, after the computer opens the software, transfer the video then edit and save it under a new file name, its really that easy. All in all I'm very pleased with my Canon FS100 and I wholeheartedly recommend this great camcorder.
  
  
• Great camcorder (Linux user here)
  By AKFUJIT9A3H1T on 2008-06-01
  I wanted to write a short review of this camcorder without repeating a lot of the stuff from other reviews. First, let me say the quality is great for a standard definition camcorder. The key is always to have decent lighting.
  
  Pros: great form factor (about the size of a can of soda), light, built-in automatic lens cover, great video quality.
  
  Cons: some functions are buried under odd key sequences & aren't intuitive...you'll need to keep the manual handy for advanced features until you have them all memorized.
  
  Now, on to the file format issue. I'm a Linux user, so using the included software wasn't an option. I knew this before I bought, & went ahead based on the information in other reviews. My gamble paid off, & I wanted to pass this info along to everyone concerned about the .mod file format (especially Linux users). As others have said, its mpeg 2 w/ some configuration info for the included software. I have a Dell laptop running Kubuntu Hardy, & when I connect via USB to the Canon, it mounts it as an external drive (just like any other SD card reader). I then took the .mod files, copied them to my computer, & renamed them to .mpg. They played perfectly. Note: I record in 4:3 because not everyone we send videos to can view widescreen, & we have a Panasonic plasma which does an amazing job turning 4:3 into 16:9 with its "justify" mode.
  
  In summary, I would highly recommend this camcorder!
  
  
• This is a great flash camcorder that works with Ubuntu Hardy Heron!
  By A31YKE7KJGMAW6 on 2008-08-26
  This camcorder has been great! I was debating between this one and the Panasonic SDR-S7 and Samsung MX10. Those camcorders had around 680k pixels whereas this one comes in around 710k pixels. What does that mean? Better videos. The 48x advance zoom is awesome and if you want only the optical at 37x, that is great too. You can't tell the 48x is doing some digital tricks. The quality looks just as good as just optical. The other camcorders can be found online for around $200 but with this one coming in at just over $300, you will be far happier with this one.
  
  When I was looking for this, I wanted to get a camcorder who's file format would play on Ubuntu without any conversion and also plays on Windows Media Center Vista. This camera does both! To copy the videos, I remove the flash card from my camera and insert it into the flash reader on my laptop. The only "conversion" I have to do to get the videos to play is to change the ".MOD" ending to ".MPG". This also makes the videos play fine on my WMC box. I then copy them to my WMC box over the network.
  
  I use to have a Sony Digital 8 camcorder that I connected to my computer via a firewire cable. The videos the FS100 takes are just barely better than those. However, to get the videos on my computer is way faster copying them from a flash drive. I never want to use my Digital 8 camcorder again. The videos I have taken with this easily upload to YouTube. My FS100 videos show up there with the "watch in high quality" option below them. They really look good on YouTube when you click that link... better than most other videos out there. The quality of videos is phenomenal outside at sporting events and is just okay inside with low light conditions.
  
  The videos I have so far record around 0.7 to 1.0 MB per second. That is why the 4 gig card gives will give you around 120 minutes of recording time. I have a "class 4" card and I haven't had any problems with it not being fast enough. I'd recommend at least a 4 gig card. If you can afford an 8 or 16 gig card, it would just give you more recording time before you have to copy them to your computer.
  
  When the files are copied directly off the card on to my Ubuntu desktop, they play in Movie Player in wide screen format like they are suppose to. However, after I copy them to my Windows Media Center PC, they play in 4:3 mode. I have to adjust the "Zoom" setting to "3", I think, and they look normal. This isn't much of a downfall. I've heard there is a "sdcopy.exe" file that will copy the files and correct the header information for WMC so they will play in widescreen format by default.
  
  I ended up going with the gray version because companies now seem to be charging more for the colored ones. It doesn't matter much because other than the color, they are all the same.
  
