Unboxing the Canon HF100 HD Camcorder

The Canon HF100 is one of the best consumer HD camcorders on the market. That’s why I recommended it to Derek Semmler and eventually ended up buying one myself just a few days ago. John Chow is also looking at one and I know he’ll be biting the bullet once his wife lets him. The HF100 uses flash memory which has no moving parts unlike hard drive units. It’s also very compact in size; roughly the same size as the Samsung SC-HMX20C that I reviewed at Futurelooks.

The main difference between the HF100 and the two higher end Canon HD Camcorders, the HF10 and the HF11, is the lack of internal memory. Because SDHC memory cards are so cheap these days, it’s definitely not worth the price difference to have either 16GB or 32GB onboard. The HF10 and the HF100 are essentially the same except for the color and the 16GB of onboard memory (HF10), while the HF11 does have the extra ability of recording at 24Mbps recording in HD.

Check out the unboxing video below…

The Canon HF100 is substantially cheaper than the HF10 and HF11 and with those extra dollars, you can buy extra memory cards or take advantage of the advanced hot shoe by adding an external mic or video light, making this into a great camcorder for the amateur videographer. Look for this machine to make an appearance in an upcoming DotComPho Episode.