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General discussion

canon vixia hf 20, 21, 200- for students

Feb 24, 2011 6:17AM PST

I am working with a program that is starting a film class at a local high school. The students we will be working with are in grades 10-12. They will learn about the film making process, and then have the opportunity to go out and shoot, edit, and screen their films.

Through some preliminary research, it seems like these cameras, Canon VIXIA HF S200, Canon VIXIA HF S20, Canon VIXIA HF S21, or something in this family would work the best with our needs and price range. We're looking for something high quality, user friendly, and with an external mic jack so that the students have an opportunity to experiment with and learn about sound quality.

Does anybody have any experience working with these cameras? Do you think they would work well for first time, younger film makers?

Thanks so much for any advice you can offer.

Discussion is locked

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Thank you for doing
Feb 25, 2011 12:36AM PST

some research.

I have a Canon HF S 100 - it preceded the HF S2xx series. I think they are good camcorders for your stated purpose, but if editing is in the mix, then we need further information.

First - my opinion - the upsides to these cams... Relatively large lens filter diameter to let in lots of light; for the $ a decent sized imaging chip; 1/8" mic jack AND manual audio control.

Next - again, my opinion - the downsides to these cams... AVCHD-compressed video creating MTS files. Fast action can be problematic. High capacity memory cards can be expensive. No really acceptable *long term* archive method for storing video. AVCHD compressed video files are *extremely* computer resource intensive and we don't know what the editing hardware and software environment is.

Things you'll have to deal with when using any cams from any manufacturer in this range:
Manual controls (focus, audio gain, etc) share a thumb-wheel so one item can have manual control at a time. Very different from the prosumer and pro cams that have dedicated manual focus and zoom rings on the lens barrel. The 1/8" connector for audio-in is VERY different form the XLR connectors that good mics use - adapters (juicedLink., BeachTek and others) are available... this important for using long cable runs and shielded, balanced, cabling (i.e., shotgun mics at the end of a boom pole)... consider an external audio field recorder (Zoom, Tascam, Edirol, Alesis... many others) for the audio acquisition process.

There's lots more - but this is the typical low-hanging fruit. But, to be clear, I think your selection is OK...

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thanks!
Mar 1, 2011 2:23AM PST

Thanks for your help. You said my selection is Ok, do you think there is a better option?

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Not really...
Mar 1, 2011 2:29AM PST

but the Sony HDR CX500 series is worth a look. AVCHD compression is the same, but the upper-end Sonys have "SmoothSlow Record" and "NightShot" features the Canons don't have...

Normally, for students, I would STRONGLY suggest miniDV tape based - less $ than flash memory. And we don't know what the editing hardware and software is.