Old newbie here. Just joined the forum today. Retired in 2010 from Government contracting (software) for NASA, USAF, NOAA, and others. Have used still cameras for decades (remember film?), prizes are a circa 1958 Nikon S-2 and early '50s Rolleiflex 3.5. Somewhere in the bin is an Argus C-3 inherited from my Dad, who used it during WW2.
Have been using a Sony DCR-TVR240 Digital8 handycam for about a dozen years, got frustrated by the disappearance of tapes, especially the 90-minute variety. (Also, lack of High Def capability.)
Just sold my motorcycle, a classic 1979 Honda CX500 Custom, and trailer, used part of proceeds to buy a Vixia HF G40. Am still getting acquainted with it. Discovered immediately that two of my computers that I use for editing and DVD production are too backwards to use the Canon/Pixela tools directly - old iMac (circa 2002) has PowerPC chip, Linux machine has dual-boot Windows XP and I REFUSE to buy a Windows upgrade. Spent much of the day yesterday setting up an FTP server on my Linux machine, figured out how to ship files from the Vixia via WiFi to the FTP server, can then move files from Linux partition to XP partition and ingest into Sony Vega. Haven't decided yet whether I'm better off using AVCHD or MP4 recording format. Some experimentation will decide that.
Am now thinking about devising a Linux cron job to control the Vixia via WiFi to permit time-lapse photography. Might not be possible but seems like an idea worth pursuing.