Canon Cameras US 9176B001 VIXIA HF R500 Video Camera with 3-Inch LCD (Black)

This is truly a very excellent camcorder. My last camcorder was a Sony ES900 which was 20 years ago and was tape driven. But with technology changing and the fact that I need something simple I can use for my YouTube channel, this caught my attention. I can just record onto an SD card and then put the card into my new HP TouchSmart computer while I easily copy the recording as a mp4 file onto my desktop. From there I can load it into Windows Movie maker, make my additions and edits, publish a final and then load onto my YouTube channel when doing my YouTube addresses. The battery took only about an hour to charge. The SD 64 card, which you have to buy separately, can record up to 8.5 hours of recording material and the battery it comes with is good for two hours of recording time. You can also plug the camera into a outlet power source if you don't want to use the battery. I don't need that much for my needs, but I printed the 200 page instruction manual offered by Canon and as I perused through the manual, I noticed this camera has a lot to offer. You should check out the Canon site and download the manual to get a full insight to what this camera can do. Here is the link: http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/camcorders/high_definition_camcorders/vixia_hf_r500#BrochuresAndManuals This works very well under low and normal lighting conditions. Very intuitive design. The quick start guide gets you going fast enough and when you download the pdf file of the 200 page full manual, you learn this camera is a little power house with all it can do. I thought of buying the lesser version for $100 less, but as I kept reading on the Canon line of cameras and even the Sony brands; while comparing on the net between the various major stores over a few weeks of reading, I decided to go with this one for the money. I knew what I needed and for me this camera meets those expectations. So far so good. No complaints and no problems with the technology. I'm more than satisfied. I also bought the accessory package sold on Amazon.com: Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0073AVSKG/ref=pe_861660_118320330_fxm_4_0_n_id You'll save money buying all the extras as a package deal. The only problem is the long legged tripod, which nis a bit flimsy in my experience with tripods. I bought an all aluminum tripod 30 years ago for $50 and it is still with me today. It is a very sturdy tripod too, but then again $50 bought a lot more than it does today, as the value of the dollar keeps diminishing in its purchase power over time. Such is capitalism with our FIAT currency system in the world. Otherwise it's a good deal. This camera does not come with an SD card, like I said earlier. You'll need to buy one. I bought the SD64 which can record 8.5 hours worth of recording time onto it and which is more than enough to meet my needs. I can easily download the contents to my computer in the form of mp4 files and clear the SD card easy enough to make fresh recordings using the VIXIA HF R500 anyway. All of it will fit into the camera bag that comes with that package kit I mentioned, except for the tripod. I even bought a stereo lavalier mic for interviews. That all fits into the bag including an 30 foot extension cord for the mic. Not bad for the money I spent. I also bought the 4 year Smart Guard extended warranty to safeguard my investment. I do this with all my computers and I would recommend it. I eventually have to send my computers in for work from normal wear and tear over time and even with a 2 or 4 year warranty plan, the plans pay for themselves in the end. I expect to have this camcorder for at least 4 years, unless I drop dead and at my age that could happen. (chuckling). However, if I live so long, then I have the added protection if the camcorder gets damaged or through wear and tear, needs repairs. Oh, one other thing that was not made obvious in the product write up, the lens is protected by a built-in mechanical flip down screen. All you do is flip a side switch and the metal protector retracts which hides the lens, revealing the lens. It keeps the lens protected, so make sure to use it to keep your lens protected when you are not using the camera. Makes me think of some an old German 35mm still cameras I owned some 40 years ago and boy where those cameras built. I still have a few today I keep in my possession. Not saying this is built to those hard standards, but the flap retract technique reminds me of the older German cameras from my youth. I mention this, because I wondered why I did not see any mention of a camera cover for the lens when I was reading up on the Canon camcorders. The reason is it is built in. Also this camera will hook up to a standard tripod screwing method. It has 3.5 mm jacks for both a headset and external mic in case you want to do interviews with it, using an external lavalier mic, which is what I'll be using mine for to help me with my YouTube channel work. You'll find both plugs when you open up the flip screen located on the side of the camera. I mention the 3.5 mm jacks, because that was not made clear in the write up on the camcorder. The mic jack is also stereo too, not mono. So make sure to buy a stereo mic with the 3.5 mm jack. Here is the URL concerning the lavalier mic I bought for this camera and it is a low cost stereo mic with a great sound recording ability. Great value for the money. Nice for the prices I might add. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HHZUXKI/ref=cfb_at_prodpg Hope I mentioned some things not mentioned in the write up or by others you found helpful. PS: If you want to see and hear an example of what this camera can do, go to this YouTube link I just did, using all the equipment I talk about in this review. Notice how nice the sound is using the lavalier microphone I provided the link to and the quality of the video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-UuKp-wnx4

***Update*** Here is a video with my complete rig using the Canon Vixia HF R500 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMuhWBgKnGQ I researched for a few months looking for the right camera to do remote reporter type work. This camera does it all in a low priced package. I combined it with a Tacstar SGC-598 shotgun mic, and a Chromo Inc.® 160 LED CI-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel led light and mounted it on a Heavy Duty Photography L Bracket . Then I bought a set of Sennheiser HD 202 II Professional Headphones. For under $400 I was able to get a complete remote setup to handle anything I needed. This camera is a powerhouse. The video is phenomenal. The controls are a dream with the touch screen. For those that have had bad luck or were not satisfied with this camera I am sorry. But for those that understand at this price point what you are capable of getting this camera rocks the chart. Pros - Mic jack, Headphone jack, hdmi out that allows you to use a monitor or tv "while" you are recording, audio on screen meter, volume input controls, tons of manual options, 1080p 60 fps, also does 720p which is great if you want to make videos for YouTube. Cons- Hard to see touch screen in 12 noon bright sun. (I can deal with that) If you are looking in this price range then you need to stop right now and forget the rest. This is your camera. I posted a picture in user submitted with my camera setup. Hope this review helps.

