Comment on Canon VIXIA HF M500 Full HD 10x Image Stabilized Camcorder with One SDXC Card Slot and 3.0 Touch LCD Reviews by Jason.
Perfect for my needs!,
I received the Vixia HF M500 camcorder yesterday and am so far very happy with my purchase. I’ll try to keep this review relatively short.
Overall the camera is very simple to use. The menu navigation is rather intuitive. You can hit the home button on the inside panel to bring up selections for a number of important settings. General camera settings and functions are all accessed from here. On the touchscreen, depending on how the camera is set up, you will see other options available. For instance, choosing the “cinema mode” brings up filter selections on the main screen which you simply scroll through to select. Very easy to use!
The included software isn’t much, Pixela Transfer Utility. I can’t complain, it gets the job of transferring files from the camera to the PC done. For reference I’m using Windows 7 and had no problems with installing the software or getting files to load.
Pros:
Video Quality – Excellent for a camera in the sub $600 price range. The colors overall were all very accurate with very good hue and saturation. I filmed a Sandhill Crane in automatic mode and then manually set the white balance using a photo grey card and the compared results were very similar. Many people probably wouldn’t even notice the subtle changes. The sharpness and detail of the video is outstanding. Not once under proper lighting conditions did the video appear grainy or lacking in any way. I did notice a bit of degredation in very poor lighting, which is found below as the one con for this model.
Very small and incredibly light weight. The camcorder fits very comfortably in my hand. The controls are easily available for one handed operation.
Battery life is pretty good and better than I expected at a full 120 minutes. I’ll end up getting a spare just to have but to start it’s nice to know you’ll have 2 hours worth of recording time.
10x optical zoom. There’s no degredation of the video at full zoom, unlike digital.
Optical Image Stabilization. Like the optical zoom, this is the best option available. It doesn’t degrade the picture and produces a very steady shot.
Cinema filters…Ok, so I really didn’t think I would like them but it turns out that I do. To my surprise I actually can see myself using a couple of them from time to time. If nothing else, they provide some artistic options without having to edit them in to the video in your software program of choice.
Audio quality. You’re essentially getting cd quality audio from the internal microphone.
Available hot shoe. In the event you’d like to add a light or external microphone (5.1 surround mics are available) you simply attach the accessory to the hot shoe and you’re ready to go. I know in the future I will be adding these capabilities. This is one of the features that made me choose this model.
Cons – A little lacking in the low light area but nothing that is a deal breaker. I’ve seen far worse and was generally impressed. It isn’t pro quality but if that’s what you’re looking for, $550 isn’t the price range you should be looking in.
Conclusion:
From my couple hours of experimenting and using this camera I can without hesitation say that the quality is exactly what I want and need for my own personal use. There are plenty of options for video quality and general aesthetics right in the camera that make it everything I need. If you’re looking for a “step up” model with some bells and whistles and excellent overall video quality then take a serious look at the HF M500. I am extremely happy with the purchase.
EDIT: 03/31 – I detailed the video quality and battery life as I have yet to be able to load a short sample clip.
EDIT: 04/01 – I finally got some test footage up and available in 1080p on YouTube. I hope you’ll find yourself as happy as I am with the quality of the video this little beauty produces. I am completely satisfied in every way with every aspect of this HD camcorder. Search YouTube for the model number and it should pop up (mine is the “jaysdroid” video), if not here’s the address:
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