The key fact to this video camera is that it records onto flash memory. Because it uses these SD and SDHC flash memory cards you get some useful benefits; 1) The battery last longer than HDD, DVD or tape cameras. The standard filming time is 3 hours. 2) Transferring video and photos to a PC is incredibly simple, you just stick the SD card into your PC card reader (I haven't seen a PC sold without a built in reader for years) and drag the files over to your PC. 3) The video camera is small and light, not much bigger than a digital camera. So it can fit into your bag without it being a pain to carry around. It's also pretty good looking which is a nice bonus and really well designed to fit in your hand comfortably.
Its worth mentioning that if you forget to put a SD card in you can still record directly onto the internal memory. Also as SD and SDHC cards get bigger and bigger in capacity you have a camera that will never be limited by a shortage of memory space.
So this is a well designed, good looking, easy to use camcorder and it's well priced. However the price reflects the fact we will be getting standard definition not high def. footage. I think this is a perfect camera for anyone wanting to point and shoot and be able to quickly transfer and share their films. It's Ideal for holidays and active filming, the small design and lack of moving parts makes it a study choice for any knock about film making. If you want to get serious with high def. and better optical zoom you will have to pay more and you may still loose some of the advantages of this camcorder.
Enjoy
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Helpful review but if I was to buy a camcorder I'd buy a HD one now, they may be more expensive but will last longer and through the changes of technology which I'm a bit of a sucker for :)
Stylish and convenient- the FS100 is a compact camcorder that records directly to memory ... more
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