Canon VIXIA HF R72 Camcorder

This camera has the typical Canon quality. I expected nothing less.It worked quite well straight out of the box after charging the battery, of course. I was amazed at how small it was. It was dwarfed by the head of my tripod. I asked a person who had never handled a video camera before to record an hour-plus dramatic presentation that included stage lighting that shifted regularly from total darkness to isolated spots to full stage lighting. The camera handled it all with ease.The zoom/wide-angle control was smooth. The other controls all made sense for a novice user.The internal microphone is very sensitive. It's important to remember this because it will pick up the sounds of movement; floors squeaking, clothes rustling, etc. I highly recommend using an external microphone for situations such as the one where we used this camera. The internal microphone is quite suitable for everyday normal use.It's an excellent choice for the casual video maker with plenty of capability. It doesn't have the capabilities and options of a professional model video camera but it is not intended to be one and it doesn't have the multi-thousand dollar price tag either.It's a good bargain.

I did quite a bit of research before purchasing and the Canon seemed like the best overall value. I went with the HF R72 as opposed to the newer HF R82 because it was $150 less and the quality was no different.I use the camcorder primarily for filming sporting events. My daughter plays rugby and I was tired of using an old iPhone 6s to film. My biggest fear was that the quality wouldn't be as good for the price. Well, the quality is great. I'm definitely satisfied with it.The only things missing are a viewfinder, a pause button, and the touch screen can be difficult to see in direct sunlight. Otherwise, the camcorder is awesome.I tried to attach a YouTube video I recorded and uploaded using the camcorder to show the quality, but apparently that violates Amazon's review guidelines. Go figure, smh. Anyhoo, it's a really good little camcorder and it is very easy to use. I'm definitely pleased.

The camera is great, all functions work well, except for the recommended remote control software that is suppose to allow you to control from a smart phone or tablet. Looks like the app has not been updated for at least 4 years and the HFR72 will not work with it. The WIFI does work and you can down load or up load from the camera over the net. The PC software from Canon works well with Windows 10. It would be nice to see someone develop software for controlling the HFR72 from an android device. I searched the Google Store and found nothing that would work.

Poor picture quality, software didn't work as it should. It was light as a feather.....too light for taking steady pictures or video. After 2 weeks of trying to figure out the software and recording at different speeds, I came to the determination that this camcorder does not do meet even basic recording needs. Returned it..........

I was hoping the image quality of Canon's DSLR would transfer over to its camcorder but that didn't happen at all. Compared to the Sony HDR-CX260V I owned previously, the Canon's video quality is not that great. The image stabilization on the Sony was waaaayyy better. The color was also better and more true to life. The Canon videos come out overly warm and over-saturated - they just don't look natural. Plus, the image quality is really grainy unless you're in bright daylight (and even then, I've noticed significant grain when zooming in). I also got this camera for the wi-fi functionality so I could upload videos without removing my SD card, but that's a bust. The camera doesn't offer non-iOS users a simple way to upload to the computer over wi-fi. You have the option of viewing your video in a browser and downloading it that way, but it takes forever to download short videos and it's always cutting in and out. The one good thing it's got going for it is the 32 GB internal memory. Doubt I'll use this much, but it can come in handy if you forget to insert an SD card or run out of space on the one you got.

It takes pretty-good movies but trying to use the networking abilities to connect to a LAN for uploading or monitoring the picture is a nightmare. The 300+ page manual looks like it was written in Japanese in manga style, then translated by a couple of cloned Chinese monkeys into "English". Terribly organized - took me 20 minutes to find out how to get to the WIFI setup screen and then I never was able to get it to work. The only reliable way to use this contraption is with an external memory card and a card reader. The controls on the camera are also very confusing. Just use the basic functions and its OK. Try to do anything complicated with it, and you need to allow a lot of time for experimentation and frustration. If you need a production tool, find something else.

I bought this refurbished unit due to canon's optics reputation as well as the zoom feature in looking for issues along my roof vent, replay on a 55" tv made everything so much easier to see. while I'm not a big camcorder fan this unit is very easy to use though viewing the screen in bright sunlight can present viewing difficulties. I did also purchase a Hoya lens kit from amazon, and am pleased with this camera's ease of operation and picture quality.