Canon SLR Reviews

Canon BP 819 Lithium Ion Battery Pack for HF10 and HF100 Camcorders

The Canon BP-819 Replacement Lithium-Ion Battery has 1780mAh for long lasting power. The pack is compatible with the following camcorders: HF10, HF11, HF100, FS10, FS100, HG21, and HG20.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Excellent Battery but very costly
As previous reviewers said, this is the battery that should have come with my Vixia HF10….the standard battery is bullocks….I get at least 2 and a half hours with this. No disappointment here besidse the price.

5 Stars It’s been a great battery for us
We’ve had this battery for several months now and I love it! I highly recommend it. It’s a bit pricey but well worth the investment. I keep the original battery as a back up. My kids’ school choir and band performances get video taped each and every time. There is enough juice in this battery to accomplish this and I seldom, if ever, have to pull out the OEM battery. Regarding charging time length, I usually check my equipment well ahead of the performances I intend to video tape. I make sure I have enough memory cards and the batteries are charged. Charging time hasn’t been an issue whatsoever.

5 Stars Better than the one the Camera came with
I thought it was much better than the one the camera came with. I only wish the price was not so high.

Preetham

Author of “A Circle of Souls”

A Circle of Souls

4 Stars Better than Generics – Doesn’t Stick Out
If you use a generic battery your camera will ask you to verify that you want to use it each time it’s turned on. And larger capacity batteries stick out real far from your camera making it more bulky.

Having to verify that I want to use a generic all the time sounds like a hassle to me and negates the quick start feature of my HFS10. So, in spite of the needless price gouging by Canon, I recommend that people stick with Canon branded batteries. You also get the advantage of a battery life indicator that tells you how much usage time you have left.

I also prefer the BP-819 over the BP-827 since the latter is much longer and sticks out from the camera a lot more. The BP-827 gives longer recording times but I don’t care for the trade off of a bigger camera. Between the BP-819 and the original battery that came with my HFS10, I have plenty of recording time and my overall camera size remains compact. And I don’t have to verify the batteries when I turn on my cam — best of all scenarios for my tastes. So if we’re stuck paying through the nose for a Canon battery, why not save a few bucks and go with the 819 0ver the 827? Makes sense to me.

Bottom line — ya, it costs a lot, but you spent a lot on your camera, so don’t get stingy with the battery and bring the performance of your whole camera down along with it. When you’re out in the field shooting (and every time you turn your camera on for that matter) you’ll be glad you got this brand name over any generic.

5 Stars Pretty much essential Vixia accessory — adds about 3 hours of recording time to the hour you get with the standard battery
This battery works great – I didn’t want to take a risk with the off-brand batteries, since I’ve been burned in the past. The advantage of going with Canon is that you get an accurate reading of how long you’ve got to keep filming, and the reading adjusts depending on what you’re doing. For example, if I’m shooting stills the battery reads a longer available time than when I’m capturing video. I like to have a pretty clear idea what to expect, rather than find myself suddenly out of time in the middle of a shoot. Roughly, you get about two and a half to three hours usage on the camera with the BP-819, as compared to about an hour with the BP-809 battery that comes with your camcorder.

Several have suggested that this is the battery that should be standard – maybe so, but I always like to have at least two batteries, and use this as my main power source and the BP-809 as a backup. It’s really worth adding a charger so you can energize one battery while you’re using the other. I know it starts to add up – but I’ve been happy with the two batteries and the charger for most situations I’ve gotten into. (I do have the BP-827 on my wishlist. 4 hours + sounds ideal. One can dream.).

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