Canon FS200 Flash Memory Camcorder

Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Canon FS200 Flash Memory Camcorder with 37x Optical Zoom (Sunrise Red)

Technical Details
Record video directly to a removable SDHC memory card
Genuine Canon lens with 41x Advanced Zoom, 37x optical zoom and 2000x digital zoom
Digic DV II image processor
Widescreen HR recording, Dual Shot Mode and Image Stabilizer
Ultra-sleek, lightweight design allows you to take your camcorder with you anywhere

Product Description
From the Manufacturer
Canon’s technological innovation has for decades delivered optical excellence, advanced image processing and top performance, from photographic and broadcast television cameras to our complete line of consumer camcorders.

We’re proud to offer another of our latest, the Canon FS200 Flash Memory camcorder. It’s among the most affordable ways to get stunning video in a light, compact and user-friendly package. As employed in advanced electronic products such as laptop computers, MP3 players, PDAs and cell phones, Flash Memory has numerous benefits. Adding to the usefulness of this camcorder is Canon’s Quick Charge – which reduces the recharge time for the FS200’s battery and Pre-Record gives you a head start on capturing the action.

With the FS200’s Canon Exclusive features such as Canon 41x Advanced Zoom and our DIGIC DV II Image Processor, combined with a 680k CCD image sensor, Image Stabilization and a 2.7-inch Widescreen LCD and our new Quick Charge feature- you’ve got a Flash Memory camcorder that’s hard to beat, very affordable and still unmistakably Canon.

Canon FS200 Highlights
Ultra-Sleek, Compact and Lightweight Design
Making this technology even more convenient to use is the FS200’s compact size and light weight. Measuring only 2.2 inches wide, 2.3 inches high and 4.8 inches deep, it combines big video storage capacity in a small, easy to carry camcorder weighing only 7.9 ounces.

In addition to the advantage of added recording time, Flash Memory, as found in the FS200, offers more to you as well. You’ll appreciate its quick response time, because it doesn’t have to wait for moving parts. Press the record button and your FS200 starts recording video faster than you’ve ever seen before. In addition, when you review your footage, it will start playing more quickly as well.

Another plus is the FS200’s lower power consumption rate, allowing your battery to last longer. It’s just what you need so you don’t miss that pivotal play on the field or the moment when they say “I do.”

While we certainly hope you keep your FS200 securely in your hand while shooting, if it happens to slip, or you accidentally knock it against something, you’ll be happy to know that Flash Memory makes your camcorder more shock resistant than other recording storage systems. It also minimizes the chance of data loss due to damage to your recording media or the moving parts found in other camcorders.

A Class 2 or higher card is recommended. Also, movie recording requires cards with 128MB of memory or more. Cards made by Toshiba, SanDisk or Matsushita are recommended. No particular restrictions apply for still images.

Canon Exclusive: Genuine 41x Advanced Zoom
The Genuine Canon 41x Advanced Zoom on the FS200 is just the kind of exclusive Canon feature you’ve come to expect from the leader in imaging and optics. Advanced Zoom extends the power of your zoom and is the longest zoom Canon has ever offered. In both wide angle and telephoto positions, there is virtually no loss in image quality throughout the range. How is this accomplished? With a Genuine Canon lens which remains in constant motion through the entire extended zoom range aided by our proprietary DIGIC DV II image processor. Read More Canon FS200 Highlights…

What’s in the Box
FS200 Camcorder
Battery Pack BP-808
Compact Power Adapter CA-570
Stereo Video Cable STV-250N
USB Interface Cable IFC-400PCU
Wrist Strap
Digital Video Solution Disk
Pixela ImageMixer 3SE Video Editing Software
Music CD

Canon FS200 Flash Memory Camcorder with 37x Optical Zoom (Sunrise Red) Customer Reviews:

The most helpful favorable review
85 of 86 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars a real review for real people, July 23, 2009
By John Berry “flipnap”
This review is for people who have common sense about this technology and have done even a TAD bit of research before buying. I have been in the video/film/animation industry for 15 years and have used tons of equipment for everything from multimillion dollar productions, to rogue gorilla documentaries. This camera is for people who want to flip open something small and compact, shoot some video for memories and thas that. Pretty much ALL camcorders under 800 dollars are going to shoot interlaced video, and this one does as well. it has complete manual overide for focus and exposure. I read a review where a lady was complaining about filming a recital and the camera was going in and out of focus. No problem, set it to manual and problem fixed. There is no more .MOD file problems.. all files are read as .mpeg files now (you can download the newest software from the website) **EDIT** its come to my attention that some people are still getting the .MOD files extension. I am running windows XP service pack 3 on a PC and the program it installed is pixela imagemixer 3 version 4 and it automatically shows up as .mpeg 4 files.. so i dont know whats up and why that works for me, as i did nothing special or extra for that to happen..

now onto quality.