This is a very easy-to-use camcorder, that fits in the palm of your hand and shoots decent quality high definition video onto standard SD cards. It's about as easy to use as, say, your standard pocket digital camera. It has roughly the same kinds of features too. You can select what format to shoot in, and whether to record it in high, medium or low quality, which basically specifies how much detail of picture information it captures per second. You can turn the optical image stabilizer on and off -- basically you should turn it on if you're shooting handheld and off if you have the camera on a tripod. You can adjust exposure and mike levels and white balance. You can also choose autofocus or manual. The manual focus is pretty easy to work with, due to the touch screen controls. You can pick a point and have the camera focus there, so that that depth stays in focus even as you move the camera. You can also range the focus from very close (.3 feet) to far away ("infinity," represented by a mountain range icon). The images, based on what I've shot, are pretty good. They'd be perfect for family and vacation videos, and they look very good on a computer screen. Obviously this is not a professional camera. It does give you the option of shooting in either AVCHD (a fairly high quality compression format) or mp4. The AVCHD videos capture higher quality, better, video -- but you can't play them back right away on most systems. You'd want to edit them first -- most editing programs can handle it -- and then convert them to another format. If you just want to shoot video, and not worry about doing anything with it before you share it with grandma or upload it onto Facebook it would be best to shoot in mp4, because that can be played directly by almost any player. One nice feature that isn't always shared by camcorders in this price range is that it does have an input for an external microphone. It doesn't have a mount where you could secure a microphone on top, but if, say, you wanted to use this to record memoirs of family members it would be useful to plug in a microphone and have the subject of the interview holding it. On board microphones -- even on a high quality professional camcorder -- are never ideal for capturing sound because they tend to pick up noise from the camera itself.

I absolutely love this camera. I bought this mostly to start making YouTube videos and get my channel up on it's feet, but I use it for a lot more now that I have had some time to play with it. The features it has available is insane. I took it to a fireworks show and was really concerned that it wouldn't work very well because of my past experiences with cameras. I was mostly worried that it would hear too much of the bang from the fireworks and not enough of the radio playing music in front of it. Surprisingly, it worked like a dream in quieting the fireworks and letting the radio stand out. I was surprised that they actually have a setting where you have complete control over everything; mic level, exposure, focus, recording speed, and so on. There are so many impressive features on this tiny little thing. It is really small...it may be a little difficult for people with larger hands to work the zoom as well as the record button, but I think it isn't very difficult to work around and figure out. So if you're looking for something that's reasonably priced that will also give you awesome quality video, this is your camera.

I think this little Cannon camcorder is wonderful. I bought my first ones (for a project for my job) at Best Buy and knew I liked them. I purchased this one here on Amazon for a much better price and had it shipped directly to me. This pint-sized camera fits in the palm of my hand and on a tripod and has awesome picture and sound quality. It is also very easy to use - I have taught many people how to use them for my job and they have had no trouble with them at all. I love that you can put in a an SD card and just pop it out and into the laptop to transfer. The first camcorders I had were WIFI enabled but for the project I am working on, this was not needed, so this one works just as well. I sometimes use an external lapel mic system with it for direct input and it works beautifully. I used them to tape an event in a large church and they adjusted automatically to the lighting for a wonderful looking video.

I'd give the camera a 4.5/5 if I could, and I'll skip the detailed review where I critique each feature - you can do that for yourself and you'll find everything pretty basic and standard to modern digital video cameras at this price range. I've done a good amount of video with the camera over the last year or so; including disc golf, traveling, nature, as a blogging camera, and a family memories kind of camera. It excels in good light, but is serviceable in slightly dimmer conditions - low light, as expected for the price, is not it's strength. The zoom is good, the focus assist and image stabilization work well, and it's quite easy to operate - especially if you've used a digital camera of any kind. The body is very small, and the swivel screen works as advertised - I think it makes an excellent first DV camera or student/traveler/learner type camera. I enjoy having video when I go somewhere - and the memories are so much more vivid in video. i feel like it's lasted long enough that I've gotten my money's worth.

So yes, I am completely new to owning a camcorder because believe it or not I've never even touched one in my entire 21 years of life. So this is my true and honest opinion of my first camcorder. First impression was it looked and felt cheap. But hey, never judge a book by its cover, right? Right! This camera is AWESOME. It's light, and the video quality is really good to my eyes. And I just had lasik, so I have good eyes now. Anyways, you can set it to MP4 format or some other format I don't know what it was. It charges really easy. And it's small and not heavy so my arm doesn't get tired. The only thing I don't really like is that it turns on when you open the video flap thing. There could be a way to turn that feature off, I don't know, I don't read directions. Overall it works for me. I just like taking videos of my animals and dolls, and it does that in exactly the way I want it to. 5 Stars!

We found some great videos on Youtube made with this camera, and based our purchase on those. All we were looking for is a video camera that could record our children's school performances while I'm at work at night since I miss out on so many of them. Cell phone cameras just aren't good enough. I wanted to see my daughter's face. The nervousness when she goes out on stage, the pride when she had done a great job. I wanted to feel a bit like I was there for those things. We are only one performance in, but it was in a fairly dark auditorium, so I feel like this camera was put to the test, and I could see her little face so well despite how far away my husband had to sit. The details and sound were fantastic, and the image stabilization made up for a lot of the first-time cameraman's error -- although I think we will likely invest in a tripod for the future. I like the camera a lot. Very straightforward to use, and the quality, I think, would suit most non-professional needs.