First Impressions of the HF10

As usual, I dont' have much time for blogging, but I wanted to give a quick first impression of the HF10

• Image quality is stunning when compared to a standard camcorder. Requires good light. Low light, like dimly lit restaurants, indoors with only a lamp or two, the quality gets grainy/noisy. Apparently, this is largely true for any camcorder.
• It only saves to flash memory, and that's OK. It has internal memory and a SD card slot. I like being able to specify the SD card for photos, and using the 16 gig internal memory for videos
• The internal memory holds 2 hrs of highest quality video. Plenty for me.
• Transferring from internal memory is a slight pain. It requires the charger to be plugged in for USB mode, so if your charger is somewhere else, then you have to get it. I actually think an SD card would be much easier.
• Very small for a camcorder. I was surprised and impressed. Its easy to carry around. With such a small form factor, its hard to keep it steady, as with any small camcorder.
• Battery life isn't great. I haven't tested its limits, but it tells me i has about 75 min max. Since once isn't always shooting during those 75 min, the battery will be the limiting factor, not the internal memory.
  
• Accessories: An extra battery pack may be necessary. I may try the external hotshoe mike for close to $200, but not right away.
• Sharing the HD video will be difficult. Files sizes are massive. Compatiblity will be challenging. Downconverted to standard DVD for DVD players, AVCHD format on DVD to play on computers only. Blu-ray authoring using a good editing suite and buying a blu-ray burner.
  
• Included with the camera is Pixela Imagemaster software. I haven't use it much yet.
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