Canon VIXIA HF20 High Definition Quality Test

[BOOSHCY]

it looks like were their

[ShaadRoq]

Is this Bicentennial (sp?) park in Nashville? Has to be, video looks pretty good. I miss that place.

[RobertSmith3]

@ShaadRoq It is :D

[katiesvanity]

What lighting setting is this on? Because I feel that whenever I use this camcorder and then put it in iMovie the colors all look a bit greyed..? What would you say is the best light setting for shooting with this camera?

[RobertSmith3]

@katiesvanity Honestly, for these types of camcorders, the more light that can enter the lens the better the picture quality will turn out. Thus why when you shoot video outside on a sunny day the picture quality is great, but if you shoot video inside with normal light, the video quality isn't as great. I believe you can adjust some settings manually when shooting indoors but I'm not sure which settings you should change off the top of my head.

[Sufibooks]

I hate commercials before videos

[ramosvj]

I want to buy this one but I heard it is very hard to edit the files, is it true? and what program do you use or suggest?

[RobertSmith3]

@ramosvj Follow this link: youtube.com/watch?v=o8HpYgOV8Z­Q&feature=relmfu

[rowenj]

what's the cheapest canon vixia ?

[JohnsonRecords]

can you do depth of field with this camcorder?

[RobertSmith3]

@JohnsonRecords What do you mean? I'm not an expert at all the video technical terms yet lol

[JohnsonRecords]

@RobertSmith3 like when the main object is in focus and the background is very blurry.

[RobertSmith3]

@JohnsonRecords Sure. I plan on selling the camcorder very soon since I no longer use it. I have the Canon HFS200 now, but I'll try to find time this week to make this quick video.

[JohnsonRecords]

@RobertSmith3 if you could do that that would help me alot. its pretty much a deciding factor

[matrixate]

@JohnsonRecords Every Camera can do depth of field. The problem is that almost no one on YouTube explains the distance ratios that create that beautiful drastic blur in the background and the Aperture/Zoom combination to tailor the dramatics of the blur. Look up videos made by Canon here on YouTube; they have professionals explaining how to do it.

[geoff0707]

doe sit have depth of field?

[blastlaughs]

im thinking in getting this camera or the hv 40 dose anyone have any suggestions on wich may be better

[BAZOOKABELLY]

statue with water bottle wtf? 2:36

[RobertSmith3]

@BAZOOKABELLY This video was posted almost 2 years ago and I'm amazed no one else noticed that buy you this whole time lol. Nice eye!

[swarthy03]

Extremely helpful! 

[romuloVG]

Sure, music does work well.

[Theonegamefreak]

Why does no one render in 1080?

[iChoreograph]

I bought this camera today; It's pretty good !

[billmills]

It's an awesome line of HD cameras. The size being sooooooooo small really bothers me, but I am very close to buying an HF S10 anyway. TY for posting this excellent example of the quality one can achieve with the Canon Vixia camera.

[ArmoredSaint848]

Hi Robert i wanna get HF10 or HF20 now which one in your opinion had better video quality? Thx in advance

[Chapter81]

Hahahahaha...gotta love the bottle of water on the statue's hand! :D 2:40

[GiacomoC]

I have this camera and love it.

I gotta say, this is the best test video of any camera I have ever seen on YouTube. You're a real artist, young man.

Jim

[ifreakinlovepop]

What's the song called? Great test footage! :)

[kmoo2]

does this camera do the thing where it can focus on something up close and everything in the background it blurry? cuz that makes videos look really professional and someday i wana buy a canon vixia :D

[kmoo2]

i want a canon vixia soooooo freakin bad! i wish they werent so expensivee. :/ but i guess its way worth it..

[djvimix]

tank yuo very nice video i have same camera.

[egrewing74]

@rigomrtsfx You can find them on amazon for like 20 bucks. Way cheaper than what Canon charges for theirs. Just put your camera model and charger (ex: vixia hg20 charger) in the search field and they'll pop up and they all say which model cameras they work with.

[DesertSmeagle]

im probably gonna buy this camera refurbished because refurb its only 530$ rather han 700-1000$ everywhere else.....is it worth getting refurbished?

[Patriot4444]

Very nice...good job.

[brickbandits09]

yes bro this was on point. i have this cam and its 1 of the best

[blusokx]

You havent answered why you would upload a sample in 720p? The camera shoots 1080p doesnt it?

