Summary: Awesome camcorder
Comment: I just received mine today and made a short cooking film while cooking dinner. This is a beautiful camcorder and still camera. It is small and fits the hand well. Looks like jewelry to me. It is perfectly quiet. I cannot hear it recording. Do not believe some reviews out there about noise. You can only hear it during fast forward and rewind. Big 1/3.4 inch CCD with Canon optics and color rendering image algorithms. Lots of manual options as well as auto. I bought a spare Canon battery (BP- 2L14, twice the power) and the built in charger charged it and the original with no problem. Very good hand ergonomics with nice button placement, intuitive operation. Excellent colors and imaging. I read my manual carefully and all installations of tape, card and backup battery were a snap. There is currently a $100 rebate and this camcorder is available for less than half the original suggested price, a steal for a camcorder of this quality.