cineMANIAC
Senior HTF Member
I purchased a Canon Vixia camcorder last month. Great medium-sized camera (I hate tiny cameras) , lots of cool features and whatnot and rather nice-looking with that lens hood. I look like a professional videographer with that thing! Only thing is, this is the first time I've used a video camera that records onto SD cards as opposed to a disc or tape so, suffice it to say, I'm a little overwhelmed. It doesn't help that I'm not much of a "tech geek" so to speak so I'm not very familiar with things like editing software or how to transfer video from a card to a PC. I've got a bit of a long road ahead.
Canon isn't making it easier on me by trying to sell me accessories that seem to be grossly overpriced. I needed a light so I purchased their VL-5 Video Light accessory - $96 for essentially a toy that weighs nothing and isn't very bright. Now, I don't know if I actually need a USB cable (what they call an IFC-400PCU) to transfer video to my PC but Canon's wording on their manual seems to suggest such a cable is required. Others tell me I can simply insert the SD card into the corresponding slot on the PC but since I'm not technically savvy, as I mentioned, I fear I won't know what I'm doing (or will do it incorrectly) so I sort of want to do it the way Canon is telling me. I downloaded a program they said I needed to save my videos to, which requires the IFC-400PCU USB cable.
I've already made this post long enough so, bottom line, is there a similar cable I can pick up somewhere that would do the same job as the IFC-400PCU but doesn't cost $64.99?
Canon isn't making it easier on me by trying to sell me accessories that seem to be grossly overpriced. I needed a light so I purchased their VL-5 Video Light accessory - $96 for essentially a toy that weighs nothing and isn't very bright. Now, I don't know if I actually need a USB cable (what they call an IFC-400PCU) to transfer video to my PC but Canon's wording on their manual seems to suggest such a cable is required. Others tell me I can simply insert the SD card into the corresponding slot on the PC but since I'm not technically savvy, as I mentioned, I fear I won't know what I'm doing (or will do it incorrectly) so I sort of want to do it the way Canon is telling me. I downloaded a program they said I needed to save my videos to, which requires the IFC-400PCU USB cable.
I've already made this post long enough so, bottom line, is there a similar cable I can pick up somewhere that would do the same job as the IFC-400PCU but doesn't cost $64.99?
