Canon FHD Camcorder Vixia R40

[VidThreeNorth]

If you look back about 10 years, there were many Full HD (1080p) camcorders by Canon (Vixia R40), Panasonic and Sony. Sony {HDR-CX240} called their products "Handycam" and that was a good name for them. In general, they were very portable and easy to use. There are camcorders around today, but either they are very expensive Pro models or very cheap "unbranded" toy and near-toy products. The reason for the size and configuration for the better ones was the lens. For the Sony and Canon and Panasonics, the lenses tended to be about 30x zoom range and thus had a number of pieces of glass in front of the sensor, making the long tube-like body shape.

"20240529 Summer Flowers in Toronto Parks [Canon R40]"

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[VidThreeNorth]

After the success of my previously uploaded file, I suppose I should expect to not do so well on the next. It turned out to be a day of changeable weather, and I was not able to control the camera during the recording. So my initial setting had to remain throughout, and it was under exposed about a stop. I felt the result was acceptable for now. If I edit it later for a major edit, then I'll readjust it in the later version. This clip shows a swirling whirlpool in the Humber River, in Toronto.

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[VidThreeNorth]

A Canon Vixia R70 is actually not very different from the older R40. It has new firmware features, and a slightly updated style body, but the rest is apparently the same. Here is a clip recorded on an R70 and uploaded to YouTube without changes (length ~3:04).

Mar 21 2025: I thought I'd like to point out what I liked about this clip, which is not necessarily obvious. I actually recorded more than one clip with different exposures. The problem is that the contrast is right at the edge of what the camera can capture with acceptable results. If you expose higher, you lose the blue of the sky, but if you expose darker, the foreground gets pushed into black. In theory, it can be played with a bit if you have adjustment ability in post, but the range is still limited. The exposure in this clip has a nice balance with some foreground noise just showing up. But I like it as-is. To me, it looks like "morning".

"250312 Full HD Canon Vixia R70 Unadjusted Toronto Morning"

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