Canon HG10 AVCHD 40GB High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

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Lowest new price: $645.00.

Lowest used price: $600.00.

11 customer reviews.  4.5 out of 5 stars.

The Canon HG10 AVCHD Format Hard Disk Drive Camcorder delivers high definition technology with the effortless ease of recording video directly onto a hard disk. Incorporating the latest AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) format, it puts superb image reproduction and advanced features at your fingertips in a compact AVCHD Format HDD camcorder, which means you'll carry it everywhere you want to capture the special moments in your life in true HD. Among the Canon Exclusive features on the HG10 are Canon's own Full HD CMOS sensor and advanced DIGIC DV II image processor. More exclusives are SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization, Instant Auto Focus and our new 2.7" Widescreen Multi-Angle Vivid LCD. With the Genuine Canon 10x HD video zoom lens and a host of other advanced features the HG10 is the right choice in HDD camcorders. Zoom Ratio 10x Optical/200x Digital - Focal Length 6.1-61mm Canon Exclusive - DIGIC DV II Canon SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization Canon Exclusive - Instant AF 24 fps Cinema Mode HDD Photo Grab from Video 2.7 Multi-Angle Vivid Widescreen LCD Superb Shooting Control Advanced Photo Features to 3 Megapixel Programmed AutoExposure modes Minimum Focusing Distance 10 mm (wide)/ 1m (tele) White Balance - Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H Image Stabilization - SuperRange Optical (lens shift) Viewfinder - Widescreen 0.27 Color Viewfinder/ (Approx. 123,000 pixels) Recording Media - Hard Disk Drive 40 GB (Internal) Audio - HD - Dolby Digital 2ch (AC-3 2ch) Effective Pixels - Movies (HDD) - Approx 2.07 Megapixels (1920 x 1080); Still Images (Card) - 4 - 3 mode - Approx 2.76 Megapixels (1920 x 1440); 16 - 9 mode - 2.07 Megapixels (1920 x 1080) Lens accepts optional 43mm filters Dimensions - (WxHxD) 3.2 x 3.0 x 5.1 inch; Weight (not including lens and battery pack) 1.1 lbs.

This is the first camcorder I have ever owned as well as operated in my life. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm not an electronics expert, so I won't write a very technical review as many others have.
I will just tell you what I would want to know if I considered buying this item: I think it's great, it works, it's easy to use (there are many more functions I haven't even explored yet, but if you're a more experienced cinematographer I'm sure you can find them helpful), it shoots great footage (also in HD if you want). An "unsung" attribute that this camcorder has is that is also takes amazing photos! The colors it captures are bright, great contrast, and you don't need to correct them in Photoshop!
The camcorder is MAC compatible and the battery life is also very very good.
The only thing that constitutes a slight inconvenience is that in order to download the footage on your computer, you must have the camcorder's power cable hooked up.
Besides that I can say that I'm very happy with it and the quality of the video.

I've been using videocams since the betamax tapes first came out, and I've upgraded throughout the years as the technology advanced. I wanted a well priced product, HD, and stop depending on tapes or discs... I did my homework, and finally purchased the HG10. I've been using it for a couple months now, and am extremely pleased with the performance.

PROS:
- EXCELENT VIDEO QUALITY: performs true to HD quality
- Great size for travelling
- 40GB Hard Drive more than enough space, even for extended vacation times
- Good size LCD screen

CONS:
- Ergonimics could be better
- Sound quality is merely OK.
- Editing video software is extremely basic, and unless you have a VERY POWERFUL PC, don't even try editing these HD videos... my Sony Vaio stalled ALL the time.

You must purchase the HD cable separately, and an extra battery (the one that comes with the camera lasts only two hours). When at home, I hook up the camera to our Sony 42" LCD with the HD cable, and people are blown away by the quality. In conclusion, I'd buy this camera 10 times over.

I am by no means a camcorder expert, but I am a videophile and a Canon fan, so that's why I chose this camera. It does not disappoint! While 1080p would have been great, the birth of my son wasn't going to wait for technology to catch up to the top format.

It has been great capturing all of the big "firsts" in high-def! I rest easy knowing that it won't end up like my honeymoon footage that is grainy, lacks definition and, *gasp*, is in analog format on tapes! I love the hard drive...it seemed the obvious choice over straight-to-dvd or memory card recording for so many reasons--no media to keep up with, speed and flexibility, and unmatched storage capacity...

The 'usability' of the camera is good, but not great. The menus are easy to understand like my Canon digital camera. However, the scrolling wheel can be tough to control. It is easy to get stuck in ff or rewind mode by accident. After not using the camcorder for a while, I forgot how to turn on the light, so it would be nice to have a few more dedicated buttons. It's not like there isn't room, even on the tiny device. None of this would be a problem if I used it more often.

Anyways, people have talked about the software ad nauseam...so I won't get into that, except to say that the lack of available software to watch AVCHD files is frustrating, at best.

The bottom line is that the HG10 excels at what a budget HD camcorder should--great video quality and (virtually) unlimited storage. Where it lacks (usability, adjustments, etc) it more than makes up for it in the video quality department--and that's what matters most, right?

I bought an HG10 after seeing so many good reviews on this camcorder. However, I was disappointed by the video quality. The video of my almost two-year old Sony SR5 hard drive HD camcorder is so much better than the HG10 -much higher resolution and better color. I than bought a Sony SR11 and compared the SR11 with the HG10 head to head. The SR11 also produced much better video than the HG10 in all lighting conditions -indoor, outdoor, good and low light conditions. I have to say the HG performs pretty well at low light but the resolution and color is still not as good as the Sonys (SR5 and SR11). I also found that the 24P was not useful. HG10 also has some other features that the Sony's don't have, for example, a wide range of manual shutter speed. Although a wide range manual shutter speed is very important for a still picture camera, I don't think it is useful for a camcorder unless you are a "pro". I found the standard shutter speed (1/60 second) is appropriate for all of my need for family video.
Many of the reviews claimed that HG's video quality is excellent. I am not sure how many of those reviewers had compared the HG10 head to head with some other HD camcorders. I returned the HG10 and kept the SR11 and I have taken tons of videos with the SR11. I am happy with the amazingly good videos taken by the SR11.

As your average camcorder user, I've found this very easy to use right out of the box. While there are plenty of options to enhance your shots, this does a great job in a very basic shooting mode.

With multiple formats for shooting, the storage is excellent for most 3-7 day vacations. The first time I used this was on a 4 day trip to Walt Disney World, where I go frequently. My first shots were from the monorail, while moving. Stabilization was not perfect, but came out nice once I steadied myself.

Half of my shots were with low light, either at the fireworks shows in the Magic Kingdom & Epcot, or on rides. Almost all of them came out perfect, with the exception of a couple that were out of focus. I found that if low-light focusing was a problem, manually zooming in & out would quickly correct the situation. I was able to zoom in on a full screen shot of Tinkerbell, launching off the castle at the start of the fireworks, with amazing clarity.

While the movie software it comes with takes some understanding, it does work well. It allows you to convert all movies to Mpegs manually, or will do it automatically when creating a DVD. It works fastest when burning straight to AVCHD DVD, and can take a very long time if converting first.

The clarity of the pictures on SP format (2nd only to XP) was true HD quality, and used less space than I thought after 4 days. On SP, over an hour of footage only used about 10% of the storage. When hooked up straight to my TV, or viewing from the AVCHD DVD created, footage came out like I was still there. The next time I go, I will be using the XP format, now that I know I have plenty of storage space.

All in all, was an excellent choice, well worth the money for such fantastic footage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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