The Canon HF100 camcorder is seemingly very similar to Canon HF10, both in outside looks and specifications, yet some of its features deserve particular attention.
Intro:
Canon HF100 features 12x optical zoom, 2.7-inch LCD screen, SD/SDHC card support, but no hard drive or dvd. The camcorder records images in 1920×1080 resolution at the maximum bitrate of 17Mbps. Canon HF100 has a very good shake reduction system called Optical Image Stabilization and excellent video performance.
The design:
Canon HF100 is available is silver and measures 73mm x 64mm x 129 mm. The front of Canon HF100 is dominated by the lens with 12x optical zoom. Below it is the microphone which assures great audio quality, but the flash and LED video light are placed slightly to the right of the lens which might result in uneven lighting of photos, should you take any. At the back of the camcorder is the battery along with DC jack, AV Out/Headphone and Mic jacks. On the left side is the 2.7” LCD screen which flips out 90 degrees from the body and can be rotated up to 270 degrees.
Performance:
Canon HF100 offers very high quality of video and audio recording. It retains colors and no detail is neglected. In low light the camcorder does a great job, and even better than Sony HDR-UX20. Thanks to numerous predefined scene modes it is easy to shoot great pictures in all circumstances, but what is new to Canon is the easy mode which was first introduced by Sony. When in easy mode you have very limited options and simply everything is adjusted automatically and the only thing you have to do is to push the record button. Canon HF100 has four quality options which differ in the bitrate. The highest is 17 Mbps and the lowest one 5Mbps. As it was mentioned before Canon HF100 has a 12x optical zoom, but it also has a digital one which extends up to 200x. As usual the digital zoom is not recommended as it decreases the image quality.
Canon HF100 camcorder has also some still image features. It can take photos in 1920 x 1080 resolution in one of three quality settings. You can also apply some effects, such as sepia, or black and white. The quality of still images is really good unlike in other camcorders.
The battery included in the box suffices for more or less 90 minutes of video recording.
Menus / user friendliness:
Canon HF100 has logically organized menus and allows almost unlimited possibilities of manual adjustment. You can adjust White Balance, Scene Modes, Exposure, Aperture and even the speed with which the zoom extends. But as Canon HF100 has also the Easy Mode it is suitable for professionals as well as beginners and everyone should be satisfied with the video and audio quality offered by this camcorder. To put it briefly, for the price of $899 you will probably not find a better camcorder.
A list of Canon HF100 specifications:
* Optical Sensor Size
* 1/3.2 in
* Optical Sensor Type
* CMOS
* Digital Video Format
* AVCHD
* Image Stabilizer
* Optical (SuperRange)
* Max Shutter Speed
* 1/2000 sec
* Shooting Modes
* Digital photo mode
* Shooting Programs
* Snow, Beach, Sunset, Fireworks, Spotlight, Night mode, Sports mode, Portrait mode
* White Balance
* Custom, Presets, Automatic
* White Balance Presets
* Shade, Cloudy, Daylight, Tungsten light, Fluorescent light (cool white), Fluorescent light (warm white)
* Exposure Modes
* Program, Automatic, Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority
Main Features
* Camcorder Sensor Resolution
* 3.3 megapixels
* Camcorder Effective Video Resolution
* 2.07 megapixels
* Camcorder Effective Still Resolution
* 2.76
* Color Support
* Color
* Still Image Format
* JPEG
* Remote Control
* Camcorder remote control – Infrared
* TV Tuner
* None
Memory / Storage
* Flash Memory
* 16 GB Flash – Integrated (soldered memory – 16 GB )
* Supported Flash Memory
* MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card
* Floppy Drive
* None
* Image Storage
* JPEG 1920 x 1440
* Media Type
* Flash card
Source: Canon.