Wanting to buy the HF200 after doing some research...opinions?

[MrDudeMan]

Our baby is going to be born soon and I want to get a high quality, long lasting, high definition camcorder. I generally like Canon but I don't have any real preference. The HF200 seems to be a good fit for me but I wanted to check with this forum first.

My budget is ~$550 but I'm obviously willing to go a little higher as the HF200 has caught my eye. If there is something comparable for a lower cost, please let me know. I am mostly just interested in recording her life and also some other random things that I'll edit, but the focus is mainly on the baby. The one I've been looking at is listed on B&H for $600.

 

[Kaido]

Opinions? Sure - I'm jealous

My only real suggestion is to have a plan for dealing with footage - this is what kills most people. Here are some questions to think about:

1. What do you plan on doing with the footage - DVD? Youtube? Computer playback only? Email to Grandparents?
2. How do you plan on editing your footage? Does your video editing software support the AVCHD codec? Are you using a PC or Mac?
3. How do you plan on storing your footage? Do you want to archive all the footage you take, or just the finished projects like a DVD movie for the family?

I always recommend a Gorillapod for a mini tripod for people with little kids because you can wrap it around the top of a crib, or put it on the floor at eye-level when they're crawling around:

http://joby.com/gorillapod

Be aware that AVCHD usually needs transcoding (i.e. converting to another format that works with your video editing software). Some of the newer video editing apps support AVCHD, but it's hard to edit - you need a REALLY powerful computer, because AVCHD is a recording format, not really an editing or playback format on computers (well, playback yeah).

Also congrats on the baby!

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Opinions? Sure - I'm jealous

My only real suggestion is to have a plan for dealing with footage - this is what kills most people. Here are some questions to think about:

1. What do you plan on doing with the footage - DVD? Youtube? Computer playback only? Email to Grandparents?
2. How do you plan on editing your footage? Does your video editing software support the AVCHD codec? Are you using a PC or Mac?
3. How do you plan on storing your footage? Do you want to archive all the footage you take, or just the finished projects like a DVD movie for the family?

I always recommend a Gorillapod for a mini tripod for people with little kids because you can wrap it around the top of a crib, or put it on the floor at eye-level when they're crawling around:

http://joby.com/gorillapod

Be aware that AVCHD usually needs transcoding (i.e. converting to another format that works with your video editing software). Some of the newer video editing apps support AVCHD, but it's hard to edit - you need a REALLY powerful computer, because AVCHD is a recording format, not really an editing or playback format on computers (well, playback yeah).

Also congrats on the baby!

Thanks for your reply. I'll definitely look into the Gorillapod if I end up buying a camcorder.

1. I plan on emailing it out to my family and making DVDs.
2. I'm not sure. I don't have anything but I am assuming there is something available that I can download to make this happen. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm using a PC. I've got some experience with Premiere and Windows Movie Maker but I don't know anything about AVCHD.
3. I'm only interested in keeping the edited, final versions of the videos. I can just store them on DVDs or maybe I'll get another 1TB hard drive.

Is there another camcorder that will take similar quality videos for less? Or is this the baseline for the type of image quality this camcorder is capable of delivering?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan
Thanks for your reply. I'll definitely look into the Gorillapod if I end up buying a camcorder.

1. I plan on emailing it out to my family and making DVDs.
2. I'm not sure. I don't have anything but I am assuming there is something available that I can download to make this happen. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm using a PC. I've got some experience with Premiere and Windows Movie Maker but I don't know anything about AVCHD.
3. I'm only interested in keeping the edited, final versions of the videos. I can just store them on DVDs or maybe I'll get another 1TB hard drive.

Is there another camcorder that will take similar quality videos for less? Or is this the baseline for the type of image quality this camcorder is capable of delivering?

Premier is pretty good, and WMM is nice and fast to work with. AVCHD is what modern digital camcorders use as a recording format. Basically you have 3 file formats - recording, editing, and playback. AVCHD is used on Bluray movies and is really good for recording too, but because there's so much information in it, it's extremely hard to edit (slow even on 8-core computers). So what you do is convert AVCHD to an editing format like MPG or AVI, edit it in Premier or WMM, then export it to whatever format you want - a small MOV for email, a DVD for playback on your TV, etc. I use an app called VoltaicHD when I work with AVCHD, it's a little $35 program that converts AVCHD to whatever format your video editing software likes to use. Your editing program may or may not have an AVCHD converter built-in, but either way, I really like the convenience of this little app: (PC & Mac compatible)

http://www.shedworx.com/voltaichd

Yeah, the HF200 is pretty much the baseline for quality HD camcorders. You can get a pocket cam like a Flip HD or Kodak Zi8, but the quality & features aren't even close. Yes, the pocket cams are "High Def", but you don't get zoom, depth-of-field, really really good picture quality, and so on. The picture quality from the HF200 is just unreal, I mean take a look at some samples on Vimeo:

http://www.vimeo.com/5384944

http://www.vimeo.com/5044168

Even out of the box, it's like the Discovery HD channel, haha.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Do you think there is any advantage to waiting to purchase it? Is something new around the corner or is this going to be good for a long time?