  The FS100 really is about the size of a can of soda, except with a large screen sticking out of it. Some people criticize the lack of a view finder but why would you want anything like this attached to your face.
  
  It starts up from a cold start in about 6 seconds. If you close the screen it goes into a low power mode which conserves the battery life.
  
  The menu options on this are pretty simple and the "easy" button makes things, well.. easy.
  
  If you are thinking about getting one of these... do it. The only type of camcorder that could create a better picture would be an HD one.
  
  PROS:
  Great Quality Videos - 710k pixels!
  MPEG 4 video format and AAC audio
  Videos Compatible with Ubuntu Hardy Heron with extension change
  Videos Compatible with Windows Media Center with extension change
  37x Optical, 48x Advance Zoom (check YouTube for examples)
  Simple Menu
  
  CONS:
  Picture quality is kind of low... keep your digital camera for those.
  
  
• Unhappy Camper
  By APEJP3ZT6WUUD on 2008-04-26
  My first video camera since vhs. Removed cds from box and tryed to load.
  Image Mixer 3 SE would not accept serial number of camera and therefore
  aborted install. Called Canon Tech support on Friday. Said I would get a call on Monday. Went back to second cd in box, Digital Video Solution,
  loaded ok but only works on stills, I think. Obviously, I don't have a clue. No documentation in box. No instructions. So, have shot some short
  videos but can't down load. Operating camera by trail and error, lots of error. What to do? I just expected instructions and I am very disappointed that it may be a long time before I will ever get it.
  
  
• So far, I lve this camera!
  By AVA0IB8H4HAIX on 2008-05-24
  I purchased this camera to replace an older Sony Hi-8 digital camcorder. I use the camcorder for home movies of the family and sports games of our kids.
  
  Additonally, I like to do some basic editing to make some fun videos for family that can play on their computer or DVD. When I say basic editing, I mean - joining clips, fade in/out, mute the video sound and add some MP3 music tracks. add transitions and titles and credits - everything I would do with Windows Movie Maker and Windows DVD Maker. My primary concerns with this camcorder (or any of the non-tape based cameras) was - "will I still be able to do that with the .MOD files this camera creates". I have seen a lot of reviews on the newer flash based and hard drive cameras that state this is difficult to do. Well, I figured
  out how to do everything with Windows Movie Maker and Windows DVD Maker and I am thrilled with the results!! (Let me know if I can help you)
  
  First, I love the size of the camera - it fits nicely in my hand and very convenient to carry with you to the sporting events. I LOVE the flash based media type. Tapes are nice because they provide an automatic backup of the movie on your tapes. However, I have found that we rarely watch those old 8mm videos because you have to get the camera out and the tapes and watch or fast forward through any scenes you would like to skip. Additionally, to do editing, it is a 1 to 1 ratio for time....meaning an hour of tape would run real time (1 hour) to get on the computer. With the flash media the clips transfer very easily and fast to the computer and you are ready to view and edit or play. I forsee us watching our videos so much more now that it will all be backed up to the hard drive.
  
  So far, the only things I am not crazy about and still adjusting is the stabilization when holding the camera. While the zoom is AWESOME, it sure does show a lot more shake then the heavier camera I used to use. I am looking forward to trying out a tripod with the zoom to see the difference.
  
  I was not ready to go hi-def for a couple of reasons....I dont have a blue ray player and I was not willing to go through the process of working with AVCHD files (their size, editing issues, etc.). I have seen some that say it is not that bad, but just not worth it to me yet. The video that this produces looks great to me. I burned a DVD of a night-time little league game and I thought it looked great on my 50" HDTV. That being said, indoor videos without much light can look a little grainy but still looked better than my last camcorder. Sure, I would like it to be a little better quality on the indoor shots but I also understand if I wanted that I would have to pay A LOT more money and these are just for home use, nothing professional.
  
  All in all I am very happy to have picked up this camera!
  
  
• Unusual features make it a usefull camcorder
  By A1R0D48X7AB3HT on 2008-06-08
  The unusual features are:
  
  1) very small - can be carried around all the time - no missed opportunities for a nice video recording.
  
