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 - Plays well with my MacThis was a gamble that paid off. It is the first flash-based camera I have ever had. Some reviews said that it was difficult to use with a Mac. In fact, this camera is easier to use than my previous Canon HV20, takes a great picture, and is easily edited with both iMovie 08 (blah) or Final Cut Express. I can bring it into iMovie 08 or FCE, save, and edit it in iMovie HD , as sometimes I find FCE too complicated. The only real con I have with it is the fact I cannot re-upload to the flash card, and since I sold my HV20, I have no miniDV camera to upload to. I sometimes do shows to put on local community tv, and it needs to be on miniDV. The sound from wind is a little worse than with the HV20, but I usually tape indoors. The pros include small size, no tapes to lug around, 12X zoom, superior sound from forward facing mikes, the ability to use sd cards from my photo camera, and an easy button. Often I find the easy button gets better shots than when I do the work of setting focus etc. I absolutely love the integration with Apple's FCE, as I can pull up log and transfer, and choose what clips I want to transfer over to my computer. And watching something on a high-def tv from the hdmi connection on the camera is a joy. Rating: - This Camera is WELL worth it. Simply Amazing This is my third video camera, the previous ones both being sonys, one an older hi8 and a newer sony miniDV camcorder. I have sold both of them and purchased this new canon HF100 and love it. We took it on a family vacation to the beach and it took superb video. I have a mac and love editing and creating movies with IMOVIE. I haven't found anything about this camera that I dislike. The video and even sound quality is crystal clear. You will not be disappointed. Don't get the more expensive one with built in memory, you can get yourself a 16 gig SD card, I got the transcend one with reader and i can take up to 2 hours of video in the highest and the battery lasts a while too. I didn't want a battery sticking out of the back. We rarely video tape anything more than just an hour or so anyways. I may get a second SD card just to have it incase we fill the one up and cant access the computer to upload them. This camera is a great buy for the money! 600 bucks and free shipping! Rating:  - CHECK OUT THE LOWEPRO LC1 CASEThe LC1 is really a lens case but fits the hf100 perfectly. If your looking for a case that has enough padding and not bulky, check out the LC1. Rating: - Great value at the current pricesThe HF100 is a great deal right now. Compared to my old standard def miniDV (Canon ZR-30) camera, the hf100 is a hands down winner. One big area of improvement is the image quality in "room lighting". Under incandescent bulb lighting, the detail, color and sharpness are very good. There is still noise in low light, but it is much more reasonable. The camera creates a new file on the SDHC card each time you press the record button. You can view and delete each "scene" in camera, allowing you to free up valuable space. Compared to tape, the non-linear nature of the videos is a big plus. No fast forwarding or rewinding required. I have found the following downsides so far... 1) Battery life is just ok. 2) The built in video light is not that useful. It has a very blue tint to it, and is not very flattering to your subjects. An add-on light is still required if you are picky about this. 3) The built in microphone picks up the holders voice at a very high level. I find myself speaking much more gently when talking to my subjects. 4) There is no eye level viewfinder, just the lcd, which can be troublesome in very bright light. 5) The biggest issue for me is going to be the archiving of the raw files. Tape provides you with an instant archive that is missed. While you will save some money from not buying tapes, plan on spending some money on Hard Drives, or a Blu-Ray burner if you need more than just a burned dvd of your videos. If you buy this camera, I'd recommend getting a second battery, a 16 or 32gb SD card (8gb = 1:05 hours at highest quality), and an SDHC card reader for your PC. To sum up, this is a great product if you realize what you are getting into. High Def AVCHD video creates large files that require a powerful pc to edit. Archiving can be frustrating. With those caveats aside, the HF100 is hard to beat when compared to the competition, especially at the current price. Rating: - GreatI've been using my camcorder for about a week now and I'm very pleased. I wasn't sure about getting this camcorder or getting one that supports xvycc or 5.1 sound. The reason I chose to ignore xvycc is, in it's currently implemented form, requires 10 bits per pixel instead of 8. That means for a given amount of video, you need to store 25% more data. Generally speaking, the higher the bit transfer rate, the better the picture quality. More bits/second means more information per second which means a better picture. So I felt there would have to be a trade off between more colors and picture quality. I would prefer a sharper picture over more colors. 5.1 sound sounded interesting, but I don't think it would make much difference in home videos. if I were making real movies, then it would make sense. In the end, I wanted as clear as possible picture quality and that's why I chose this camera. The picture is stunning. I was amazed at how clear some of the scenes were. It looked like I was watching hi-def tv. The sound quality was excellent too. When I film in low light conditions, the picture doesn't look great, but looks pretty good. I don't think it's possible to have good quality low light filming on a consumer level camcorder. When I film in good lighting, like outdoors, the picture looks amazing. I also love the way the video stores on memory cards. Outside of the lens cover, there are no moving parts. I have 2 ps3's and to view the video, all I have to do is plug the card into a usb port using an adapter that came with my transcend card and select the usb device on the ps3 menu and it plays perfectly. The camcorder is as small as a camera. I store mine in an old camera case I used for a digital camera. I also place my files on a windows vista pc and using windows media center I can stream the video straight to my ps3's. It's very easy. I just copy the files to my shared video folder on my pc, go to my ps3, select the file and it plays. I also have the option of burning the contents straight to a dvd and sticking that in the ps3 and playing it. These are regular DVD's. Not blu-ray. You can store about 30 minutes per regular DVD or get a double layer DVD and store an hour. The included pixela software isn't great, but it can do basic editing and it's good for reordering scenes or combining scenes. You don't have to use the software at all if you have a ps3 or another blu-ray player that can play avchd and just want to play the video as is. I highly recommend getting a ps3 with this camera. It makes playing so much easier with lots of options. I just bought one from sony style and got a $150 credit by applying for a credit card, so it only cost about $250 plus tax. Plus you can watch blu-ray movies and play games.
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