I am very much impressed with the cost to performance ratio.
I will not say this cam has poor sensitivity to light.
Coz it has got all the options like aperture and shutter speed settings usually found in other costlier cams and can be made well use of to produce excellent video.
Battery back up is also impressive
Overall this has got everything (may be more ) for a medium level camcoder.

I'm a beginner with video, so I'm not one to judge the quality of the image. After reading other reviews, I thought it would be better than it is though. You have only the small LCD screen to use to make adjustments such as exposure or white balance or manual focus, and LCD screens are notorious for looking different at different angles. The screen swivels for ease of use, but where do you set it to know you are seeing what the camera is seeing? Once I put some video onto my computer, it was easier to view, but several shots taken of a marina on a cloudy day had vague purple stripes in the sky. The still images are awful, with lots of purple fringing. The stabilization is electronic and only applies to the video mode, so the camera portion is almost worthless.

I took some video of some real estate to show my family, and the microphone picked up my footsteps in the grass much better than my voice. The windscreen hardly works at all. I shot some video at the beach and didn't even notice the breeze until I heard it on the video. (and despite what another review said, there is no audio gain control -- there is an audio level indicator but you can't control it)

A big surprise for me was the noise of the buttons. The microphone is up front, but the buttons on the LCD are right there too. There are only a few things you can change while recording (exposure, manual focus, mini-light, backlight compensation, zoom), but all the buttons make noise that is recorded and make it difficult to hold the camera steady. Other features such as white balance, scene type, digital effects, and a few other settings must be chosen before recording starts.

I haven't tried the included software. I can easily copy the files to my computer by plugging the camera in with the USB cable. I tried putting the SD card into my built-in card reader, but half the time it worked and half the time it locked up my computer. I think that's probably a hardware issue and has nothing to do with the camera. But the first few videos I took were strange because sometimes playing them (in Windows Media Player) sometimes hung the program and sometimes they played fine.

If you shoot video at eye level, the standard grip that the camera is built for is OK. I have fairly average sized hands, but I have to put my hand at a tiring angle to keep the camera level. My boyfriend's larger hands have no problem with this (it fits better), but he has a hard time hitting the record button with his thumb - he has to use the middle of the thumb since it's so close. Trying to hold the camera any other way, it's difficult to keep it level and steady.

Canon FS100 Flash Memory Camcorder with 48x Optical Zoom (Garnet Wine)

This is my 6th Canon digital video camcorder, having owned a ZR30MC, ZR50MC, ZR90, Optura 20 and Elura 100 before this one. My main objective for purchasing the new flash-memory based camcorder was to get away from the dreaded motor noise from most of these units. Out of all 6 previous models, the Optura 20 had the best video sensor CCD size (1/4"), followed by the Elura 100 (1/5"). The other models, including this FS100, use a sensor CCD size of 1/6", so I was expecting the video quality to be a bit more grainy (especially from reading all these reviews).

Right out of the box after charging the BP-808 battery, the unit starts up very quickly, however, the LCD is a bit grainy even in moderate lighting. Don't be alarmed though, this granularity image is not transferred to video, it's just the nature of the 123K pixel color LCD (my Powershot SD750 has the same problem with its LCD but still takes great pictures). But the biggest test of this new unit was to see how the audio sounded from a camcorder with no moving parts/motor. I am pleased to report the sound is great, and even better (good bass) when hooked up to my 55" projection TV.

Now for the video quality, it is true the video is very grainy and noisy in low-light settings, but I am much impressed with how well the unit retains its focus in these situations. What I am very much disappointed in is the unit only uses electronic stabilization and at max. telephoto, I can't get a steady shot with the IS on no matter how steady my hand. And I am not sure what to think of the advanced 48X zoom, the picture tends to pixelate at you approach the 48X, so I may just stick with the 37X optical zoom (I never owned a camera with a zoom bigger than 22X on the older ZR models). Now I haven't had the chance to video in bright sunlight, but I do feel the single LED video light works very well to help out in low-light situations.

The record, photo and playback menus are excellent on this model, since you are recording to the SD card (I use 8GB Transcend card with included USB reader) and you can never accidentally erase footage and you can choose scenes and playback with a few touches of a button. The joystick on the LCD is placed in a comfortable location and is very responsive. One major complaint I have is why does Canon insist on the user having to press buttons to activate the faders/digital effects? Every model I have owned has this same problem, and yes the mics will pick up on you having to press button to activate you fade-to-black for ending your current recording in progress. I know for a fact on older Sony 8mm units, once you activate a fader, it will remain active for every scene you shoot until you turn it off. Canon needs to do this on future models.

Still photo quality is surprisingly good on this model (as compared to experience on previous models), but it is a function of lighting available to you.

I use iMovie '08 and the software/Macbook has no problem recognizing the files. I don't like the fact you have to use AC power to transfer your files/photos to your computer, but I bought the USB card reader to get around this. IMovie HD will not recognize these files, so you'll have to upgrade to iLife 08 and you need an Intel Mac for this to work. iPhoto immediately recognizes the camera if you have any still images to transfer.