  2) grid lines - the display can overlay optional grid lines - easy alignment with horizon - so the video looks precise.
  
  3) remote control included - add a bean bag as a tripod replacement - align camcorder using grid lines - use remote to start/stop without messing up the alignment.
  
  4) large zoom and focus range - from directly in front of the lens macro to getting a big moon in the frame.
  
  Image quality: My personal judgement - almost noise-free in bright Florida light - very enjoyable widescreen recordings.
  
  
• Outstanding Camera
  By A2UF4KHD1EQJDJ on 2008-06-23
  This camera is amazing. You can simply move the card to your computer and voila, instant movies. The light weight is awesome. It can be held in one hand and operated te same. The controls are well placed at your fingertips. It has a quick on time and an easy mode. With the two 16 gig cards I bought, I can film all day. The battery gives you a long record time as well. I love my new camera. Now I'm planning a vacation.
  
  
• Great little camera
  By A1FUXTGD90KMOB on 2008-07-08
  Have had the camera for a week, got the blue model.
  
  Purchased this camera to take quick videos of the kids and the places we visit while on vacation and at school events. In the two weeks we have taken about 4 videos and all of them came out just great. The snapshot feature is ok, if you have nothing else, but I prefer a digital camera for my shots.
  
  This model is very small. I bought a case for it that fits on my belt and I can carry it right next to my digital camera if I want. My wife likes the camera because it has an EASY mode and she feels very comfortable with that feature.
  
  If you are looking for an inexpensive camcorder that gives great SD quality and does not use tapes then this model should be on your short list. For awhile I thought that my digital camera movie mode was pretty good until I tried to zoom in on a play at school and it just could not get the shot. Camcorders are made for movies and it shows.
  
  I also bought a 16GB sdhc card from Amazon and it has worked perfectly. The entire setup is $100 less than the fs10 with 16gb of built in flash memory.
  
  
• Perfect
  By A3E1MWBQWB4RW5 on 2008-07-25
  Awsome camera. Unbelieveable zoom, incredibly quiet operation that picked up a violin player at an outdoor wedding who was 200+ feet away, making great background music for every scene. Use a tripod, then walk away from it as it records, and nobody is spooked at somebody taking pictures.
  
  Windows Vista's Media Player, Movie Maker, and DVD Maker all handle these .mod files perfectly. (Had to upgrade to Vista Ultimate since you can't upgrade from XP Pro version directly to Vista Home Premium)
  
  The Windows Vista DVD maker was a big suprise - it creates menus that are moving video automatically - very professional looking DVD's compared to what I was expecting. Thank goodness I didn't buy an AVCHD camera - with all the editing problems of handling that format which spills part of the existing frame into the next one, so that you need diesel computer power to put the spilled video back into it's frame.
  
  Direct USB Transfer of files to PC from the camera went fast but didn't transfer 20% of the files! All the while the LCD on the camera said "Don't turn off, don't disconnect the USB cable, while attached to the PC" What the Canon FS-100 LCD meant to say was "dismount from the PC before you disconnect" (using that icon in your system tray that leads to the message on the PC that it's "safe to disconect". Had to use a $20 SD Card reader on a USB wire to get the missing files into the computer. The camera was probably faster than my 6 year old Pentium 4, so my PC choked on the data causing the missing files - maybe. Still the SD Card reader works, while the USB transfer seems to go fine but misses some files.
  
  The camera seems to create unnecessarily complex file numbers - uses Hex for example, then occasionally adds an extra A or B to an existing file name. Seems odd.
  
  Attached to the composite video ports on the side of my Philips tube HDTV, I was suprised at the quality of the video - seemed like HDTV - filled the screen. Previously I thought composite video was supposed to be junk. Nope. And, once started it didn't need any button pushing to continue to the next file, although the remote would control the action.
  
  Caution: read Wikipedia on the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R. Older players will only do DVD-R but they skip. DVD+R is preferred because it doesn't skip, slide, halt, freeze - except that players older than 2002-2004 will not play DVD+R.
  
