Last weekend, we were out at the Redline Time Attack at Willow Springs International Raceway, performing a camera test. Every once in a while, we have to test different types of cameras to see what kind of footage they’re capable of producing.
This time, we were trying out a Canon HF S100 consumer level HD video camera. The camera costs less than $1000 USD, so it isn’t too expensive, and we think it’s still capable of producing pretty decent image quality – remember, the entire camera is about the size of a Campbell’s Chunky soup can! The whole point of testing these different consumer level cameras is to figure out which ones have the best image quality and features-for-the-price. Nowadays, more and more people are interested in self-producing videos for Youtube, Vimeo or Streetfire uploads; this is why we think it’s interesting to test real-world cameras that normal people can actually afford and edit using iMovie or Final Cut.
Anyway, at Willow Springs, we encountered several challenges – it was extremely difficult for the camera to focus while shooting through heat haze (on the track) and the wind presented an issue, but all in all, we think the Canon HF S100 isn’t bad for a straight-to-SD card HD video camera under $1000. However, we’ll let you watch the video and form your own opinion. What do you think?

::Travis Hodges

MotorMavens Videos on Streetfire.net