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There is one feature of the Canon Vixia HF M40 that sets it apart from and and above any other camera in its price class. That is the low light performance of the 1/3" HD CMOS Pro sensor. The videos and photos this camera takes under real life lighting conditions are wonderful, satisfying the most important requirement I had when selecting a camcorder. Canon has stripped the camera of some features found in competitive models to make this performance possible. Most notably, the still photo resolution is only 2.1 megapixels. According to my research, the relatively low pixel count allows Canon to pack larger pixels onto the chip, resulting in the dramatically higher light gathering ability. Using the whole sensor for both HD video and still imaging gives the camera its excellent sharpness and image quality. I had a recent need to capture some available light stills for web publishing recently. I struggled with my Nikon SLR for several minutes before it occurred to me to snap the pictures handheld with the Canon. Voila! Beautiful, blur free photos, more than adequate at 1980x1080 for my purposes. Presumably to keep the lens speed high, Canon has chosen to put only a 10x optical zoom on this camera. This tradeoff I find a little limiting, both at the wide and telephoto ends(the 40x or 200x digital zoom capability notwithstanding). The camera is a little larger than most of its price peers, but still feels light and compact in your hand. The touch screen is best accessed with a fingernail or the included stylus; it does not respond well to my fingertip. There was a bit of a learning curve but, once I got the hang of touching and scrolling, navigating the menus was fairly easy. The editing and effects capabilities are excellent. There's a nifty storyboarding function, green or blue screen image overlays, sketch, animations, icons and titles, all via the touch screen. There are several convenient ways to group and display scenes and photos. My particular camera, a refurbished model, did not come with the Pixela software so I can't speak to the ease of editing on your computer. The multiple memory options and 5 recording modes allow for a lot of versatility when it comes to recording time and media. The default SP mode (7Mbps) lets you record up to 5 hours in the 16GB internal memory. With 2 32GB SDHC cards in relay recording mode I can get roughly 24 hours of continuous recording. The highest quality (24 Mbps) mode uses about 16GB per 90 minutes. The included battery lasts the advertised 120 minutes of recording time, but is a little weird in that it doesn't fill the battery cavity of the camera. This is both aesthetically and ergonomically awkward. My first accessory purchase was the double life battery, which ends up flush with the camera back. Overall, I am thrilled with this camcorder. It is better than anything else I have tried for my basic requirements and has some nice bells and whistles.Read full review
I purchased this as a backup camera. I began filming with a Nikon D7000 DSLR in a studio setting. I purchased a set of 5 filters for the M40. On the first shoot I wound up using the movie from the Canon M40 instead of the DSLR movie. The ability to set up the camcorder and use custom filters was important to me. The low light capabilities of the 'Pro" CMOS is another feature that was important to me. The Nikon will only record for 20 minutes per clip. Recording a training seminar with the Canon M40 does not have that restriction and until I get the DSLR movies figured out the Canon has the quality and versatility that I need. The built in microphone worked quite well indoors.Excellent quality, value priced.
Canon is name you trust for quality images and video. The Vixia HF M40 is no exception. It records HD 1080i Video internally without moving tape or parts that can wear out or break. It is so light-weight and compact carrying it with you is a breeze. The threaded 43mm lens has threads to allow adding your own lenses and filters. The built in lcd screen has vibrant bright color and rotates 180 degrees if you are filming yourself and need to check the shot. Overall a very nice camera with fully automatic features. The only tricky thing is exporting the video to a computer. The included usb adapter did not work on my older Apple, so I had to use a third-party device to capture the video and import it for editing.
This is a nice camera even if it is a version older because of the HD CMOS Image Pro sensor inside (these chips are found in Canon's expensive line like the XA, Gxx series). Low light shots are nice and not too grainy. Lightweight too. There are a few accessories you may want with it (wide angle lens, extra battery etc.). You do not have to get the ones with int. memory. Others without it will be just as good and a few bucks cheaper. The only concern is that these (and from other makers too) produce gigabytes and gigabytes of files; so you better have a big Network attached storage. To play in PS3 or your media server (if files don't play), be sure to rename the files from a ".mts" to a ".m2ts" extension. Oddly, the files on the SD cards are stored in a folder called "Private" (/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM) or similar. But, it is definitely worth getting this VIXIA M4xx, M5xx line of camcorders for the quality of the video and the camcorder. If you are a pro on a budget, I suspect you might be able to produce some really good videos from these units without the exorbitant cost of the pro cameras. Be sure to check out the Canon M4xx owners thread at the avsforum.com for a whole lot of tech/operational info and support from current owners.Read full review
First off i have to say I love this camera. I have the caonon vixia hf r500 the new series of cameras and thought that was great but this older model is awesome. Picture quality and features are off the chain. I am very glade I made this purchase and I hate spending money but this one was well worth it and it came from a very reliable seller.
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