HDV camcorder with 1/2.7-inch CMOS image sensor; 24p Cinema Mode
High-definition 10x optical zoom lens; super-range optical image stabilizer
Advanced photo features: up to 3-megapixel stills, histogram display, built-in flash, and more
2.7-inch color widescreen LCD; color viewfinder
HDMI terminal; advanced accessory shoe
This review is from: Canon HV20 3MP High Definition MiniDV Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized ZoomThe HV-20 is Canon's "flagship" camcorder, and received [...] "2007 Camcorder of the Year" award. It has the best low-light image quality in it's class (in 24p mode, using 1/48th second shutter speed), and CCI says that it has the overall best image quality of all comparable models. What I like about the HV-20:1. High definition 1440x1080i video image, using MPEG-2 compression. The similar Canon HG-10 outputs the full 1920x1080i resolution, but since it uses the more aggressive MPEG-4 compression scheme, it's low light performance suffers. Another advantage of the HV-20 is that MPEG-2 is easier to edit than MPEG-4.2. Manual focus control that is relatively easy to access. The focus control consists of a button and wheel placed just behind the lens on the left side. The button toggles between manual and auto focus and the wheel effects the actual focussing. A lens-mounted ring would be a lot better, but these have gone by the way side on consumer priced camcorders - you have to spend $2500 or more on a semi-pro model to get a focus ring nowadays. WHY MANUAL FOCUS IS IMPORTANT: Digital cameras in general often have trouble focusing in low light or low contrast situations, for example shooting seascapes on a foggy day where everything is shades of gray and outlines are blurry and dim. On auto focus, the camera will "hunt" back and forth trying to lock focus, or will lose lock and start hunting in the middle of a shot, ruining that take. You will get better results if you use manual focus in these conditions.3. Stereo Microphone jack, mounted on the side instead of the front. If you buy any MiniDV camcorder, you will eventually want to use an external shotgun or lavalier microphone. The built-in mic on almost any MiniDV tape drive camcorder is going to pick up the whine from the tape drive and lens zoom motors; an external mic will eliminate this problem. NOTE: The HV-20's mic jack is a stereo input, so that you can use two separate mics with a y-cable, or a single mic with a Mono-to-Stereo adapter. Radio Shack sells a suitable one for $3.00, their part number is 274-374. I use it with the ATR-55 shotgun and ATR-35 lavalier mics I bought for use with the HV-20. If you don't use this type of adapter, a mono microphone will only give a signal to the left audio channel on the HV-20 camcorder, leaving the right channel silent. The adapter will split the signal from the mic equally to both channels, which sounds better. Canon sells a shotgun mic for this camera that is stereo, and uses the camera's hot shoe, but at $150 it was three time the price of the ATR-55 shotgun, so I passed on it.4. Ability to do "pass-through" Analog-to-digital transcoding. For example, if you have old family videos shot on VHS or 8mm analog videotape, you can use the "pass-through" capability of the HV-20 to convert the analog video to 720x480i digital video that can then be edited on a computer. You connect a VCR or your old Hi-8 camcorder to the HV-20 with component video cables (that's the red, white, and yellow cables that come with the HV-20), then connect the HV-20 to your computer with a firewire cable. Start the capture software on the computer, then play the analog tape - the HV-20 will transcode the analog video to digital video and pass it to the computer. You can then perform whatever type of image clean-up your video software supports, and output your old wedding or baby videos to DVD! Not every camcorder supports this, so it was a bonus feature that drew me to the HV-20.5. Decent ergonomics. The camera feels pretty good in the hand and the controls are pretty good, with a few exceptions, most notably the zoom rocker, which is very poor compared to the EXCELLENT zoom rocker on Canon's own HG-10. What a shame that the HV-20 doesn't share this zoom rocker with the HG-10! Sony's camcorders generally have better "feel" in the hand than the HV-20, but I wanted the best image quality possible, so ergonomics was secondary in my priorities. 6. Well thought out layout of controls and I/O jacks. Some camcorders place I/O jacks UNDER THE BATTERY, requiring you to remove the battery to use them, meaning that you MUST power the camera with the AC adapter to use these jacks. STUPID! What if you are in the field, and don't have access to any power source other than the camera's battery? Thankfully, the HV-20 doesn't seem to suffer from any bone-head design bloopers like that. I also liked the fact that the HV-20 is fully self-contained, compared to a certain Sony model that does not have a firewire jack on the camera itself: you have to use a "docking station" to download this camera to a computer (another dumb design IMO).7. 24P shooting mode: This is one of the "key" features on the Canon HV-20 and HG-10, and is really one of the primary features that would lead someone to choose one of these Canon's over a Sony, Panasonic, or JVC high-def camcorder. The primary benefit of 24P seems to be that it substantially improves the camera's low light capability, generally this is because 24p uses 1/48 second shutter speed instead of 1/60th second. In [...] 4-way "shootout" between the 4 top brands of High def camcorders, the HV-20 won the low-light image quality test hands-down. The HG-10 happens to use the same sensor, lens, and DIVIC processing chip as the HV-20, but it's low light capability suffers from compression noise caused by the MPEG-4 (AVCHD) compression algorithm. If the best possible low-light image quality is something you will need from your camcorder,...
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
»»»Visit Store NOW...
Best price click here
