|
Thank You. This item is an excelent camera for the money. The shipping was fast and right on time.
The other functions are easy to navigate and learn on the fly. I like the fact that it makes movies in files so you don't inadvertently record over something you may have wanted to save. I bought this for my wife as a christmas present to capture our Son's first christmas. I haven't read the manual and was easily able to pick it up and operate it with little trouble. Overall a good purchase for the price. It was easy to use right out of the box. The zoom, record, and selector functions are in convenient places for one handed operation.
I was concerned about the speed of the card needed so I bought an Extreme III 4 GB card, and being satisfied with that, tried a couple Kingston 8 GB class six cards. The flash disk operation makes transferring files a snap. I shot some band footage in dark clubs and noticed that some of the blurriness was the result of the autofocus not quite knowing what to focus on--I'm going to experiment with using manual focus and see if that improves things. You can get excellent closeup shots of small objects with this camera using manual focus. The program is pretty adequately explained.
I had no trouble navigating the menus with the joystick, and found it quite responsive and easy (and quick) to use (easier than navigating the multiple layers of menus on my Sony). Bottom line for this camera: it's a pretty good entry-level camcorder, extremely easy to use, and convenient to carry with you. I haven't tried using any of my external mics yet, and I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes. All have performed well so far. As for the editing software that comes with the camera--it's not too bad.
People who want to use Premiere to edit, as I tried to do, will have to do some file conversion, or they may run into problems. The stereo mics on the camera are very good-- you get crisp clear sound, as long as it's not too loud. I'm happy I got this camera. Just for fun, I took a 2 GB class 2 Kingston card out of my still camera and tried it in the camcorder. I have a card reader built in to my laptop and the transfer of files is lightning quick.
I'll most likely buy the Corel program with my educational discount. A loud band will kick in the compressor, but it takes a lot to distort the sound. I wanted a program that would work directly with MOD files, run a little faster than the program that came with the camera, and work on Vista 64-bit. For those who said there were no help files, you need to access the pdf file on the program CD. I still like it, but it's comparatively big and heavy and uses tapes, which are a pain to store, rewind, etc.
The reviews for the FS 100 were good enough so I got one, a little cheaper elsewhere. It's a little slower using the USB cable to my desktop, but not bad. With some care and time spent practicing with manual settings, I think the quality in lower light situations might improve. You will get grain. It won't be the last or best one I buy, but it serves the purpose I got it for--speed, convenience, and fun. Simple on and off--click one button and flip out the viewfinder--the shutter cover opens and you're instantly ready to shoot. I got the cheaper Aipteck "HD" camcorder for Christmas, and it just didn't cut it in any way.
Normal everyday sounds come through brilliantly. When the camera is still, you can get excellent crisp video of outdoor objects. But, I wanted a kickaround camcorder that was lightweight and small that I would use in more casual, spontaneous situations. It worked just fine. My previous experience has been with a good, but old, Sony mini dv recorder.
You can control the zoom speed with a great deal of precision, with a little practice, and the video stays in focus through the zoom as long as the camera isn't moving a lot. The manual is ok. The biggest appeal of the FS-100 is the light weight, and how it fits in the hand--you almost forget you are carrying it around. Once again, I think some experimentation with the limited manual settings could improve that. Some research turned up Corel Video Studio, and I downloaded the free trial. The Sony is easy to edit with, using Adobe Premiere, and produces very good video. It renders video quite a bit faster than the camera's editing program and gives a greater and more convenient selection of file formats to export to.
If the camera is on a tripod, or very still, the zoom is absolutely incredible. The rendering takes a while, but it all works. With the right editing program you can produce adequate DVDs that look pretty good in a minimum amount of time. It works great as a basic editor, probably similar to Adobe Premiere Elements. The camera is a bit slow to refocus in the modes I've used it in, so movement of the camera produces some blur--not too bad. It has limited but adequate functions, so it was easy figuring out all of them pretty quickly. I haven't fooled much with the manual settings, and I think I could get better results with some experimentation.
I've created several standard DVDs complete with nice menus that were simple to put together, and I'm happy with the results. I liked it right out of the box. You can import the MOD files directly from the camera, arrange them in a timeline, add titles, transitions, etc and produce an ok movie, and burn it to DVD. Where this camera shines is in daylight outdoors. This was my first flash disk camcorder, though I have other flash disk equipment. So once I could see the DVD produced from the footage on my 42" plasma TV, I noticed what others have mentioned--this is not a great camera for low light.
got this for christmas works great with image maker to see the filesgot online videothang.com to edit them free download with those two programs OUT OF THIS WORLD.
My kid's Flip camcorder is a better choice for low light. . unless you like grainy, smeary pictures.
|
