I need help with getting my first camera.

[roblc12]

I'm trying to find a canon consumer camera that has the best picture and performance, I'm willing to spend 1000+, thanks guys. I was looking at the hf s10, hf s100, hf11, or the hv 30, hv 40.

[OSV]

the canon avchd camcorders currently have the highest resolution test results on camcorderinfo.com, but that could change later this year, with the new models.

what subject matter will you be shooting? what kind of computer will you be editing on, and what cpu does it have in it?

[roblc12]

Most of my footage will be of family, but I want to get into weddings and local advertisment. I have a hp pavilion dv6000 with a centrino duo core cpu @2 giga hz each.

[OSV]

worst case, you can edit avchd on a core2duo by transcoding it into a good intermediate codec... cineform neo scene, for instance... maybe try establishing a workflow first, download some of the hf11 test clips that are over at dvinfo dot net.

here is my page on the Canon Vixia HF11 (http://www.codectest.com/productreviews/canon-vixia-hf11-camcorder.html), see if there is anything that would be helpful there.

for weddings and family stuff, some of these upcoming models could be the ticket... just be sure and get the high-end consumer model, something that has full manual control... canon typically gives you the best manual controls.

if you can afford a real camcorder, look at the hmc150, the new jvc, or whatever new prosumer camcorder canon will be coming out with... i would personally never buy a tape-based camcorder.

[roblc12]

I agree with not getting tape-based camcorders, but for now I'm going to stick with canons consumer camcorders, I'm not ready for pro cams yet. I've narrowed it down to the hf 11 or the hf s10. For the hf s10 will editing video in this MPEG4 codec H.264 be too slow with my laptop or would i have to compress all my files? I was thinking about using vegas pro 8, any suggestions on editing and transcoder software?

[OSV]

doesn't the hf s10 use the same 24Mbps avchd as the hf11? look for the hf s100, i think that it's identical to the hf s10, but with no internal memory, you have to shoot directly to the sd card(??)

the file transfer times from the internal memory of the hf11 are abysmal, shooting to the card is much easier, so i'm wondering if that will also be true for the hf s1xx series of camcorders.

i use vegas pro with the canopus hq codec on my core2duo desktop, it works o.k.... you probably won't have that codec, but maybe you can download a trial for neo scene, to use with those sample avchd clips that i mentioned earlier... see how it works on your laptop.

get the editing workflow down before you get the camcorder.

[roblc12]

My computer works ok with that footage, it could always be better though. I have a good understanding of editing workflow I just need to get a lil more creative with editing. Thanks for you help, now I just have to wait for the canon hf s10 to come out, it should be out in April.