  Best Buy store last week had all three colors - wine, blue and silver at full list price $399 plus tax. Nope. Go Amazon - mine arrived in perfect condition. Awsome, just awsome. I love it.
  
  
• Expectations and results
  By A1F13GTZWNUV1E on 2008-05-20
  My old MiniDV camcorder just went dead (samsung 6 years old), and now we need a new one. I hate to spend the money, but I love to shop around for high tech gadgets. Anyway - I have evaluated and read reviews on HDD, MiniDV, MiniDVD, and Flash camcorders. The Flash camcorders are apparently the direction the industry is headed and they just make sense. I mean digital cameras (even those with Video capability) have been using flash memory for years. At the time of my review you can get a 16GB flash card and I bet that will double soon. Basically once your flash drive capacity outlasts your battery life then the game is over for Hard Drive models. Besides I can always insert another SD card if I need to capture more video. Next comes quality. You only have one chance to capture the moment so why not do it with some quality. Setting aside the pricey and bulky professional camcorders, there are several home enthusiast camcorders to pick from. Most are 640x480 less than 1 megapixel capture, non Flash based, or have poor low light capability. The Canon FS100 has one megapixel capture which is better than most but not quite professional, Flash based, and good low light capability. All other features seem very comparable to other brands. In fact I almost bough the JVC Everio 330 until I found out the video quality was rather low. Note to JVC, increase the video quality and you have a winner which may be better than the Canon FS100. Bottom line I chose the Cannon FS100 (blue) with a bundled 8GB SD card. Now waiting for it to arrive and then I will update this review based on the results of the camcorder.
  *[Tuesday 5/27/08] Received camcorder today. Charged battery 3 hours, put in SD card, and reviewed the manual. Really simple to use. Shot video in both ST and XP quality. Honestly I could not tell the difference but I am leaving it in XP mode. The outdoor picture quality is excellent. The indoor picture quality is little above average but far from professional. Sound, zoom, image stabilization work fine as a home camcorder should. The snap shot picture taking quality and capability is poor like a cell phone camera, so don't throw away your digital camera yet. Now for the best part...I got the videos transferred to my PC and burned a DVD without installing any canon software. Several other reviews state that the canon software stinks so I found a way to bypass it. Windows Vista SP1 multimedia capability rocks and is far better than previous Windows XP or MAC junk. I just connected the camera to my PC, opened Windows Vista Movie Maker, imported the MOD files from the removable disk, and burned a DVD. I also love the new Windows DVD creator with auto live action menus - very cool and flawless. When I was done I erased the vids from the SD card using the camcorder delete all menu and presto I am ready to capture more vids. I hope this camcorder lasts because I really like it.
  
  
• Great Camcorder, But Something Missing
  By A2HNH4PKE5DPSI on 2008-07-07
  I purchased this camcorder from a 3rd party seller on Amazon and was amazed at the lightening fast shipping! This was my first camcorder as up until now I hadn't seen a need for them.
  
  Wow, great camcorder! Color is absolutely beautiful (wine) and size is smaller than a can of Pepsi and really made to fold into your hands (I have small hands). I loved the flash drive and recording was pretty simple, although I did read the manual pretty thoroughly.
  
  I was a bit unimpressed by the lens cover--when the unit powered on, I didn't get that nice "powered" movement I'm used to with my digital cameras. I'm not sure if it's a camcorder thing or just due to the low price of the FS100, Canon cut corners to save a few $$$. That was only a small thing.
  
  The features on the camera was cool. I used another reviewer's advice on recording in low light by setting the TV differently. It slowed down movement, but I did get a higher light. Not sure if this would have been irritating in the future. I like the cartoon image recording and also the fact that I could record in black and white. I would have liked to see more recording features like I see in my digital camera. For instance, I love recording in "my colors" on my Canon. Though gimmicky, it's a cool feature when you have a camera in someone's face! :-) Then again, I may have missed it. I noticed the manual kept harping over things that seemed pretty easy, but I had to keep flipping pages to find the features that weren't easily accessible. Again, maybe a user error.
  
