Full Color Throughout!

Full Color Throughout!

Canon VIXIA HD Camcorder Digital Field Guide

Canon VIXIA HD Camcorder Digital Field Guide Lonzell Watson

Canon VIXIA HD Camcorder Digital Field Guide Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 978-0-470-39236-2 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUD- ING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WAR- RANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEB SITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGA- NIZATION OR WEB SITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEB SITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (877) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Control Number: 2009924154 Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley Publishing logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Canon and VIXIA are trademarks or registered trademarks of Canon, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

About the Author Lonzell Watson is an Apple Certified Final Cut Pro Professional and Certified Avid Xpress Pro user. He is the author of Final Cut Pro 6 for Digital Video Editors Only (Wiley Publishing, 2008) and Final Cut Express 4 Essential Training (Lynda.com). Lonzell began his career as a videographer and digital video specialist for the Web. He used this experience to become a writer, director, and producer. His work includes national commercials and television programs for PBS, Fox Sports, the Outdoor Channel, and C-SPAN; and video editing for pop superstar Mariah Carey. As well as being an experienced adventure race, wildlife, and news videographer, Lonzell s talents have also served him well as a syndicated writer with hundreds of published tutorials and tips that relate to film and video production. He now writes for Studio Monthly, and his syndicated content is read by thousands of unique visitors each month.

Credits Acquisitions Editor Courtney Allen Project Editor Jama Carter Technical Editor Michael Guncheon Copy Editor Lauren Kennedy Editorial Director Robyn B. Siesky Editorial Manager Cricket Krengel Business Manager Amy Knies Vice President and Executive Publisher Barry Pruett Senior Project Coordinator Kristie Rees Graphics and Production Specialists Ana Carrillo Jennifer Mayberry Christin Swinford Quality Control Technician John Greenough Proofreading Leeann Harney Indexing Broccoli Information Management Senior Marketing Manager Sandy Smith Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Richard Swadley

For Robyn my Northern star, and for Terry Carrier and Robert C. Ready, Sr., who are gone, but will never be forgotten.

Acknowledgments Special thanks to Courtney Allen, without whom this project would not have been possible, and thanks to editor Jama Carter whose demand for excellence has made this a solid book of which I am very proud. I would also like to thank Wendy Perlman- Klonsky and Mitchell Glick of Canon for the many resources they supplied for this book, Suzanne Harris of Bogen Imaging Inc., Photoflex, and Marta Guisti of Sennheiser for their contributions to this book. Special thanks go to Laura Clor, Shannon Johnson, Lisa Waters, Danya and Sean Platt, and Element, LLC, for their assistance as I wrote this book. Last, but definitely not least, I d like to thank Michael Guncheon, an outstanding photographer, for his work as technical editor on this book.

Contents at a Glance Acknowledgments........................................................ ix Introduction............................................................ xix Quick Tour.............................................................. 1 Part I: Using Your Canon VIXIA HD Camcorder.................... 13 Chapter 1: Exploring the Canon VIXIA HD Camcorders......................... 15 Chapter 2: Navigating Your Canon VIXIA HD Camcorder....................... 59 Chapter 3: Getting the Most Out of Your Canon VIXIA HD Camcorder........... 113 Part II: Shooting Great Footage with Your Canon VIXIA HD Camcorder.............................................. 135 Chapter 4: The Fundamentals of Videography............................... 137 Chapter 5: The Impact of Sound.......................................... 159 Chapter 6: Using Light to Create Great Video................................ 167 Chapter 7: Choosing Accessories for Your Canon VIXIA HD Camcorder.......... 189 Chapter 8: Making External Connections and Transferring Images.............. 201 Part III: Appendixes.......................................... 225 Appendix A: Online Resources............................................ 227 Glossary.............................................................. 231 Index................................................................. 239

Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Quick Tour 1 ix xix Part I: Using Your Canon VIXIA HD Camcorder 13 Chapter 1: Exploring the Canon VIXIA HD Camcorders 15 Getting Your Camera Ready 1 Setting the date and time 3 Choosing image quality 5 Setting recording programs 5 Using Headphones 6 Recording Video 7 Reviewing Video Scenes 7 Deleting a Scene 8 Taking a Still Photo 9 Reviewing Still Photos 9 Erasing Photos 10 Outputting Images 10 Connecting to a computer 11 Printing still photos 11 Using a card reader 12 Recording Quality and Times 16 About the Technology 18 Operating Modes 21 VIXIA AVCHD Camcorders 22 VIXIA HF10, HF11, and HF100 22 Left side features 23 Back features 26 Top features 28 Right side features 29 Front features 30 VIXIA HG10, HG20, and HG21 31 Left side features 31 Right side features 36 Back features 36 Front features 38 Top features 39 VIXIA HR10 41 Left side features 41 Right side features 44 Front features 44 Back features 46 Top features 47