The Canon Vixia HFR20 shoots with flash memory instead of minidv. It shoots natively in high definition.
Switching Between Camcorder Mode and View/ Playback Mode
1) open up camera flip screen
2)use the button with the camera icon to toggle between the 2 modes
Setting White Balance
1) toggle to camcorder mode
2) press "func" button onscreen
3) press onscreen "WB" button , there will be 4 options to select
a) "AWB" is auto white balance
b) sun icon is for shooting in daylight
c) lightbulb icon is for shooting indoors
d) is manual or custom white balance, which is highly recommended
To set white balance manually:
-select icon
-press the onscreen "set WB" button, zoom in on white surface in prevailing lighting condiitons
-camera will be white balanced when icon stops blinking.
Manual Focus
1) in camcorder mode press onscreen 'func" button
2) press onscreen "focus" button, then the onscreen "MF" button (manual focus)
3) use the 2 onscreen buttons (mountain/ person icons) to set focus.
Manual Exposure
1) repeat step 1 above
2) press onscreen "exposure" button
3) press onscreen "M" button
4) use onscreen arrows to set the exposure
Setting Audio Levels
1) repeat step 1 above (focus)
2) scroll through the onscreen menu until you get to thee "mic level" onscreen button.
3) slect "manual" or "automatic"
4) for "manual" use the onscreen arrows to set the audio levels
Cinema Mode+ 24p Frame Rate
This camera allows you to shoot in a filmic 24p frame rate
1) pres onscreen "func" button, then press onscreen "menu" button"
2) select onscreen film strip tab
3) scroll down to "frame rate"
4)press onscreen number button
5) slect "PF24" as your fame rate
Playing Back Video In-Camera
1) go to playback mode
2) scroll onscreen to select desired clip
3) press the onscreen thumbnail to play the clip
Setting Destination for Recorded Media
1-Press onscreen "func" button, scroll down to "menu"
2-Select film tab and select "rec media for movies" .
3-Choose between "built in mem." (the square icon) or "mem. card" (letter 'A' or 'B')
Setting Image Quality
1-Press "func" button, scroll down to "menu" select film tab
2-Scroll down to "record mode"
MXP= highest quality (24mbps)
FXP = high quality (17mbps)
XP=Medium quality (12mbps)
2-Scroll down one more item to "frame rate" and select one of the following
60i=60 frames/ second
pf 30=30 frames/ second
pf24=24 frames/ second
Moving Files to the Computer
1-connect camera to computer via usb jack or insert sd card into card slot.
2- to view contents of disc, right click on its icon and select "view contents" from contextual menu
3-Your video files have the suffix of .mts. They can be found in the AVCHD/ BDMV/ STREAM directory.
4-Copy these .MTS files to your hard drive.
The .MTS files can be imported directly into Adobe Premiere or you can do a "log and transfer" in Final Cut Pro (file menu> log and transfer).