In summary, the unit is very light and easy to hold, very responsive to start recording in about a second, and the electronic lens cap is a nice little feature. Here are my PROs and CONs:

PROs:
- Sleek, lightweight and colorful unit that is easy to hold and the major user features to operate it are well placed
- Focus in excellent and very responsive even in low light settings
- Very bright LED video light that helps in low-light recordings
- Very good video quality in very well-lit surroundings, and audio is great with no motor noise!
- Excellent menu hierarchy with quick, easy playback of your scenes
- Flash memory is great and very reliable, but pick up extra cards (8GB Class 6 or higher) especially with the good prices here at Amazon.com. I recommend Transcend from experience with this unit.
- Many manual controls I have not yet explored
- NO MOTOR NOISE, did I mention this?
- Quickstart standby mode is great and really helps to conserve battery power.
- Intelligent battery meter a great addition to help you gauge remaining battery life

CONS:
- Low light performance on this unit is very poor, but video light does improve video quality and I'm sure Shutter priority and other manual settings could even help out more.
- Electronic stabilization is not at all useful at maximum telephoto and even pixelates the image while producing a really bad shake even with steady hands.
- I am not impressed with the advanced zoom to gain an extra 11X from plain optical zoom. Video quality will suffer at maximum telephoto.
- You have to use the joystick to activate faders and digital effects during your recordings, so expect to hear the button-pushing on your video footage.
- Have to plug in the unit to AC power to transfer video/photos to your computer.

So as you can see the PROs outweigh the CONs and I am happy with this unit in overall performance and value for its price (I got mine in a bundle pack at [...] with the unit, extra OEM Canon battery and a carrying case, sorry Amazon!) This camera is a definite keeper for me for a while (until I get HD TV and home theater systems), and then I'll probably upgrade to the equivalent HD model the HF100.

I would recommend this camera to anyone wanting a new standard definition unit, but be sure to invest in several SD memory cards to support your video needs. As you can see I am a loyal Canon consumer for both my camcorder and digital camera needs. Nice job overall, Canon, on this FS100 model.

Canon FS100 Flash Memory Camcorder with 48x Advanced Zoom (Silver)
We bought the FS100 prior to a trip to Spain to upgrade from our old 8mm camcorder and to save space. I chose the flash memory type due to the absence of moving parts, as well as the reduced size and weight. The camera has been impressive. The picture and sound quality are very good, despite the fact that the unit isn't hi-def. I like the fact that you can just shoot in auto mode and let the camera adjust itself or you can compensate for unusual lighting or motion situations in the pre-selected scene mode.

There is one major problem with this camcorder; the lack of a viewfinder. Granted, a viewfinder would add to the size and weight a bit, but I think that it is a necessity. With a camera this small, it is very difficult to hold it steady while shooting a scene. You need the stability offered by holding the camera against your face. A viewfinder also makes it much easier to see what you're shooting when you are in very bright conditions, such as at the beach on a sunny day. The high-def versions of this camera have a viewfinder, but one may not wish to invest $700 to $800 in a camcorder.

This camcorder has impressive features, quality, and ease of use for one in this price range. The battery charge lasts quite a long time and with a 16 GB card, you can shoot all day. It's a good $300 investment.

I had 4GB card free with purchase of this Garnet colored camcorder. It lasted about 1.1 hours in SP quality. I took this to some caverns at Shenandoah National Park and the videos turned out to be OK. Battery life was better than my team caver's Sony flash camcorder. In addition to being so cute and made in Japan (hard to find these days), it is quite impressive in low light settings. I just used easy mode in the caves. At first, when I checked random reviews here (mostly negative), I was worried about low light in the caves. I won't repeat what other reviewers said.

For files, it was not organized as per time sequence. I did not initialized the memory card and not sure it caused the case. It should not be. I'll try again in this weekend and update my reviews. Movies are in mod files and if you are comfortable with Command Prompt, use ren *.mod *.mpg. Google for detail script. Some websites let you upload video files only in mpg format. Hope this helps.

BTW 1: the price dropped ~12 in the past 2 weeks and Amazon discontinued 30 days price match policy. I am happy for my camcorder but not very much for price match policy :)

BTW2: If you have low budget but wanted to have some decent videos, try Sony DSC-W series camera. The video quality is as good as this except Sony has only 3x zoom and uses expensive memory card (not SD).

Ok, I am writing this small review to people who are like me who look everywhere for the lowest price on an item and live and die by customer reviews. This camera is great for everything it does but I am mainly focusing on the file problem. I read at least 100 reviews on this item from professional sources and customers until I finally purchased it. Anyway the files come in as .MOD files which need to be converted into .MPG or .AVI or something else that can be read by your editing software. After trying multiple FREE converting software, I found the easiest and fastest one was sdcopy. It did not degrade the quality of the video and allowed choice to convert into 4:3 or 16:9 which is very handy.