Canon VIXIA HF M500 1080p HD Camcorder $250 + Free Shipping

Dead.

Dead...

RIP!

Back up for $399

Glad I jumped on it before giving it more thought...thanks OP!

Darn...missed it...I wanted one really bad too for that price.

Got one, just not satisfied with the Canon S100 as a video camera, for one the noise when zooming in and out is horrific. I actually have several purposes for this camera. I am a father of a 6 year old, I own an audio visual company and this could pay for itself in one session. I actually have seen this compared to pro cameras and have not seen much difference. the fact it has a external mic jack and headphone jack sold me. Knock off batteries are inexpensive and who need a hard drive built in with the price of SD cards at an all time low.

Thanks op and repped (should have got 2)

Quote from mrnadir : dang you slickdeals. how about an excuse for the wife?

Homemake porn. Since it's great for shooting in low lights : )

cell phone cameras do 1080p just fine with image stabilization, just with bad zoom and cant handle low light as well.

I must have gotten the last one.

Got my shipping confirmation (even though the email subject was in French and referenced Amazon.fr...weird)

Quote from thisguy : Definitely a good dead. There's just the guilt aspect after purchasing it without a specific need. Unless you're rich.

the over rated dslr videos just dont cut it. the videos of the kids i made with my old sony standard def camcorder still look better than my 1080p dslr videos.

Price mistake but Amazon is honoring it. Way to come through Amazon.

Quote from mrnadir : the over rated dslr videos just dont cut it. the videos of the kids i made with my old sony standard def camcorder still look better than my 1080p dslr videos.

You must be shooting Canon. That's a classic problem with their pathetic joke of a video mode (5DIII excepted).

The M500 video is somewhat sharper than what my Olympus OMD or Sony A65 can provide, but it manages to look very artificial and "digital". It looks and feels like a video cam. The Panasonic GH series manage to strike a nice balance, with the GH2 being very sharp without looking oversharpened to my eyes. I haven't tried sharpening the A65 footage in post yet but it looks like it might respond well if filmed carefully. The codec on the GH2/3 is far and away the best of any of these as well, but the Sony does a good job overall. The Olympus has some major codec problems.

The bad news with the M500 is that it only does 60i and the lens starts at about 43mm (in 35mm equiv terms). So a wide converter will be needed for a lot of people. It's rated highly in low light compared to other camcorders in the segment, but it develops this really blotchy color noise when light drops too far, I think because Canon opted for a low-MP sensor. My Sony SLT provides a much smoother rendition, at the expense of sharpness. Not sure how other camcorders compare in noise pattern.

Of course at the end of the day they are different tools for different purposes.

Got mine today. It look like it may have been opened before but everything still looks new. I there any way to tell how long the thing has been used (like some menu to find total time on or shooting video or something like that)?