need help with canon vixia hf20 high def cam

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1

ok guys, im extremely retarded when it comes to photography and video recording. I used this cam to record my daughters xmas and today her bday party and after reviewing my vids there is alot left to be desired. The quality looks nothing compared to the HD samples i see on youtube and what not. Ive only tried to use this camera indoors and i guess indoors can be tricky with crappy lighting but im just looking for some pointers here to get some quality video outta this thing.

Anyone have any experience with this cam? it was given to me as a gift and id love to learn how to use it to its fullest potential.

2

I am not familiar with that camera, but the key to all consumer grade camera’s is lighting. They tend to have very small image sensors and therefor do poorly in low-light situations.

I am willing to bet that on a sunny day outside the video quality is going to be tremendously improved. The best advice I can give you is to shoot near a lot of natural light, like windows, skylights, ect. when indoors, since I doubt you will be setting up studio lighting for a daughters birthday party.

3

yea, thats what ive been reading but when i watch “low light samples” on youtube and what not even they seam to be better. I wonder if im missing some settings somewhere. maybe ill try to get some outside shots with natural light to see how it looks instead of inside low light shots.

4

Are you shooting in the highest setting? I believe it is called fxp.

5

im shooting in mxp which i believe is the highest, from what ive read you cant tell the difference between the 2 highest settings. I just downloaded sony vegas video editor to see how i like that because the editor supplied with the camera is garbage.

6

here is a vid that took like 1hr to convert in sony vegas studio and uploaded to youtube. Youtube seemed to make the video even darker then it is on my screen and a little less crisp. but this will give an idea of what im dealing with.

7

Looks pretty good to me. The camera was adjusting to the lighting outside. Looks very natural.

If you want it brighter, shoot near the window, but not towards it.

8

well, i took your advise and tried shooting closer to the window and it was million times better. these things realy need natural light to show the potential of the camera.

here is the vid this time, does anyone know why it takes forever try to view the video in HD on youtube? is it you tube or my computer thats slow? maybe i should get a vimeo account.