Canon VIXIA HF R40 HD 53x Image Stabilized Optical Zoom Camcorder 8 GB Internal Drive Dual SDXC Car

I am a community college instructor and I have had problems with students who are absent for illness and those who just "muddle through" lectures. I wanted to be able to film my lectures for review and for those who miss class. I had been using another handheld very small internal storage video cam but I was dissatisfied with that product because the battery life was short and you had to restart the video record every 30 min. and my lectures are 2 hours + at times. Further I needed a recording format that was easy and didn't require me to reformat it to post... The Cannon HRR40 is incredible. The battery life is great (and you can leave it plugged in if you record a long time) and the 64 gig class 10 extreme scandisc supplemental memory card (GET THIS) is wonderful and fast... I have yet to have the lecture exceed the size I could record! AT SD the video is as crisp as any HD I have seen! I don't even need the wonderful HD mode! The touchscreen is a bit small but you rarely need it anyway once you are setup and I can carry it easily in my briefcase or even pocket as it is only about 6 inches by 3 by 3 in size... it is light and the quality is awesome... THIS IS A GREAT BUY!

Just wanted to write a quick review for those with Apples/Mac computers.

This records in MP4 to the SD card, so all you need to do, especially if you have a macbook pro, is put the SD card into your MBP slot and you can just drag the files to your computer. You can open it up in quicktime or you can use it for pretty much any video editing program or if you recorded it the way you want exactly, you can upload the mp4 files straight to youtube/fb, etc.

NEGATIVE

You can be recording in the highest quality MP4 format (35mbps), but if you are recording in lower light situation, the quality is just like a SD, standard definition quality. But, if you record it outside in sunny conditions, it'll show up pretty good.

Also, the AVCHD can be used in finalcutX and imovie. However, if you record in AVCHD format, you can't just create folders on your computer and save the files (like you would with the mp4 files), but you would have to open one of the video editing programs and import them all and make sure it's saved. What I like to do is, once the SD card is full, I would make a folder on my computer or external Hard drive and name it, "Day1" and then dump the files there (MP4 format). Erase the SD card, record more, then make another folder "Day2" and then dump the files there. So that I can use those files later to edit or share, etc. (and also have a backup of everything I recorded).

Just as reference, I do amateur videography and use canon DSLR cameras for photos and videos (t2i and markII) and do everything with Mac computers but I wanted a backup camcorder.

In short, if I were filming ONLY things outside, I'll get this but if I have film indoors, with just average lighting on the subject, I'm a bit concerned it's going to come out grainy. If this is purely for non-professional use and majority is for family things where you might want to share the quicktime files and/or upload them to youtube/fb, this will suffice. (if you don't have a HD TV, you won't even notice much difference anyway)

But the major thing is, this can work on Macs if you ONLY use the MP4 format for recording. (AVCHD files can be used in FinalcutX or imovie)

Buy Canon VIXIA HF R40 HD 53x Image Stabilized Optical Zoom Camcorder 8 GB Internal Drive Dual SDXC Car Now

I have tried for a few years to use various other entry level camcorders with mac computers and have always been so frustrated with the need to transcode everything I record. As far as I can tell, the popular AVCHD video format just doesn't play well with mac software. (Not sure how it does on Windows since I've never tried it.) I have tried so many video converter apps, and even the fastest ones take longer to convert the video than it took to record the video,and converting in iMovie is even worse. For me, the time consuming conversion step kind of takes the fun out of it, and for my wife makes it impossible altogether. It's just too darn much trouble. With this camera, though, you get the option to record either in AVCHD, or MP4 format. Videos recorded in the MP4 format can be played instantly on my mac in iPhoto or iTunes, as well as streamed directly to my Apple TV so we can watch them on the big screen. It is *so* much more convenient to not have to convert everything. The camera offers 4 different bitrate versions of MP4, but I find the 17mbps to be about right (there are 2 higher levels). Supposedly you can also record in both AVCHD and MP4 simultaneously using the internal storage and SD card, but I have not tried that yet. So far it's a winner. The video quality is about the same as all the other small sensor entry level camcorders (mediocre at best), but at least it's fun and easy to use with my mac.

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Great picture, compact and simple to use. I would recommend this product for the price and picture quality combo. The baby monitor feature is little lacking in range however is pretty cool feature when your in a pinch.

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I was so confused as to why my recording sessions would be in separate video files for each time I tried to pause during a intermission.

Looked all over the hard to read 200 page manual. It said to use the 'Start/Stop' button for pausing?

Finally contacted canon support, and in a obtuse way, said that this camcorder has no pause.

I know many digital recorders do not have pause, but they should not state in the manual that it is possible.

Luckily i found this limitation while still in my return period so back to the POP it goes.

Canon support reply:

Thank you for contacting Canon product support. I am sorry to hear the Start/Stop button on your Vixia HF R40 camcorder is starting a new recording.

One movie scene unit is considered to be from the point you press the Start/Stop button to start recording until you press again to pause the recording. The only way to record a continuous file is to wait until recording is complete before you press the Start/Stop button. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

I hope this information is helpful to you. Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance with your Vixia HF R40 camcorder. Thank you for choosing Canon.

Sincerely,

Nancy

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