I just got a Canon HG10 last week, it's pretty much my first video camera. Based off of the reviews I found, it seems like a good quality camera for what I want to do. It will mostly be used for home videos and I'll take it with me when I go out and have fun. My fun usually consist of wakeboarding and racing motorcycles, both street and dirt. I want to get some good footage from the tracks and out on the lake.
Now for my questions, keep in mind that I'm totally green to this. I obviously want the best quality video I can get. Can anyone recommend a good starting point for settings to capture high speed movements, like bikes running 150mph? I will be out at a track on the 10th to film and hopefully I can get some good footage.

Next question, I want to keep the video in the best quality format that I can. I have FCE 4.0, iMovie 08, and iMovie HD for editing. What format should I use to import the video into these programs? FCE has a ton of options for importing but I'm clueless as to what one I should be using. If I can get the footage that I want I will probably burn it to DVD as well, and I do realize that it will be dropping the quality down to SD by doing so. I don't have a Blue Ray player yet. Please give me some advice and direction.
I also read up on the 24p pulldown. From what I gathered, the camera actually captures 24p wrapped in 60i. You then have to use a program that will pretty much remove the 60i leaving you with true 24p. What is a good program for Mac to do this and is it worth messing with at this point?

Thanks and don't be too harsh on me.

LOL, good title! Since no one has jumped in here, I'll add some comments. Regarding footage at the track, #1 recommendation has to be get a good tripod. Forget about handheld full telephoto shots in HD. Plus you've got AVCHD and 24P working against you WRT excessive movement (it's just impossible for us to compete with a tripod, lol). Your footage will be exponentially better.

You may also want to check out the Canon TL-H43 telephoto lens. In your situation, I would consider this a must have; although from personal reviews I have read, you're only going to get about 50% use out of the telephoto range due to vignetting problems (haven't confirmed personally since I picked up the wide angle converter first, which is excellent BTW - don't have the telephoto yet).

Regarding 24PF, I absolutely think it's worth it to deal with it. But I don't know what to recommend for it on the Mac side. My G4 is strictly for audio multitracking - on the PC for vid stuff.

Forget 24p if you want smooth motion from fast bikes. 24 frames a second is just not fast enough to capture movement. For the subjects you want to video stay with 60i. Ideally 720p60 would be better. Just use the normal 60i at the highest data rate. Don't pan too quick, let the action take place in front of the camera. Bikes coming toward you and going away from you at a slight angle will look the best. Fast movement across the screen( like a fast pan following a bike) will not only give the camera encoder a workout encoding the background but also a problem for most flat panel displays on playback too !!!!

Ron Evans

Ok, 1 more question. I just went and bought a 2GB Scandisk SD card for the camera. All they had was the micro SD with and adapter so it will work in a mini slot. I keep getting card errors on the camera. I tried formatting it and it won't work. I have another microSD card and put it in the adapter, it won't work either. Anyone know if the adapter is useless on these cameras or what?

Thanks

Shane - was the SD card from a legitimate source? These little memory cards seem to be a hot knockoff item. The Sony 8GB MS Duo is a a big knockoff item out there (used to be as much as 90% of the ones listed on eBay were fakes!).

I also ran into some miniSD cards that I suspect were fakes, looked just like legit Sandisk ones, packaging and all... but wouldn't work in the Canon memory slot, or would be very unreliable, only registering after taking in and out several times, and then not working...

If your source for the SD cards is anything other than a big name store, you might be dealing with some fake cards... Just a possibility... I don't know of any reason that the micro shouldn't work, but I suppose there could be some incompatibility - my first instinct is knockoff card though!

nope, it was a large retailer

I have another microSD card and put it in the adapter, it won't work either.Have a SanDisk MicroSD 1GB here that works fine in an HG10 with the MiniSD adapter.

nope, it was a large retailer


HI

I had problems with my first San Disk 2G mini card from BB.

I took it back there and had the guy try it out in another camera (to eliminate my camera as the problem).

I exchanged it, and he tried the new one out for me, and it worked.

Are you having problems when you put it in the SD adapter and in a PC to format?

Amazing to see 2 gig in Micro size.

HI

I had problems with my first San Disk 2G mini card from BB.

I took it back there and had the guy try it out in another camera (to eliminate my camera as the problem).

I exchanged it, and he tried the new one out for me, and it worked.

Are you having problems when you put it in the SD adapter and in a PC to format?

Amazing to see 2 gig in Micro size.

no, I was able to format it in my computer and another canon camera without a problem. I'm going to bring it back and take the hg10 with me to see if they can find something that will work. I got a good deal on it too, $25.

I may go somewhere else and try it in a display hg10 and see what happens.

Assuming the microSD cards have a speed rating just like their bigger brothers, (a) what is the speed rating of your card and (b) what speed rating does the HG10 require?

The fact that you got a 'good deal' could mean the speed of the card is slower than what the HG10 requires.
But is OK for your computer and still camera.

Just a thought.
Then again, maybe I'm just babbling.

I think the slowest cards are type 2 (2 MBYTES/sec), which translates to 16 MBITS/sec. I have used the cheapest 2G Sandisc cards in my Panasonic SD5 at the highest quality, which is 13 Mbits/s. It's only slightly under the max, but they work fine.

Dave

I returned the card and got a different one, the new card works fine. I think the problem was the micro to mini adapter that came with the original card. This time I found a 2gig mini so there's no adapter to mess with. Now its back to learning how to use this thing and editing. Thanks for all the help.