I got the HF100 eventually after Fedex made a pigs ear of getting it to me. I should have had it eight days ago and they said it was badly addressed. I rang on Friday and I don’ think they were sure where it was. Rang again yesterday as it had not arrived and they had told me Monday. On the tracking page on the Fedex site it appeared as being in a local depot so I was waiting with baited breath for the arrival today.

It is a grey import so it is for NTSC TV’s but I don’t think it matters as I will be recording HD & I can make PAL later if I want. I think that will only affect me if I want to view some film directly on the TV, which is possible I suppose but it is more likely that I will be editing the footage in the iMac before doing any viewing.

I have been playing will all of the buttons so far to see what it does and it is all fairly simple, there is even an easy mode. I think focusing could be a problem area although there is a way to adjust the focus sort of manually.

The camera has a wireless remote control which I wasn’t expecting. So that is nice for when I have the camera on a tripod and I am filming myself in an interview situation. just have to point the remote at the camera and away it goes.

I also got in the post today a 16GB SDHC card, so that was good timing. It is working well in the camera and so I will probably get a couple more of them at the end of the month when I have more money in Paypal.

I am keen to make a home made steadicam as soon as I can. I want to make it in the fashion of the Steadicam Merlin. Looks easy enough from the videos I have seen on YouTube though, Not sure where I will be able to get the ball and socket part I nned though for the handle, I will have to do some searches. Some people have used a Manfrotto ball head for a tripod. There is a decent enough steady cam that can be bought from Ebay though and could save me some hassle of making one. Made in India but if it does the job, why not.

Here is the YouTube video.