It is acceptable. Low light gives you grainy pictures and some ghosting. You will get this on pretty much ALL camcorders in this class. do NOT expect that if you spend another 100 dollars you will get a difference. If you want to see a noticable difference you will need to step up to the 800-1200 dollar range. Im sorry but thats just the facts. Another thing to be on the lookout for is called a frame buffer. Which EVERY camcorder over 100 dollars Should have.. you know, that telltale sign in video where when the camera moves back and forth the picture starts “waving like a flag in the wind”.. we’re good with that. The zoom on this camera is CRAZY good.. in general, optical zoom is good, digital zoom is bad.. this cameras optical zoom rivals most everything out there.. things i dont like. When you play your recorded videos on the camcorder, it will just play the next file without stopping, in one long stream.. this is cool, but i dont like not having the option to view one at a time. you HAVE to plug it in to the wall power when you transfer files to the computer. i dont like the record button on the end of the barrel.. the way i ALWAYS end up holding this camera is like how you hold a glass of water if you were pouring it out.. with my thumb on the top of the barrell.. i NEVER hold it “properly” (like a glass of water that im drinking).. its so tiny that holding it like that is almost cumbersome and unecessary.. In short i LOVE this thing for the convenience.. on standby it will boot up in 2 seconds.. AWESOME.. no tape, the small size, good battery life, relatively big LCD screen,external mic input and headphone all good.. needing a plug for computer connection, bad low light performance, bad management of video playback not so good.. all in all i REALLY like it…

if you want the convenience of a TINY camcorder available at a moments notice, recording to a card instead of tape, a regular def video (most everything i shoot is for web or regular DVD which is regular def anyway) and a price thats not bad. this is for you

Now, if you want a video camera for capturing high def home videos for permanent memories to keep forever and possibly burn to blu-ray, seriously, buy a high def, 3ccd progressive scan camcorder. Expect to pay around 1000+ dollars, but thats what you get. i dont understand the complaints that this is whats expected from this camcorder. You cant drive a civic around complaining it cant go from 0 to 60 in 2 seconds..

The most helpful critical review
65 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Camera OK, the MOD file format hard to work with!, May 14, 2009
By V. Hutson
I have several Canon digital cameras, so when I decided to purchase a camcorder I immediately went to Canon. I waited a month for this new version. I wanted a small camcorder–and this is definitely small.

I am a bit disappointed in the quality of the videos. For movies taken in full light I can hardly tell the difference between these movies and the ones I take with my Canon PowerShot A570 IS digital camera! Although, the sound is definitely better with the camcorder. For movies in dim light (I filmed my son’s Jazz concert), there was a huge difference so I decided to keep the camera.

I would agree with the previous reviewer in that the control buttons on the LCD screen are practically useless in dark settings. I couldn’t see them during the concert I filmed.

I also have a bit of trouble holding the camera because it is so small. I removed the “grip belt” strap it came with because I could not get it to fit securely and still allow me to adjust the buttons at the same time. It felt like the camera was going to slide off my hand. I now use the extra wrist strap that comes with the camera and while it doesn’t look as “cool”, I’m not worried about dropping the camera.

My biggest hassel has been that the camera saves the movie files as MOD files which are a pain to work with! They will not import into most video editing programs (including Adobe Premiere Elements!), and the widescreen videos will not play correctly in Windows Media Player unless you convert the file.

The camera comes with a software program to transfer, edit, and view the movies–but it is awkward to use and even with the conversion I still could not get the movies to import into Camtasia Studio 6, which is the program I use the most. So, after two days of internet searching this is what I found that works for me.

1. I use a card reader to transfer the movie files onto my computer. This is much easier for me than using the program that comes with the camera.

2. I downloaded a free copy of SDCopy, and I use it to convert the MOD files to mpeg files. If I check the “widescreen” box on the converting window the converted movies will play widescreen in Windows Media Player.

3. The converted movies will import into Adobe Premiere, but they will not import into Camtasia Studio 6 (which is my goal). I can use Adobe Premiere to convert the files to avi files, but the process takes too long for me so I found a better and easier way.

4. I purchased a MOD converter. The one I decided on was Daniusoft Mod Converter for $29. It works well. With a MOD converter, I can convert the MOD files to a bunch of other types that will import into other programs as well as play on other devices such as an ipod. I use it to convert the files I converted with SDCopy into .avi files that will import into Camtasia.

Bottom line: Do your research and decide if this is for you. The FS100 received so many good reviews that I can’t help but wonder if the video quality of that camera is better than this one. Perhaps someone will post information that answers that question.