January 8th, 2009 
admin 
Those annoying camcorder files can be a pain to convert if you have a large project or multiple videos from a holiday. That’s why batch conversions make it so much easier, recommended by Patrick off my website is the easy batch option in my chosen choice of software MPEG Streamclip..
Original Guide to convert .mod files:
http://daz4590.co.uk/wordpress/2008/08/22/converting-mod-files-to-something-a-bit-better/
January 1st, 2009 admin 
Now this may seem strange but for some reason my Canon FS100 camcorder which I’ve only had since August has ceased charging through the supplied cable. After some testing with a complicated multimeter no power seems to be getting to the camcorder so the charger box must be broken. Now I’ve had it static on my desk for nearly all this time so I was a bit surprised when it just stopped. I’ve tried to contact Canon as it is under the initial 12 month warranty but I got an automatic fob off to some repair centre over 150 miles away. I’ll have to try again sometime but surely they could give me an address to send it to?? I would have expected Canon to be better, for once I praise Sony for their customer service early in 2008.
So I turned to the world of eBay and bought an external battery wall charger for £15 which arrived a week later. It even comes with an extra battery so what a benefit. Extra battery life! Can never have enough of that! One thing though is as the extra battery is not official Canon merchandise it does not have the ability to tell the camcorder how long is left which is a bit confusing. So it may be all well and good when I have that extra time to shoot but not knowing how long is left!? I don’t blame the battery but Canon’s decision and method to implement time remaining features in the camcorder.
But it does work, and ever since I have charged my battery through that means, now it is more hassle as I have to take it out of the camcorder itself but it’s the best option I have. Another advantage is I can charge one battery up while I’m using the other one in the camcorder if I’m unable to use the power cable with the camcorder at the shoot location. So if you’re out there looking for another way to charge your BP-808 camcorder battery then here is another way, there are plenty on eBay so why not get one.
p.s Don’t you love getting packages from China with misspellings on them? Bad English brightens my day when it is badly translated. On the back of the pack there were a couple of interesting statements…
October 15th, 2008 admin 
As I’ve come to notice over the past couple of months, the audio quality from my Canon FS100 is not really good enough when I’m all the way over the other side of the room. For this reason I sought after an external mic, now I could have gone two ways: either get a USB one and have to mix the audio and video together in Final Cut in post production or get one with a 3.5mm connection and plug it directly into my camcorder. The advantage of my FS100 is that unlike most camcorders it features a mic jack so I chose the latter option as this would require less work and be just like I normally record them.
I picked up a SkyTronic Stereo Condenser Microphone for just under £20, which included a small and mini mic stand as well as two audio cables. A 0.5m coiled one and a 3m longer one each with a 3.5mm audio jack on the end to plug into my camcorder. Now you could say I should have gone down and bought a cheap headset one from the local store but for some reason any microphone I use with the Canon FS100 requires itself to be externally battery powered. So my SkyTronic runs on one AA battery and I have plenty of those and they’re cheapish compared to the smaller AAA.
Then I was all ready to go and after plugging it in I saw the directional mic work really well. When connected to the camcorder, it obviously turns off the internal mic and only uses the external version, I like how it will be directed towards my desk and no longer will it pick up random noises from across the room. The build quality isn’t bad and it feels sturdy enough but it’s pretty lightweight at 110g and I feel I could break it if it hit a hard surface. Better be careful! On the other hand the quality is exactly what I wanted, no more echo and it’s much better attuned to vocals which I’ll be using it for.
So it will definitly be an improvement over the inbuilt camcorder mic and although it isn’t a world class expensive acoustic quality microphone it will do the job for now. If you’ve watched the video you’ll understand how much trouble I had but suffice to say I have finally set it up and secured it properly. You’ll see in the next video how it is and how much of a difference it makes to the quality of the audio feed.
August 27th, 2008 admin Most camcorders come with a countless number of confusing settings for consumers to fiddle with, one of these is the video quality. My Canon FS100 has three variations -- SP,LP and XP. These each use different bit rates with SP at 3mbps, LP at 6mbps and XP at 9mpbs. Obviously the bigger the bit rate the better quality video. Ever since I had it I have stuck it at XP because I am a firm believer in good quality video but I have wondered how much of a difference it really makes.
To test this I have shot the same footage with the camcorder simply changing the quality setting each time, I have labelled each video so you can compare them like by like and see the difference. After I looked at the footage, which must be seen in High Quality on Youtube otherwise it’s not that good, I struggled to see any massive difference between each one. You can just make out the slightly sharper image of the XP compared to the rest but I’ll leave you to decide. I’ll still carry on using the XP setting because it will make me feel better but whether it really makes a difference -- at least on a small screen it doesn’t. It may make a bigger impact on a 40″ LCD TV but for my needs that is not important.
Does your camcorder have different settings? Do you ever change between them? Let us know by commenting below and helping the community.
August 26th, 2008 admin Like many electronic gadgets today the manufactures are trying to cram as many items into them as possible and that’s why we have FM radios and cameras on mobile phones when all their real purpose is is to make contact with the outside world. However these unnecessary items can help clinch sales as people then don’t have to carry them all round separately and I’m all for that. A couple of years ago I used to have an ipod,phone,wallet and other stuff in my pockets so when I bought an o2 XDA it made sense. And I was grateful as it meant I only had to look after one gadget from fear of losing it so it makes sense. On the other hand some added items are not worthy and that leads me to camcorders having the ability to take photos.
Now in theory you would think “oh that’s easy and they should take great photos with those expensive lenses” and I would agree. Why can’t they make the photo modes any good? The one on my old Sony was dire and couldn’t beat my 3.0 megapixel camera on my Samsung D900i. I was disappointed and never took photos with it again. Now step over to my new Canon FS100, once again I was sceptical but thought I’d test it and show you the results.
In my opinion they’re not too bad, better than the Sony and nearly if not on par with my camera phone. If consumers are after just a quick look and snap camera feature this will do them fine and with the good zoom focus on the camcorder it makes the zoomed in photos nice as well. It even has a nice continuous shoot setting so you can capture fast moving objects in multiple frames. Canon have done a god job but as a message to all camcorder makers if you’re going to add a camera feature make it worthwhile. We’re not at that step just yet when separate digital cameras can be phased out.
As a result I’ll definately be using it if I don’t have my other cameras on me but I wouldn’t rely on it for a long trip. If you’re looking for something a bit meatier or with better options (there is no manual control of ISOs or anything) then its probably better not to sell off that dusty digital camera you have lying around.
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