It works on the HFS100 but you have to set the camera mode dial to "Dual Shot." Flipping back and forth between modes makes it more hassle than it's worth.

It seemingly works for me in the video-only mode too, when replaying recorded footage the aperture and shutter speed match what was reported by a half-press.

Robin, I too was under the impression Cine Mode tried to keep the shutter speed at 1/50th on a PAL camera, but after a day's shooting that's not what mine is doing - at all.

It seems that the camera is trying to maintain f4.0 and will vary the shutter speed to do that. In low light, it'll first open the aperture then drop the shutter speed, but in bright light, it'll stick as closely as possible to f4.0 and vary the shutter speed. During one of my shots, a helicopter flew low overhead so my instant reaction was to film it, and I can see that the camera stayed at f4.0 even with the bright sky, but the shutter speed shot up to 1/250th and the unnatural effect on the rotor blades is obvious... which is precisely not what I want it to do.

On the HFS100?

Yes, although you have to set simultaneous recording to "On", otherwise a red, flashing warning icon will appear beneath the video recording quality indicator.

Surely, if you switch to Dual Mode you're over-riding all other settings and are shooting in what was called Easy Mode on the HF10?

Don't use Dual Mode... in other words, leave the camera on the film mode, the middle setting on the dial at the rear. Then go into the Function menu and the still shooting settings (second from bottom). The default is Simultaneous Recording: "Off", if you change that to any other setting - I have it on LW/Super Fine, then the half-press will work regardless of the shooting mode, be it Cine, TV etc, and whether any other custom options are set.

Okay, I see what you mean now.
I've just tried it and it works fine.
Very useful - many thanks!

That's why I've sworn off Cinemode. It will vary the shutter speed as it deems necessary. That may be fine for some people but not for me.

I think it depends what the alternative is and what kind of shot you are after.

If you want the scene lit darkly, then perhaps it's best not to let the camera to change to a slower shutter speed. But you might have to deal with excess noise in post production. In which case, a change in shutter speed may have been a good alternative.

The other alternatives are adding gain, which Cinema mode will also do and adding more light to the composition.

When composing in low light, at some point, sensor noise becomes an issue that has to be acknowledged.

This is all very helpful information so thank you for sharing it. I intend to purchase the HF S10 (PAL) and quite a lot of my shooting will be in the low light conditions you find in a forest in daylight and at dawn/dusk, so pretty gloomy sometimes. The camcorder will often be handheld and I will be walking a fair bit too while shooting. I don’t mind a darker picture overall or deep shadow as long as the images do not contain too much noise (hence the gain limit). I am considering the following settings: 25p 1/50 AGC limited to 12dB. Sharpness and colour set to -1.

Leaving aside the OIS aspects, based on your experiences with this camcorder would you recommend other settings for the conditions I will be filming in? I prefer a smooth ‘film look’ and the advantages in low light offered by 25p, and don’t mind a slightly soft image. I have read quite a lot about the Cinemode function and there has been a debate about the pros and cons. From what I have picked up, resolution is not significantly sacrificed but you lose some control over what the camcorder is doing in terms of shutter speeds. Nevertheless, if I can set the AGC limit with cinemode this might be a good route for me to take. One consideration is that many of my scenes will be complex in content with densely packed detail (lots of verticals and a million leaves) so I recognise motion may actually be my biggest problem when trying to avoid noise and artifacts. Any advice gratefully received.