[dcdude]

@blusokx pretty sure you cant upload 1080p to youtube

[Cletten]

Awesome video, really! Perfect music, dude!

[doddsalfa]

This is not classical music.Its baroque music by Johann Pachelbel.Canon in D Major.

[davidlepold]

great music! :-)

[shred2love]

hey you have great videos on this camera and i was wondering if you think it was a great buy

[RobertSmith3]

@shred2love yeah I think it was a very great buy. You'll love it.

[lilcrazyaznboy]

@RobertSmith3 I love that music.. Give me?

[aibomart]

Why isn't it in 1080p? From what I've heard, it does 1080p.

[AWarlordsView]

I'm really thinking about buying this camera or the kodak zi8 ...........I know completely different but the quality of the hf20 is so much better for about $320 more.

[DeeZzzNutts]

Good video test work Robert. I'm in the process of purchasing a new HD Cam. The only thing that sucks about the S20 is there isn't any viewfinder. The S21 has the viewfinder and double the memory with 2 SD slots.

I would like to chat with you regarding more on the camera if thats ok with you.

[ClassicMproductions]

This is also an awesome video, Pretty sick transactions. Good job.

[ClassicMproductions]

It's a great Camcorder. I got one For Christmas. Amazing Quality. Sometimes it can be shitty. But i love it

[cockyjeremy]

I like the transitions you used. What'd you use to edit? Final Cut?

[happyPITA]

Thanks for the help with the HF20! Your videos are very much appreciated by midlife technophobic adults! Keep it coming!How about a video about uploading HD clips to youtube with the HF20?

[RobertSmith3]

Thanks, I already have videos showing you that, feel free to check them out in my channel.

[happyPITA]

I see the one for the Mac-but not one for PC's?...I must be missing something(nothing new!)

[DramaKidStudioz]

@happyPITA

Check out my videos with the Canon HF20, had for half year now, I use it for filmmaking purposes, SEE BEST QAULITY OF IT, well not really bc of YOUTUBE compression

[freddytk421]

Hell yea, my old camera broke yesterday. so I bought this one today and I can't wait to make some vids. I'm stoked, I can't wait for the sun to come up. Thanks for the post.

[battlestroke7]

how long will this camcorder film in hidef before needing a charge?

[RobertSmith3]

The camcorder is known to hold a charge for about an hour, but on the camcorder itself, it says usually on a full charge, I have 166 min remaining. But you can or course buy other batteries that last longer for it.

[oooooooi]

ok thanks alot bro,thats a good piece of information

i really appreciate ur help =D

[oooooooi]

hi robertsmith3 i would like to know,what video output format does this camera support??is it the .MOV??or any other format??thanks alot bro =D

[RobertSmith3]

The camcorder outputs AVCHD format. It's fairly new and a reason a lot of video editing programs do not support it yet.

[oooooooi]

@RobertSmith3

so it doesnt have any special format made by canon??just like sony hd camcorder,they have their very own .m2ts video file format.thanks alot bro =D

[RobertSmith3]

Nope :)

[treenut22]

how did you get the quality to look so good on youtube? Ive done the proper export to mpeg4 or mp4 i dotn remember b\and exported 17000 kbs cuz i shot in 17 megabit. The playback quality on my mac in QT player is great but the youtube qualtiy still sucks. HELP!!

[RobertSmith3]

I used iMovie to edit and upload the video, and iMovie converts the orginal movie to .mov format. So I didn't have to worry about all the other settings that you are referring to (17000kbs...17 megabit).

I suggest checking out my PC version of how to upload/convert your .mts files so you can upload to YouTube without having to worry about if you are exporting it correctly. I'm assuming your have a PC, but either way, there are free apps that makes this very easy.

[treenut22]

no i have a mac and i watched the video till u exported and i did the same and my video still dosent look as good as yours. look at my hf20 test video and tell me what to do. ive converted both ways by exporting through imovie and directly sharing

[RobertSmith3]

Your video looks just fine to me. You need to keep a couple of things in mind though. For my video, I used a tripod, which help stabilized the video and helped the camcorder to focus a lot easier to capture object details better. I also set it to a slower zoom speed, again helping the camcorder to capture the details easier. In your video you zoom in and out fairly fast on some scenes not really give the camcorder time to adjust. Also, the more light the camcorder can pick up, the better..cont->

[treenut22]

yeah sorry bout that ima put up a new one tomorrow i was just tryin to get a video done to see if i could get it to look good n if it did i was gonna put up a new better one. but still how can i get my vid to look as good as yours?