  Downloading files was also simplistic. As soon as I plugged the Transcend reader in my Macbook, iMovie started and asked if I wanted to import the files. I was impressed by the ease of it all.
  
  In the end: I did send the camera back. Not due to the camcorder's setbacks, but just the fact that I'm not ready to lug around a video camera all the time. I absolutely love taking pictures and can't see myself jugging both a good camera and good video cam trying to see how to capture the right moment.
  
  
• Perfect for family videos, 5- Star Item
  By A3LORCWJYRJRU5 on 2008-09-02
  I am the type of person all the family and friends come to when it's time to buy electronics - I don't take making decisions lightly. After looking for a great camera to replace my 5 year old Sony Digital8, I found a real winner with this Canon.
  Outdoor image quality is awesome. Almost looks HD. Indoor is not perfect but better than any other camcorder I have ever owned or used. I have stayed with burning DVDs from the camera using analog inputs into my DVD recorder, as I find it way less frustrating than using digital files, but I have loaded the Imagemixer software that comes with this camera and it works well for anyone who is looking to upload videos to youtube, etc.
  I chose to buy a SanDisk 4GB SDHC card, which although my HP Pavilion PC card reader cannot read SDHC, the SanDisk card came with a usb adapter which was super.
  I have found it important to keep my elbow braced against my body when filming to eliminate image shake, as this camera is so light (which is awesome - it fits in my small digital camera case for travel!)
  Love this little camera (I got the blue one), Canon hit a home run in my book.
  
  
  
• Not compatable with Macs
  By A3PZ6JUP9XGOKT on 2008-10-07
  I own an iBook G4 laptop and have not been able to download ANYTHING. The software that came with it is useless, both for videos and still images. Since I have iPhoto, I don't need the still imaging software. The files are written in .mod format and iMovieHD is in .avi. Somewhere, I found that if you use iMovie (not HD), you can download them, but we don't want to pay even more money to buy software that we shouldn't need in the first place. My husband owns a PC so we could try doing everything on his computer, but I'm the one with the time to download and edit and I'm the one who takes all of the movies. The clerk at Best Buy, where we bought the camera, told us that this camera would work with Macs. Either he was wrong, or we just haven't been able to figure it out.
  
  As for the picture quality, it's quite good. The handling of the machine is easy and the interface is mostly user friendly. But, what's the point of having a good camera if you can't share the videos or keep them.
  
  
• BEST small video cam I've ever used!
  By AM1TE2ATSWXNS on 2008-10-14
  I owned a video production studio for 8 years, and was using 3 Sony DVX-1000's for documentary work. Having been out of that biz for 11 years now, I was wanting something small and simple that still had good resolution and able to handle a Mic-in for narration or interviews. THIS FS100 WAS IS THE TICKET! I have had it for 2 weeks now, and can only rave about its ease of use, the clarity and sharp res from edge-to-edge, and the FLASH MEMORY! WOW! For those of you who have dealt with mini-DV tapes and mini-DVD disks...forget that mess! I got an 8GB Transcend SD HC(Class 6) disk for mine, and I get 2.75 HOURS of video time, then just pop in another and continue shooting! I pop the disk, put it in a reader on my computer, bring up Media Player Classic or Movavi Video Converter and play, edit or convert the video file from .MOV to whatever I want---NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER! The .MOV format creates a LOT of problems for most peeps that use the small-sized videocams, BUT if you use the proggies above, there is NO problem! It just works. Anyway, for you YouTubers...THIS is a kick A** videocam and will give you some of the BEST FOOTAGE you've ever seen! Oh, and the shock is that this cam is literally THE SIZE OF A BEER CAN!! It slips into my front pocket with no problem! I carry it everywhere now! And the battery---I haven't had a problem with battery going dead on me prematurely...shot over 2 hours the other day and still had PLENTY juice left for more footage. There is an on-screen battery meter that is highly accurate. Audio meter, too. I thought I would have to buy another battery...but not with it performing like it is now. I cannot say enough cool stuff about it...so give it a shot! I think I'll get another one, but this time get the FS10 so I have BOTH a built-in flash drive AND the extra pop-in flash drive as an option.
  
