Getting HFS100! (Final Cut Pro)

[Mayer Chalom]

Hey guys I am new to the forum as of today. I have just returned my canon hv30 to b&h and am going to buy the hfs100!
When I but the hv30 I also bought the rode video mic, and the blackmagic intensity pro editing card for my mac pro with final cut studio 2. I only returned the hv30. (I feel so stupid because I should have gotten the hfs100 before).

1. Anyways since one of the negative of the hfs100 is that it has a mini advanced shoe instead of a full sized shoe like the hv series I will have to get an adapter. Will this adapter cut it Pearstone | Cold Shoe Adapter for Canon Camcorders | CSA | B&H

2. For those who have final cut and use avchd cams how long is the transcoding to prores by logging and transferring. Since I have an 8 core mac pro with 4gb of ram I believe it should be a lot faster than realtime capture. For those who have a mac pro I would like to hear your experience.

3. I believe a class 4 sdhc card is sufficient enough for 24mpbs recording, but when logging and transferring will a faster sdch card transcode faster while logging. BTW I will be connecting the cam through usb not a card reader.

4. What's your guys initial thoughts about the cam and do you think I made the right decision. BTW I mostly went with the camera mostly because of the manual gain, and larger focus wheel.

Thanks alot and I am glad to be at the forum.

[Marcelo Lima]

I have a HG21, and about the time to convert to Apple Intermediate Codec, on my MacBook Pro 2.4, 4Gb Ram takes like more than real time to log and transfer and convert... Isnt too slow but could be faster of course... I lose the tapeless features, because its like a tape rolling time ehehhe.. But its OK... In your 8 core sure will be faster... So i dont think you will have problems with it...
Look for a CLIPWRAP 2.0 here in forum... It will be released the beta soon... Very good news for AVCHD and FCP users...

About the Cold Shoe Adaptor.. I bought one of this when i were in New York (at B&H) and works perfectly... Very stable and secure... I liked...

[David Merrill]

I just got my HF-S100 a couple days ago. I love it. I've heard people complain about low light performance. It blows away my DVX100. By default the gain is on auto and will pump it up to 18 if need be. The thing is it's trying to brighten up night scenes so I set my gain not to exceed 6 and assigned exposure to the wheel. Then you can bring down the brightness to a natural night level. I just went outside and shot some city streets at night this way and it looks great. My only complaint would be the mics. They're real sensitive and unnatural sounding. I guess all consumer cams are like this. So......, I got a Juicedlink XLR adapter and hooked up a couple Rode NT1-A's. Now it sounds sweet too.

Here's the night shot http://www.vimeo.com/5767315
I was shooting 24P. I'd probably get less studder on Vimeo using 30P.

[Mayer Chalom]

Thanks for all of your help guys, but do you really thing the hfs100 blows the dvx100 out of the water in low light. I had an hv30 and returned and it was about on par (slightly better) than my xl1. People have compared the hfs100 to hv30 in low light and said the hv30 is slightly better in low light. I don't really care that much because the hfs100 has manual gain (gain limiter almost the same thing) and the hv30 does not. But seriously the dvx100 I am shocked. No shit it is much much much sharper but in low light I am astonished. Thanks.

[David Merrill]

Originally Posted by Mayer Chalom

But seriously the dvx100 I am shocked. No shit it is much much much sharper but in low light I am astonished. Thanks.

Before I get flamed by all the DVX users I better qualify my statement. When I say it blows away my DVX I'm talking mostly about the difference between HD and SD. The DVX is a great SD camcorder. It would probably beat the HF-S100 in low light. And if you want the "movie looks" then the DVX is your ticket. The HF-S100 and the other consumer camcorders in that range get a bad rap for low light performance but I've concluded it's coming from people who shoot in "auto mode". Like any consumer camcorder it's trying to produce a neutral gray image. And by default it's set to add as much as 18db gain to achieve it. So you get in a dark environment and it's pumping up the gain and adding noise. If you turn the gain to 0 or 6 max and play with the exposure you can get a clean image in dark situations. I even had to bring the exposure down a few points to match the environment.

EDIT: I did some more testing and I'd have to admit the HF-S100 is just satisfactory in low light. You can make it a lot cleaner looking by setting the gain to 6. But you have to use a shutter of 1/15 or 1/8 in very low light.
http://www.box.net/shared/static/32ktp742eb.jpg Auto Gain
http://www.box.net/shared/static/alf29jefp4.jpg Gain at 6, 1/8th shutter