I've had a Canon Vixia HF100 camera for a couple years, and liked it very much. I bought the FS400 for a project where I wanted a second video angle. Unfortunately, I was in a bit of a hurry, and didn't check the specs on this camera carefully. It has only a 630,000 pixel sensor, instead of the 3.3 megapixel sensor on the HD Vixia cameras. Mostly my fault for thinking that the world had gone HD, and not checking the specs more carefully.

However, since the product description above loudly advertises '16:9 aspect ratio' and 'High Resolution', both terms that many/most people associate with High Definition, I'd like to make a point that this is NOT NOT NOT an HD camera. It's about 100 bucks more for 6x the resolution if you choose to buy one of the Vixia line of HD cameras. Unfortunately, I think this makes the FS400 a very poor price/performance choice.

Additionally, the build quality feels quite cheap and 'hollow' - this would have been fine in a low-cost HD camera, but feels very cheesy in an SD camera that's only a hundred dollars less than the better-built and much higher-performing HD line. I suppose the FS400 might be the right camera for someone who wants some of Canon's goodies like Image stabilization, but doesn't need HD quality, but IMHO, for 95% of people, it's absolutely worth it to pay the extra for a Vixia HD video camera.

My FS400 is going back to Amazon ASAP.