Canon FS200 Flash Memory Camcorder with 37x Optical Zoom (Misty Silver)

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review




Good for the price. Just a few Annoyances (for me), November 23, 2009
By Steven Harbold (Vancouver,wa)
This is really a good little Camcorder. I just wanted to mention a few things that you might want to consider.

Pros:

Very compact for travel.
SDHC solid state memory
Good video quality for price. (I haven't used any others in this category however)
Sound pick up is good.
Battery is pretty good. Mine usually blinks up something like 169-189min on full charge from what I can remember.
Quite stable! Canon image stabilizer works pretty well on this little guy.

Cons:

Controls: I really hate the tiny power button, it's caused me to become frustrated when trying to quick turn on and record. The toggle is okay, but not the best. Menu setup could be better. (These are not life and death though, they all work without fail, just could be better).

Screen is a little hard to see in bright sunlight, which is tough when you have no view finder. (again not that must of a deal breaker)

HATE that you have to plug in the POWER CABLE to transfer content over usb. If you have a SD card slot then this doesn't matter to much, but it gets really annoying other wise, and the "compact" power adapter, isn't really very compact. (two piece cord with a power block)

I would like that when I close the screen there would be an option to have the camera power down (at least when not recording). Sometimes you close the screen thinking it will turn off and forget to push the tiny power button.

Low light is very grainy. (I was expecting this for the price)

still shots are worthless. As long as you have your camera phone you're probably guaranteed to get better photos. (of course I didn't buy it for that).

Overall good little cam. Just be wise and check out the newest stuff out there. Use CNET and amazon compare other cameras and read reviews!



Good to go,right out of the box., November 21, 2009
By T. J. Coughlin (Cave Creek,Az)
I have taped my Grand Daughter at her Karate Class and birthday party and the camera was easy to use. I made DVD `s and they came out great. I highly recommend it. To take pics I recommend a tripod. The pics came out very good.



Decent camera for the money!, November 20, 2009
By DocHoch (Topeka, KS)
This camera is really pretty good for the price. Easy to set up and use. Battery life could be better though. I just wanted something for the video and ease of use. I use a separate dual mic recorder so the audio wasn't so important, but it works very well. Didn't even try the software so I don't know how it works. I use third party video editing software so that made it a mute point. Great camera for the money.



Good compact camcorder, November 16, 2009
By Nicola Q Spletstoser (McDonough, GA)
I'm a fairly avid camcorder user. I still use an old Sony DCR-TRV520 from 10 years ago that records to Digital 8. It hasn't been until recently that we decided to buy a new digital camcorder. The camcorder that I purchased is the Canon FS20 (not FS200). At first glance I like the camcorder on many different levels. It's small, lightweight, and takes fairly decent video and photos. Navigation and features set definitely make it worth the extra money to get over the FS200. I happen to get mine on a Best Buy sale and it cost the same as the FS200. BTW, the main differences between FS200 and FS20 are the FS20 has the better image sensor, larger built in memory, and i believe there is some distance in the zoom capabilities. Otherwise they work, look, and operate exactly the same (my FS20 manual covers the FS200 operations).

Overall I really like the camera and cannot find anything to be really disappointed in. I went with the Canon over the Sony's primarily because the Canon uses the SD/SDHC cards. Most of my other digital equipment uses SD cards so I wanted to streamline the types of media I use. I also chose SD cards because I don't like the thought of a hard drive falling apart in a camcorder and really wanted a removable media option. The Optical and advanced zooms are great. Just make sure to have a tripod when you go really far. Buttons are nicely placed and navigation on the menu is easy. The photo images as well as the video are great and smooth. The camera does a good job adjusting in bright light and low light conditions. Focus is fast and ti does well focusing on near and far away objects. I do like that there is no gear noise recorded onto the video when recording. This was a problem with our digital camera that also takes video footage. I also like the option of adding a mic (perhaps a shotgun mic) as well as the built in mics on the front of the camcorder rather than on the side.

One of the cumbersome aspects of this camera is that transferring video to your PC is somewhat confusing. Once you plug the camera in the PC will not notice it until you use the preview mode on the camera (when you choose to look at the images and videos you recorded). However when the camera hooks up to the computer it tells you that the buttons will not work while connected and that you are not suppose to unplug the USB cable while the camera is connected. Well with instructions like that (they show on the camera's screen even after you have "safe removed" the camera's drives from the computer) you're left kinda confused with what to do. BTW the screen stays up on the camcorder even if you log out of your PC. Well, you don't have to shut down the PC. Once you ejected the drives, just pull the USB plug. But there is nothing in the manual to tell you this. I miss being able to also connect my camcorder and record directly to my computer from the camcorder through FireWire. But the transfer in SDHC is a lot faster than a tape format.

I expected a lot more out of the bundled software. In my opinion, other than some drivers, I just installed a bunch of programs that will not benefit me, but I suppose time will tell.

Things I would have liked in a camera that cost $300 plus (especially with advancements in technology), either a night (IR) mode or an eyecup viewer for those bright sunny days. Part of me is disappointed that many manufacturers are pulling these components off of their lower/intro cameras and you have to purchase a camera that costs at least $1000 to start getting any of these.

Bottom line, for a basic palm sized camcorder I think this camera is great. It has a nice feature set is very easy to use and carry. For those who want to make mini movies, save up and get something more substantial. Even though lightweight is nice for carrying, it also affects your ability to hold a camera steady. A heavier camera actually is easier to control shake when moving around. My 10 year old Sony can do more (video wise) than this Canon and gets almost as good video quality. However at the time of purchase the Sony was listed at about $850. So even though this Canon is nice and I will enjoy using it, I will probably still keep my old Sony working as long as I can.



Great quality for the price, November 10, 2009
By S. Saffer
I've only been using the camera for a few weeks. It is easy to use and seems to have a lot of great features. I have not been impressed with the bundled software but I don't have anything to compare it with as this is my first video camera. So far, I'm happy with my purchase. I did a lot of research to try to find the best value for the money and I think this camera fits the bill.