Hey Plant Doctor...Hows this camera still going for you?Would you have liked it, any better had you paid only $650.00 for it? Do you want to sell it-get something else at this point? Any other updates for the review? Thanks

Less expensive would have been nice but wouldn't have changed my comments. Sell it? No, wouldn't even know what would be better overall. An additional comment.. it's difficult to determine if the exposure is correct. There is no histogram or other guide, just looking at the LCD which may not be very visible in bright light or have the brightness boosted so it's not an accurate guide. Most still cameras provide a histogram of some sort for judging exposure. A live histogram is much better than one after the exposure. There are ways to adjust the exposure... touch the spot or manual compensation. However, unlike still cameras, these seem to also lock the exposure at the same time, which usually isn't what I want. Still cameras separate compensation and exposure lock. Vignetting at extreme tele is still an issue. The EVF is handy but needs better protection from light entering as when wearing glasses. This causes the image to wash out, which is not a problem on my two still cameras with an EVF. Since I am relatively new to camcorders, and I didn't really know what to specifically look for in features. Overall, still a good camcorder that Canon could have been made superior with a bit more work.

It's not a capacitive touchscreen...it's resistive. Thus, you need to either push firmly or push using your fingernail (or something else...like a stylus). The good news is that it works when you are wearing gloves. :)

Can't argue about your other points...although I tend not to see the vignetting since I don't shoot much against monochromatic backgrounds.

Canon VIXIA HF M41 Full HD Camcorder with HD CMOS Pro and 32GB Internal Flash Memory
I too was disappointed with the lack of a pocket size manual for this camcorder. While a CD manual is OK when you are at home near your computer, there is nothing you can do to look up something when you are "out in the field," so to speak, on location somewhere far from a computer. I called Canon and talked to a customer service rep there about this, and they printed out a copy of the full manual on letter size paper and mailed it to me. Nice response, but it sure doesn't fit in my pocket, or my camera bag! Maybe I am old fashioned, but I have several other Canon cameras with their respective manuals, and I was certainly disappointed with this. The service rep said Canon has been producing manuals on CD for over 3 years now. I have no gripes against the quality of the camera or the quality of it's videos, but having a "real" manual would still be much more appreciated, IMHO.

Load the pdf on your phone an refer to it on the go...

Not workable because I don't have a smartphone. My wife does but I am already stretched on "fees". If I add another smartphone to our plan plus HD Cable, Internet, etc, I'll be paying as much as my car payment. I do have the pdf on my kindle, but that is still less convenient in the field. With recent whopping price drop of $300 from list, certainly the profits were adequate to print a manual that is already written. What's the print cost.. a couple of bucks at most.... versus a $300 price reduction. A lot of extra $$ in their somewhere.

If you want a portable manual to take with you: you can open up the camcorder pdf manual on your computer and, when there's a part you want from the manual; use the screen capture function and then paste the capture into an image editor.

The idea is not to not include extraneous pages; for example you wouldn't want to include the "caution" section from the beginning of the manual, but you may want to include a page from the battery run times section.

Then delete extraneous images on any given page and arrange them neatly within the image editor. Scale down 4 pages worth of information in 4 squares to fit an 8.5 x 11 page...for as many pages as you have worth of info.

Print them out, use scissors to cut out the smaller pages and staples together.

Several months later, I am still very impressed and happy with this camera, after taking it on two cruises and also Europe. While I have seen smaller video cameras, I am both happy with the size and features and resulting HD videos it produces. I still recommend it!

Talked me out of buyingThanks
Frank

help? as actor, film writer i need an hd camcorder w easy upload to imbd as short film s an hr or longer till i edit them down. does this have edit ability software?

i mostly will use it to self film demo reels to go on youtube adn imbd as demo reels and yoube
i also would like camcorder to have remote control to self film load and zoom in out and upload to youtube etc.

i would be at max 10 ft away from camcorder and dont want noise grain and the mic must be able to pick up the sound

i need super low lux cmos and blur image control. still pics must very clear and color correct adn i prefer shooting in auto mode.

must be able to upload stills to my dell windows 7 in pdf form . so will still shots be able to be loaded to pc then i can retouch them if needed and sumbit them on line?

i own teh very best in protrait re touch software id never let go of , called protrait professional, just a few clicks on the blue spots to line things up , your finsihed retouched photo sits side by side to orig and you can go back and make diff changes

can cahnge eye color and set your age group and your gender, can even see what you look like with diff hari color and submit picture that way if they need a blond vs brunette.

so i need the stills takes with this or any camcorder any of you pros may suggest instead since shootign sports isnt goign to be used for or much fast action .

some sony have soft skin modes that give you a film like 24mp mode that softens the light and skin , i like that.

im open to suggestions of other camcorders if this isnt good for my stuff

ps i have the very best in portrait retouch software, called professional portrait that i use with my pics taken w mt built in webcam on laptop

and they come out good enough after some retouching and sgarpenging, that ive used on imbd.

but arent as crisp as w real camcorder or camera.

id consider a good camera but i need longer video shoot time up to an hour or longer . so cameras wont do and it all must be hd

so question with the stills pics i take with this camcorder, if i save it to my puter will i be able to then use my software to retouch photos

i aslo beed a remote control to self phtogrpah and self film w zoom . does this come with a remote control or can you suffest one that is compatible??

i cant spend money on both a camcorder and great digi camera
will i need a wide lense i dont know what vignetting is but i cant afford to buy a camcorder and get that problem how do you avoid it

i need great video even in low light as the film trailers im going to film are at sundown and darker and about wolves, so i will be video taping myself with the same wolves from the twilight movies that my bf owns at the wolf rescue in ca .

i need this to fit a tripod standard tpp. is there a shoe or extra bracket for shoe for lighting and or mic? please all pro or semi pros help me, thank you