  
• Canon FS100 a review from 1st time video cam owner.
  By A1I5OHDB8J7722 on 2008-10-17
  Hello and welcome to my little review of the FS100. So far I have had for less than a week and I couldn't be happier. The size, weight, quality of the item is top notch. The vid quality is really good. In low light it could be better but for this price point I can't complain. I really wanted to comment about the software that it came with because everyone complains that it's useless and doesn't work. They are incorrect. I loaded the ImageMixer3 software the day I got the camera just to see if it worked. I knew I would find better software eventually but wanted to test it out anyway. I did not load the other "Canon" software disk, just Image Mixer. I set my cam on XP (high quality) and proceeded to shoot a few mins of test footage. I then uploaded the footage to the pc using a flash card reader and I told Windows XP to recognize mod files by using the ImageMixer software. The software very quickly loaded the couple vids I'd taken. I then used the edit video feature of the software to save the file as an mp2 at high quality. I was then able to upload the vid to youtube in a matter of minutes. Granted the software does not have a bunch of editing tools but it does work and it worked well. GREAT camera and I can't wait to really put this puppy to the test.
  
  
• I don't know about the camcorder, but Amazon is incredible
  By A13TKHNEFSTRO1 on 2008-07-10
  I haven't even used the camera yet, but I need to share something extraordinary. I ordered an FS100 yesterday morning at 7:30am before leaving for work. Somehow, the package from Amazon was sitting on my doorstep when I came home from work in the evening. I have no idea how on Earth they managed to get me my order on the SAME DAY but I was blown away. I do have Amazon Prime, which made 2-day shipping free, but this was so far above and beyond...
  
  I'm due to have a baby any day now, so maybe someone at Amazon knows something I don't, and thought I should have the camera sooner than later???
  
  In any case, thank you Amazon!!
  
  
• Love This Camcorder!!
  By A1MF1SEBJV9ZVM on 2008-08-28
  After wavering back and forth between this Camcorder and the JVC Everio GZ-MG330, I eventually decided to go with the Canon because of it's flash memory as opposed to hard disk.
  
  I just got mine this week, and this is my 1st Camcorder ever, so I have nothing to compare it to. Firstly, I have to admit that I was shocked by how tiny it really is, and my most major concern was how well it would perform indoors (as that's where most of the action occurs with my kids), and while it was not as fantastic as outdoors, I still found it quite acceptable and the zoom is unreal.
  
  I am extremly happy with this purchase and if I had to do it over again, I would make the same choice again.
  
  Just to add on to my previous review, since then, I have actually been tinkering around with the settings, and when switched to tv mode as a previous review suggested and the other settings adjusted, it does very well indoors - and is capable in general of some great videos!
  
  Also, I choose to get the 16gb card - now I feel, it may have been a bit of overkill, but don't regret it - hey you never know when something may come up and I use the whole card. My other great love for this camcorder is that it fits in my digital camera case, so I can stick it in my handbag (and no I don't have one of those huge monsters some like to lug around) and roll out with my kids to the next adventure..
  
  

• Roxio Creator 2009
• Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Version 12
• Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9
• Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Pro Pack
• Adobe Premiere Elements 7

• Transcend TS8GSDHC6 8GB SDHC card (SD 2.0 SPD Class 6)
• Transcend 16GB SDHC CARD (SD 2.0 SPD CLASS 6) with Compact Card Reader
• Canon 2740B002 BP-808 Lithium Ion Battery for FS10, FS11 & FS100 Camcorders
• Kingston 4 GB SDHC Class 4 Flash Memory Card SD4/4GB
• Transcend TS8GSDHC6-S5W 8GB SDHC6 Memory Card with Card Reader