Canon VIXIA HG20 Camcorder

I've always been a Sony guy when it comes to video, but I use Canon for my stills. I decided to try the Canon this time for video and I'm more than satisfied. The video quality is very sharp and detailed, and the auto white balance helps capture some great footage when recording with auto on. I also messed with manual white balance, focus, and shooting modes. All worked as expected. There are a couple things that this model does not have that would be nice (i.e. infrared night shooting, firewire), but my main interests in my new camera were picture quality. I didn't bother installing the editing software as I use Adobe and Pinnacle software for that. If you're looking to capture some stunning detailed video, I would recommend this camera. 60 GIGs of HD space is a nice perk as well. Thanks Amazon for the quick shipping. Just in time to get some HD video of my new 8 week old german shepherd pup!

I have owned the HG20 for one week and am amazed with the clarity of the HD picture especially in low-light conditions. Definitely need a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable for playback to LCD TV's. Very happy with the performance. Autofocus is very smooth. Battery life is limited but once you have the extra battery, there's no problem....

Recently got the HG20. Am fairly pleased with the perform of the camera, so all is good there. Unfortunately, I'm not so happy with the editing software. It's incredibly basic, and has a lot of issues. Initially I was having some issues with this software using my laptop (which I discovered is a tad under spec with having only a Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2GHz), so I installed it on a friend's new computer which is over spec'd with a Quad CPU processor and more than enough memory. The software requires at least a Core 2 Duo @ 2.13GHz. Thankfully, his system solved most of the blips I was originally seeing on my laptop, however, there were still many small pauses in the small editing screen playback feature. For example, if I put two different clips together, the playback feature worked fine up until it reached the second clip, after which the CPU went from being ~50% busy to 100% busy, which created many small pauses in the movie as the sound continues. When adding a transition between cli... Read more

You can not base your review of the camera only on the editing software that comes with the camera. All HD camera's come with just basic editing software which do not take advantage of hardware. I purchased this camera 2 weeks ago, connect directly to my HD 65" and the picture is incredible. I use Vegas Pro and the editing is great, burn to DVD DL with Blue Ray format and the play back is just as great. Great camera for the price. I do have one question. What was included within the box when you recieved your camera?

Great camera. The biggest flaw is not the 60 gb drive which is bigger than you will ever need, or the menu interface which is easy, intuitive and user friendly, the biggest flaw is the lack of the view finder on this camera. Big deal you say, its got a modern screen instead of a view finder, but that modern screen in really bright sunlight kinda washes out (like all those screens do) and might lead you to adjust the settings or force you to trust your autoexposure when you are taking those priceless outdoor shots. The hg 21 has the eye piece viewfinder which is a reliable indicator of what you are shooting in those conditions, but for the extra 300 USDs it's hard to justify. The AF is super in this camera, no distiguishable periods "out of focus" as you rapidly zoom in and out. Also the head set or yellow AV jack, is a must have. Ever record tons of footage and find out the only thing you can hear is the wind buffetting your microphone? Record wearing regular ipod type headphones... Read more