[RobertSmith3]

These camcorderes aren't really that great for low light scense such as in your home, but overall, your video looked fine to me, but there are things you can add to it like I did to help receive a better result.

[treenut22]

what can i add?

[RobertSmith3]

I suggest next time around, film only object/material outside on a sunny day. Change your zoom speed to the last one (will be the slowest zoom speed available). Try to film things that are rich in color (bright reds/greens/yellows/etc.), even though it's a little hard to find things like that around this time of the year. If you don't have a tripod, buy one :)

Film things with a lot of detail, but again, make sure there is enough light shining on that object/s.

[treenut22]

i do have a tripod and ima get a fluid head soon. and new lenses and stuff but ive got stuff i can film. Thanks so much ill have the video up in about 12 hours

[RobertSmith3]

Not really much you can add, just change how you film, as you did a decent job in your first test.

[wonderbread1]

I don't know, I have seen some people's videos on here using this camera indoors and the quality is amazing. I can seem to find the combo of settings that they are using though, cuz mine look grainy indoors.

[asolomon15]

The quality looks good to me but I am still new to the video world

[fbithejames]

I'm pretty sure that iMovie and YouTube decreased the quality a lot. I'm sure the original was hellata better. :)

[raqueltom]

I just got 100X more excited about this camera that I just got for Christmas. I had never heard of it before so I turned to youtube for some reviews. thanks for the info..I can't wait for more tutorial videos.

[vixvix801]

just bought this a best buy it was 750 bones! but they say its the bees knees so i had to make the pricey investment! so far i am excited about it

[TECHBUGTv]

I may pick this up at work. HD is very nice!

[omidnp]

Tnx a lot Dude, I wanna buy the same kind of thing but I really want to know whether it worths to go for the HF10, and finally did you film the first interview bit with the same cam? I really want to use it for close ups and talk-based docs not for long shots really ...

Take care buddy

[pattyk77]

Amazing, the quality is crystal clear. Makes my old sony handycam look like garbage.

[MacProductions13]

im getting this camera for christmas!!!! The HD quality is AWSOME!!!!

[NGS21NIGGAS]

depending of having or not dual core man

[virlusun]

Great video test, like magic!

[prasaddudwaadkar]

Awesome stuff Robert......Can you also upload a video on how to transfer vids from cam to pc. I have heard lot of of people complaining about that part.

[RobertSmith3]

Yeah I'll try to find out what software is recommended for PC and do a separate video for the PC similar to the Mac.

[Blaze0820]

i got this black friday! im 15 and i love to film!

[toir08]

Great footage Robert!

[SeeveX]

You made a beautiful vidioe and beautiful landscape. the music was good for the movie

[ssk600]

Nice video and editing. You did a very good job and you have a good eye for detail. Did you use a tripod? I just ordered the hf20 too. Did some research and looked at the hg20 which has 64gb hard drive and decided on the hf20 for its size, vid quality and cheaper price. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

peace.

[RobertSmith3]

Hey, yeah I used a tripod as I wanted to keep the footage as stable as possible when zooming in or out. It helps to also give it a more professional look, and I'm amazed this small camcorder did that :).

[macintoshtipz]

hey man. i ordered the camcorder this weekend to help with th videos i do here on YouTube. is it mac friendly?

[RobertSmith3]

You are in luck as that's what I used to edit and upload this video :)

As mentioned at the end of the video, the next video will actually show the process for taking the video content off the camcorder and uploading it to YouTube.

[iggypop50]

Very nice video, I just purchased the HF20 on Friday and still learning. A few questions.

Did you you use the fade in and out in the camera or on your computer editing?

I'm still learning and looking forward in seeing more of your work.

Thanks

[RobertSmith3]

I used the fade (Cross Dissolve Transition) on my computer editing software. I saw that the camcorder has some of it's own special effects, but haven't really had the chance to play around with them yet. I'll be making a video on that stuff as well in the future.

[erichouse8]

Rob,

This was a great video and I noticed that you just uploaded the video so you probably have not had a lot of time with the camera. How did you finally decide on this camera. I am in the market and was going to get the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 but im afraid i might be sacrificing video quality for a smaller camera. let me know what you think.

Thanks for posting the video

[RobertSmith3]

It came down to, quality expandability (advanced mini shoe allows you to add different components to it), style (the way it looked), internal memory, and price.