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| Brand: Canon
Category: Photography
Buy New: Too low to display
New (19)
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Media: Electronics
Batteries Included: No
Floppy Disk Drive: None
Monitor Size: 270
Includes Software: Yes
Optical Zoom: 10
Digital Zoom: 200
Connectivity: IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
Display Size: 2.7
Maximum Focal Length: 61
Minimum Focal Length: 6.1
Maximum Resolution: 2070000
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.5 x 5.5
nv:Sensor: 2.96 Megapixel
Size: 1/2.7-inches
Image Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Movie Resolution: 1440 x 1080
Storage Media: High Definition miniDV (recommended) (63min.) or miniDV cassette
Storage Media: MiniDV Cassette
Compressed Format: JPEG
Movie File Format: HDV
Movie File Format: DV
Optical Zoom: 10x
Digital Zoom: 200x
Focal Length: f=6.1-61mm
Focus Mode: Manual
Focus Mode: Instant AF
Focus Mode: TTL - AF
LCD Monitor: 2.7-inches
LCD Pixels: 211,000 pixels
LCD Coverage: 100%
Shutter Speed: 1/2000
MPN: HV30
Model: HV30
UPC: 013803091595
EAN: 0013803091595
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 2 months
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| Customer Reviews:
 Covers all the bases March 23, 2008
29 out of 35 found this review helpful
I did extensive research before making this purchase about a month ago. Bought it at a Best Buy location for $999 and probably paid a bit too much. Now that I have it, I'm very pleased. Given all of its features and flexibility, its fairly simple to use and the film quality looks great on my HDTV - even for a rookie like me. Just a quick note to Mac users - I haven't been able to download footage to my Mac thus far. Pretty sure I need to get a specific Firewire cable for Mac, vs the USB cable that came with the camera.
 Great image quality- good value. May 9, 2008
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
I've spent the weekend shooting and editing with my Canon HV30, and overall, I'm very pleased with it. The image quality and color reproduction (when you switch "vivid" on in the settings) is superb. It's small, lightweight and the controls make sense. In a couple of hours I was able to put the manual away and know what I was doing. Low light performance is pretty good, with just a bit of noise all the way at iso 1600 (outside at night). It shoots very well indoors in normal lights and the auto white balance works perfectly as well.
It isn't all perfect, however. The manual focus control is inaccessible and sloppy. Thankfully the autofocus is very accurate and doesn't do a lot of hunting for what to focus on. The other problem is the zoom control. It is WAY too sensitive. You can set it for variable speed, but the slightest tremble in your finger causes a bump in the speed. I think I can learn to handle it. I'll just have to be very aware of keeping a light touch. I don't think I'll be able to work with the manual focus.
The camera doesn't come with a firewire or USB2 cable to connect to a computer. You need to buy that separately. But I was able to download hidef video effortlessly to iMovieHD using a Mac without any other installed software.
The built in microphone sucks. Definitely get Canon's optional shotgun mike Directional Microphone DM-50. That will handle just about any sound situation you run into. Also count on getting an extra battery pack or two. The included battery won't shoot long enough to fill an hour long tape. There are different sizes of batteries. Get the biggest one you can afford, along with the outboard charger, so you can be charging up the next battery while you are shooting. Also get at least four blank DV tapes to work with. You don't want to switch framerates, resolutions and aspect ratios on the same tape if you can help it.
Your whole kit, including all the accessories will fit in a very small camera bag. Pretty slick. And the quality of the movies you'll shoot will amaze you. Played back on a hidef screen, this camera is capable of producing very professional looking video.
Awesome HD camcorder May 29, 2008
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I bought this camcorder for a recent trip to Europe, and the results are spectacular. I'm very pleased with the quality of the video and the vibrancy of the colors (almost *too* saturated). The image stabilization is good, and the zoom is great. I haven't really played with any of the other features, but I recorded 8 hours of video from my trip, and all of it looks wonderfully sharp on my Plasma TV.
Battery life was better than I expected (unlike some of the other reviewers, I was able to fill a one-hour tape on a single battery charge), but I do recommend buying a second battery. If you do so, also invest in a battery charger, as the kit only allows you to charge a battery when it is attached to the camera (it would've been nice to have one battery charging while I was using the other).
My minor complaints are as follows:
- As other reviewers have noted, the 'record' button is not intuitively placed, nor is it easy to tell when you're recording, especially in bright sunlight when one is wearing sunglasses and the screen is washed out. As a result I've got about 15 minutes of video of my pants leg instead of the desired content.
- The 'wide angle' simply wasn't wide enough to capture some of the views I wanted. I wish I had spent more time using the camera prior to the trip, as I likely would have invested in the available wide-angle lens extender.
- Low-light performance is quite grainy -- but understandable given the circumstances. The included light doesn't help all that much.
- The manual focus dial is basically useless.
- The internal microphone picks up everything - including camera hum, wind noise, etc. In especially windy conditions, this resulted in very poor audio quality.
I bought 2 of the expensive "HD" tapes, but also used 6 standard mini-DV tapes. I see no quality difference between the two. I don't know if a difference would show up with multiple recordings on the same tape, but for now, I'm more than satisfied with how standard tapes work.
Bottom line: This is an excellent consumer HD camcorder for those who want to watch high-quality home movies on their high-definition TV.
A great camcorder April 15, 2008
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is a great camcorder. I'm filming in 30p mode to upload video online, and I'm extrememly happy with the results. I'm using Final Cut Express 4 with no setup or capture problems - great compatibility with my Mac Pro. I attached a Canon VL-10Li II on-camera video light (it's a big light) and a good-quality, sturdy plastic lens hood I bought on e-bay. The hot-shoe cover is attached to the camera and is not detachable. Many owners complained about losing the cover with the HV20, but the cover gets in the way of my video light, so I'm thinking about cutting the attachment. The camcorder has all the ease and variety of functions for an intermediate videographer like me. My favorite functions: quick white balance setting; grid lines on the display; great instant auto-focus; allows for attachments like an on-camera light or microphone and filter lenses; manual focus option. I'm very, very happy with this camcorder after shopping and comparing different ones during the last few months.
Great camera, high quality video, low built in sound May 9, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Great camera! There's a great website hv20 dot com that show how to get the most out of this camera and answer questions that are vague in the manual. This camera doesn't need more help but there's a lot more you can do than what comes out of the box. The video quality is superb, but the sacrifice is that you might want to buy an add on mic. I got the canon boom mic for another $150 to get a great whole package.
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