What program do you use to edit video?

 

[theblackbox]

canon may be bringing out some new and updated cameras late august, so waiting is up to you.

for a pc user, you have vegas which is fairly popular, premiere (which can be very powerful if you have the production suite(but expensive))

if you have access to a mac then you have imovie or final cut express. imovie 9 is incredible for a free app, it's featureset is getting better and better.

i use premiere and final cut pro. while premiere is getting better, it's still not the best for reliability.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: theblackbox
canon may be bringing out some new and updated cameras late august, so waiting is up to you.

for a pc user, you have vegas which is fairly popular, premiere (which can be very powerful if you have the production suite(but expensive))

if you have access to a mac then you have imovie or final cut express. imovie 9 is incredible for a free app, it's featureset is getting better and better.

i use premiere and final cut pro. while premiere is getting better, it's still not the best for reliability.

I did some searching and didn't see any release dates. Do you have any links I can read that might help with this? I can wait a little while for a new release but I don't want to wait several months. Thanks for your response.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: theblackbox
canon may be bringing out some new and updated cameras late august, so waiting is up to you.

for a pc user, you have vegas which is fairly popular, premiere (which can be very powerful if you have the production suite(but expensive))

if you have access to a mac then you have imovie or final cut express. imovie 9 is incredible for a free app, it's featureset is getting better and better.

i use premiere and final cut pro. while premiere is getting better, it's still not the best for reliability.

I did some searching and didn't see any release dates. Do you have any links I can read that might help with this? I can wait a little while for a new release but I don't want to wait several months. Thanks for your response.

The HF200 is fairly new itself, so I'd just go ahead and pull the trigger if you want it now.

As far as video editing software, I use Final Cut Pro on a Mac, but like theblackbox said, Sony Vegas for PC is a pretty popular choice. The interface may be daunting, but all you really need to learn is:

1. How to import video clips
2. How to cut video clips so you can arrange them
3. How to do transitions
4. How to import an MP3 to add music
5. How to export to a DVD or a video file for email

So really, if you can learn a small handful of basic commands, you'll be flying in no time - just check out Youtube for some intro tutorials, there's plenty of beginner & advanced stuff there

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: theblackbox
canon may be bringing out some new and updated cameras late august, so waiting is up to you.

for a pc user, you have vegas which is fairly popular, premiere (which can be very powerful if you have the production suite(but expensive))

if you have access to a mac then you have imovie or final cut express. imovie 9 is incredible for a free app, it's featureset is getting better and better.

i use premiere and final cut pro. while premiere is getting better, it's still not the best for reliability.

I did some searching and didn't see any release dates. Do you have any links I can read that might help with this? I can wait a little while for a new release but I don't want to wait several months. Thanks for your response.

The HF200 is fairly new itself, so I'd just go ahead and pull the trigger if you want it now.

As far as video editing software, I use Final Cut Pro on a Mac, but like theblackbox said, Sony Vegas for PC is a pretty popular choice. The interface may be daunting, but all you really need to learn is:

1. How to import video clips
2. How to cut video clips so you can arrange them
3. How to do transitions
4. How to import an MP3 to add music
5. How to export to a DVD or a video file for email

So really, if you can learn a small handful of basic commands, you'll be flying in no time - just check out Youtube for some intro tutorials, there's plenty of beginner & advanced stuff there

Nevermind, I thought Sony Vegas was a lot more expensive than it is. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[theblackbox]

you can pick up vegas platinum and the platinum pro pack up on amazon for under 100$, which is great for an editing solution. unless you want a headache, or want the perks associated with premiere, i would steer clear of it. vegas seems to be the best choice these days for pc users, a lot of people use it.
i couldn't tell you dates, but if you dig around, you'll find new releases getting surfaced in japan of the top dog canon consumer cameras. and canon usually trickles down. if you need one now, the hf200 is a good camera.
i noticed amazon has the hf-s100 back under 899 again, for a little more it's a great camera too.