I’ve been waiting a while to get a next-generation camcorder and finally decided to pull the trigger on the Canon HG10. Essentially, what I was looking for was a hard-drive based device that would record in high-definition (HD). The hard-drive based feature solves the hassle of transferring videos to a non-linear format (from tape to file) by eliminating the tape. And the Canon does both with a 40GB hard-drive and takes advantage of the latest high quality video format, namely AVCHD.

Hardware wise, everything works quite well. The camcorder itself is small enough to hold with one hand, but one thing that I realized is that a stand comes in handy, especially when making use of the 10x zoom. I decided to go with a monopod since it gives me the versatility of moving around and settled on a basic model, ProMaster 1700 Monopod.

I also found a great minimalistic strap which is length-adjustable, OP/TECH Mini Loop QD Strap.

On the software side, it’s disappointing that Windows Vista does not natively support AVCHD. But fortunately, I still have a registered copy of Pinnacle Studio 11, which does support AVCHD and also works quite well in Windows Vista. With Studio, I am able to edit and convert the video files to more common HD video formats.

For video sharing, I can use my original workflow and upload the processed videos to Vimeo. What is great is that Vimeo came out with support for HD video, so the videos that I share from the Canon HG10 are at a much higher resolution and the proper widescreen aspect ratio. The one limitation is that when you embed the Vimeo videos, they revert to a lower resolution, but that’s not that big a deal since you can always go to the Vimeo site to view the HD versions.

You can go to my Vimeo video page to see some recent videos:
Vimeo/emmfan.

Update: I actually finished this review back in December, but just around the time that I was going to publish, the camera’s zoom function stopped working. I took it into Canon’s repair center just before Christmas, and they finally fixed it a month later. It would seem that the camera is rather fragile, at least this particular unit. So we’ll see how it holds up after the repair.